All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day

A Grade 9 and 4th YearValues Education and Christian Living Lecture

Undas, anyone?

QUESTIONS:

1. How is All Saints’ Day different from All Souls’ Day?

2. What is the significance of each celebration?

Let’s watch this first…

All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day

¨ All Saints’ Day (or the Solemnity of All Saints) is a feast in honor of all saints, both known and unknown.

¨ This Solemnity is celebrated on November 1.

All Saints’ DayMany saints are honored on their

specific feast days, but there are many unknown saints, who may have been forgotten, or never been especially honored.

We also consider as saints those who have gone ahead of us who have lived holy lives while on Earth.

On All Saints’ Day, we celebrate these saints who are all in heaven, and we ask for their prayers and intercessions.

¨ Remembering saints and martyrs and celebrating their lives on a particular day each year has been a Christian tradition since the 4th century AD.

All Saints’ Day

¨ In 837AD, Pope Gregory IV extended the festival to remember all the saints, changed its name to Feast of All Saints and fixed the date to November 1.

The Communion of Saints

These areSaints

ST BARBARA

ST POLYCARP

ST JOSEPH

ST MATTHEW

ST PATRICK

ST JOAN OF ARC

ST THOMAS AQUINAS

ST PIUS X

ST JOHN VIANNEY

ST PAUL

ST THERESA LISIEUXST AUGUSTINE

ST JEROME

ST MARY OF EGYPT

What is a Saint?The word saint

comes from the Latin word “sanctus” which means “holy.”

A SAINT simply means a HOLY PERSON, a Christian who is made holy by Baptism.

What is a Saint?

A saint is also someone who is noted for his or her holiness and venerated during their lifetimes or after death

A saint can be known (canonized) or unknown (someone who surrendered to the grace and will of God on this earth but are not officially recognized).

Saints are publicly recognized by the Church and are considered intercessors with God for the living.

The whole idea of All Saints Day is linked with the belief in the Communion of Saints as stated in the Apostles’ Creed.

The Communion of Saints

The whole idea of All Saints Day is linked with the belief in the Communion of Saints as stated in the Apostles’ Creed.

The belief in the Communion of Saints is the belief that all of God's people, on heaven, earth, and in the state of purification, are linked together in a communion, and thus form ONE Church (CCC 962).

In other words, it is a SPIRITUAL UNION of ALL Christians, both the LIVING and the DEAD.

The Communion of Saints

Our belief in the Communion of saints comes with the belief that there arethree states of the Church:1.Pilgrim or Militant Church2. Suffering or Penitent

Church3.Triumphant Church

The Three States of the Church

1.Pilgrim or Militant Church – comprises Christians who are still living who continue do what is pleasing to God and to fight evil

The Three States of the Church

asiancorrespondent.com

2.Triumphant Church – comprises those who are in the glory of Heaven because they lived saintly lives until their final hours on Earth

The Three States of the Church

3. Suffering or Penitent Church – comprises the souls of all those being purified in Purgatory

The Three States of the Church

Bottom Line:The “communion of saints”is the CHURCH ITSELF (CCC

946)

The Communion of Saints

All Souls’ Day

All Souls’ Day All Souls' Day is celebrated on

November 2 It also known as the Commemoration of

the Faithful Departed It is day for us to remember or

commemorate and especially to pray for those who have died especially those who are not yet in heaven.

Purgatory

Purgatory

Some souls have died without being fully ready to meet God. We call the place where these souls are Purgatory.

Purgatory• The word purgatory

is NOT explicitly mentioned in the Bible, but is first

mentioned in Chapter 12 of the Second Book of

Maccabees, where Judas Maccabeus offered sacrifice for the “atonement for the dead that they might be absolved

from their sin” (2 Mc 12:46)

PurgatoryAccording to the Catholic faith, Purgatory is the name given by the Church to the “final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.” (CCC 1031)

Purgatory

Simply put, Purgatory is a place or state where someone gets "cleaned up" before entering into the presence of God.

Brief Eschatology

Eschatology• Eschatology is the theological study

of "the last things". • More specifically, it refers to heaven,

hell, and purgatory, and also the end of the world. 

Eschatology

The Four Last Things(CCC 1022)1. Death2. Judgmen

t3. Heaven4. Hell

Death

Particular Judgment

Heaven Purgatory Hell

Parousia

Resurrection of the Dead

General Judgment

Eternity

Eschatology

Eschatology

PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

Immediate judgment – where you’ll be after

you dieImmediately after death man can expect:1. immediate

entrance into heaven or

2. entrance into heaven after a purification or

3.  immediate and everlasting damnation in hell

EschatologyPAROUSIA

The Second Coming of Christ

Catholic Christians have always believed that Jesus Christ

would come back to close the current

period of human history in earth.

EschatologyPAROUSIA

The Second Coming of ChristMark 13:26-27 And then they will

see 'the Son of Man coming in the

clouds' with great power and glory,

and then he will send out the angels and

gather (his) elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth

to the end of the sky.

EschatologyPAROUSIA

The Second Coming of Christ

What comes BEFORE:1. Antichrist2. Great

Tribulation

EschatologyPAROUSIA

The Second Coming of Christ

What comes next:1. Resurrecti

on of the Dead

2. General or Last Judgment

EschatologyPAROUSIA

The Second Coming of ChristQuestion: Do Christ

know His own Second coming?“But of that day

and hour no one knows, neither the angels of

heaven, nor the Son,  but the

Father alone.” – Matthew 24:36

Final Thoughts

We believe that as we can ask a fellow Christian--a saint--to pray for us, we should be able to ask prayers from the

saints already united to the Lord in heaven.

Just like the Saints in

heaven pray for us on earth and

their prayers benefit us, so

the prayers and Masses we offer

are of help to the souls in Purgatory.

We must always be prepared for death and judgment,

because the end of time, or the end of our lives, may

come at any time.

Prayer for the Holy Souls

Eternal rest grant unto them. O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them. May they rest

in peace. Amen