All Saints and All Souls Days

We Filipino Catholics will soon celebrate the feasts of All Saints and All Souls. These we will do three days from now on November 1 and 2. Why do we do this? What for?

Our Church teaches us that our calendar of feast celebrations cannot accommodate aĺl the canonized saints. So November 1 has been set aside to remember all of them. And the purposes are to honor them, ask for their prayers, and learn from them, and spread their teachings and good example.

It is a pity that the feast of All Saints is less and less celebrated, even completely forgotten. More and more importance is given to the observance of All Souls.

As far as I can remember only Sunday celebration can be anticipated. And this has to be done around 6pm when the liturgical day starts. Yet for many years now Masses for the dead have been said in cemeteries even starting at 3pm.

Anyway a lot of cultural practices that have nothing to do with the liturgical commemoration of the dead have been added this annual observance. People now go to the cemeteries, not to pray and reflect on the next life, but to have some sort of an outing and picnic. So there is a lot of music and drinking. But all these can be moderated in such a way as to give more importance to prayer and reflection including the good deeds and examples of our beloved departed.

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