Author: Melissa Moody
Pope Benedict speaks about Solemnity of the Holy Souls
Saints known and unknown, Pray for us
The following is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints
The Western Christian holiday of All Saints’ Day falls on November 1, followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2, and is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church.
In Mexico, Portugal and Spain, offerings are made on this day. In Spain the play Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed.
All Saints’ Day in Mexico, coincides with the first day of the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) celebration. Known as “Día de los Inocentes” (Day of the Innocents), it honors deceased children and infants.
Portuguese children celebrate the Pão-por-Deus tradition, going door-to-door where they receive cakes, nuts and pomegranates. This only occurs in some areas around Lisbon.
Hallowmas in the Philippines is variously called “Undas” (based on the word for “[the] first”), “Todos los Santos” (literally “All Saints”), and sometimes “Araw ng mga Patay” (lit. “Day of the Dead”), which refers to the following day of All Souls’ Day but includes it. Filipinos traditionally keep the two days by visiting the graves of deceased relatives, offering prayers and flowers, light candles and clean and repair the graves. People typically spend the day, sometimes even the whole night, picnicking and holding reunions at the cemetery near their loved ones.
In Argentina, Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and American cities such as New Orleans, people take flowers to the graves of dead relatives.
In Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Catholic parts of Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives.
In English-speaking countries, Catholics generally celebrate with a day of rest consisting of avoiding physical exertion and going to Mass.
Pray with the Saints by listening to “Litany of the Saints”, in English, recorded in the Franciscan Friary in North Wales.
Fr. Barron comments on All Saints Day
“There’s only one real sadness in life, not to be a saint.” – Leon Bleau (French spiritual writer) Not to be the person Christ wants you to be. Saints have all allowed Christ to live His Life in them.
Soul and Body – Which Makes “You”
A human person = body + soul
Read more on this here. I’m so impressed with Marcel’s handling of this question and believe, too, that there is a tendency to separate body and soul in modern Christianity.
Vatican II taught:
“Though made of body and soul, man is one. Through his bodily composition he gathers to himself the elements of the material world; thus they reach their crown through him, and through him raise their voice in free praise of the Creator. For this reason man is not allowed to despise his bodily life, rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. Nevertheless, wounded by sin, man experiences rebellious stirrings in his body. But the very dignity of man postulates that man glorify God in his body and forbid it to serve the evil inclinations of his heart.” -GS 14