All Saints Day

In the spotlight: Papal trip to Bahrain, Dorothy Day ferry, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Day of the Dead

“Thin places are those times when, briefly, you encounter the sacred. All Saints’, its Halloween eve, All Souls’: They invite me to be present to something beyond this world’s reality.”

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the dead, can be acquired only once on Nov. 1 or Nov. 2.

Everyone from your saintly grandmother to the martyrs facing death for Christ: They are all part of the communion of saints. The church commemorates all these saints on All Saints’ Day.

On Nov. 2, as a church, we observe All Souls’ Day, a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died. The day concludes the season of what was once called Allhallowtide, which includes All Saints’ and its eve, Halloween.

The Irish spiritual writer John O’Donohue wrote movingly of thin places, those times or locations where our mind and heart seem to cross an invisible barrier, and we stand for a few moments in the presence of something ethereal, something transcendent.

During the last months of the year, Catholics reflect about the reality of death. The church’s liturgy brings us All Souls’ Day. Among Hispanic Catholics, the feast is widely known as “el Día de los Muertos” (the Day of the Dead).

It seems, on surface level, we are at a time of darkness and death. Actually, however, we are celebrating life.