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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, 02 November 2022 Wisdom 3:1-9 ><}}}}*> Romans 6:3-4, 8-9 ><}}}}*> John 6:37-40
Praise and thanksgiving to you our loving God and Father for the grace of life for the grace of death for the grace of judgment: in the end, your love prevails.
Our hope lies in your judgement, O God and Father because it is both justice and grace: justice because you render fairly to everyone what is due including everything we have done but it is also grace because you know our weaknesses, our sinfulness: "The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet it is their hope of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself" (Wisdom 3:1-5).
Thank you, dear Father in sending us your Son Jesus Christ who had closely linked your justice and grace in his Passion, Death and Resurrection we now share in the hope of being with you in heaven; as we remember today our faithful departed, including those who have been forgotten, we not only hope for ourselves but also hope for others because we have realized all the more these November 1 and 2 that no man is an island: we are all linked together in Jesus, no one lives alone no one sins alone no one is saved alone!
On this All Souls' Day we express to you not only our own hope for salvation but also our hope for other's salvation: remember those who have died ahead of us, purify them in the love of Christ who assured us that "I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day" (John 6:38-40).
O most holy Virgin Mary, our Mother who is the "Star of the Sea" in this journey of life, lead us safely to Jesus in eternity especially at the hour of our death. Amen.
Photo credits: Top photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Portugal, October 2022. Last photo by author, 2019.
