All Souls Day
1st READING
If we never heard about the Gospel but live just and holy lives, can we be saved? Yes, we can. God is merciful in judging us according to our conscience and to how we have responded to the general truths of our humanity.
Wisdom 3:1-9 (or Wisdom 4:7-15 or Isaiah 25:6-9 or 2 Maccabees 12:43-46)
1 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. 2 They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction 3 and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. 4 For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; 5 chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. 6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. 7 In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; 8 they shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall be their King forever. 9 Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect.
P S A L M
Psalm 116: 5, 6, 10-11, 15-16 (or Psalm 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6 or Psalm 25:6, 7, 17-18, 20-21 or Psalm 103:8, 10, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18)
R: I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.
5 Gracious is the Lord and just; yes, our God is merciful. (R) 6 The Lord keeps the little ones; I was brought low, and he saved me. (R) 10 I believed, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm, “No man is dependable.” (R) 15 Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones. 16 O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, you have loosed my bonds. (R)
2nd READING
Paul’s theology of baptism is connected with salvation. Our baptism is an immersion into Jesus’ death on the cross. Sacramentally, we are crucified with Jesus and will be raised with Him to eternal life. The time between baptism and death is when we live out in faith a life of holiness and commitment to God’s will.
Romans 6: 3-9 (or Romans 5: 5-11 or Romans 8:31-35, 37-39)
3 Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. 5 For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. 7 For a dead person has been absolved from sin. 8 If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.
GOSPEL
To know Jesus and the power of His resurrection is the promise of eternal life. We cannot escape from the truth that it is Jesus who saves us from our sins. It is His obedience to the Father’s will that undoes the disobedience in our lives. As we pray for the repose of all who died today, let us do so with hope and trust in the mercy and generous love of God.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
This is the will of my Father, says the Lord, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life.
John 6:37-40 (or Matthew 5:1-12 or John 14:1-6)
37 Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39 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. 40 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.”
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