All Souls' 2008
All Souls' Day: 3rd November, 2008
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
The first two days of November are very special in the Church calendar. They are times to remember, to use the Archbishop of Canterbury's memorable phrase, that we experience "God in company". That is God in company with the whole range of special men and women who are recognized to be capital S saints and who are even now surrounding the throne of God with their joyful praise. And it is also God in company with all the faithful departed.
All Saints' which we observed yesterday was not so much a celebration of all those giants of the faith (although they are of course all in there) as a festival day for so many of those like in our great transept windows, who might otherwise not be remembered or recognised. So it is the celebration day for those holy people of every generation who have, to use Mother Teresa of Calcutta's expression, done 'something beautiful for God'. That is the day to celebrate the love and the example of all those who do not have a major festival set aside for them.
Coupled with that day of celebration is the immediately following companion day of All Souls. The mood is solemn and of quiet dignity. This is our commemoration this evening. We honour and pray for the dead and particularly our own dead, and this certainly includes all those who have gone before us through the generations of the life and witness of this parish church of the City of Melbourne. We have in addition placed on the altar many names of those who are particularly special to us personally and tonight we are reading the names of those whose requiems and funerals have been held in this church over the past three years — some 40 people. Just think of all the memories and life experiences those lists will embrace.
These are people who are special to us. We remember them on their anniversary of death and we remember them all together on this day of All Souls, even as we hope that we ourselves will be so remembered in due course. We commend them to God's gracious care and protection. We pray that they may find a place of refreshment and light and peace. We pray that they may rest in God's nearer presence and that at the last they may rise in glory, joining with all those who join in that promised heavenly banquet. It is a wonderful image.
All Saints' and All Souls' together then is a very special time. It is celebration, it is thanksgiving, and it is a remembering. It is above all a time of hope. It is therefore no surprise that around the world, especially around the catholic world, that after the great festivals of Christmas and Easter this is one of the most popular times for religious observance. And we feel that we are indeed in the company of family and friends. And all of us in the company of God.
May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
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