IT’s true. Many of us Filipinos have made the celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day — the “Undas” days — occasions of secular merriment and even drunken orgies.
That irreverent secularization of two of the most important solemnities or feasts is unfortunate. But so is the
secularization of Easter — the most important feast of Christians - and Christmas Day.
(An aside, the Church now refers to feast days as “solemnities” but many people who love God and the Church and struggle to live a life of prayer still say “Happy feast day!”)
My friends and I have always celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day as reasons for great joy. And that’s because no other feast days of the Church makes a point of reminding the faithful that we have “the Communion of Saints.”
That most Filipinos have lost the central idea of the Communion of Saints, the idea that must dominate our meditation on All Saints Day—November 1—and All Souls Day—November 2, is proven by the fact that most Filipinos call All Saints Day “Araw ng Mga Patay.” The correct “Araw ng Mga Patay” is November 2.
Here is the article in WikiFilipino on the subject of “Undas.” “Undas: Pagbisita sa puntod ng yumaong kamag-anak. Pagbisita sa puntod ng yumaong kamag-anak. Ang Undas (na kilala din sa tawag na Todos los Santos o Araw ng mga Patay), ay isang pista opisyal na malawakang ipinagdiriwang sa Pilipinas upang magbigay galang at pugay sa mga yumaong kamag-anak.”
Note that the WikiFilipino encyclopedist has mixed up All Saints Day with All Souls Day. This kind of error in referring to the solemnities of the Church reinforces the anti-spiritual mentality’s rejection of the existence of Purgatory. This rejection has been embraced by misguided Catholics.
Joyful suffering
The Church in its wisdom assigned a day in the calendar for the commemoration of ALL the saints precisely to remind all the faithful that saints are not only those who have been canonized and beatified.
The canonized saints have their names listed on the official roster, the canon, of the Church of models of heroic virtue whose examples should inspire us in our struggle to become worthy of enjoying the bliss of being in heaven with God—and Mama Mary and the other saints. But many other people are in heaven too. They too are saints. For only saints are in heaven, thanks to the Love and Death of Our Lord Jesus, the Son of God Made Man and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
All who have been purged of their unworthiness to be in heaven are saints (sancti). Holy. Divinized. Made into other Christs.
On All Saints Day the complete Mass includes the Litany of the Saints. Their names are sung in that beautiful plansong. But the unnamed citizens of heaven are also honored. And these unnamed ones could be our grandparents and parents.
It gives me a lot of happiness when in my half hour of mental prayer on All Saints Day I can thank Our Lord for giving us the spiritual solidarity that binds us together with all the faithful who are still here on earth, we who must continue being militant against the Evil One, and with the souls of those who are in Purgatory (they who are still suffering), and with the saints —whether canonized, beatified, or not— who are already the Church Triumphant in heaven.
Mystical Body of Christ
This unity is the Mystical Body of Christ.
This solidarity, this communion, is a true and organic unity.
It is one of the Truths of our Faith that we affirm whenever we recite the Creed.
It is this unity that makes it possible for the saints to intercede for us with God, that makes it possible for our prayers to hasten the release of those still suffering (but suffering joyfully for they have the certainty of eventually being allowed to have the vision of God).
Only those who are not ashamed to be like children spiritually can have a steadfast belief in Purgatory and the Communion of Saints.
Two of my favorite quotes from St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, is about the Communion of Saints and Purgatory.
“The Holy Souls in Purgatory. Out of charity, out of justice, and out of excusable selfishness — they have such power with God! — remember them often in your sacrifices and in your prayers. May you be able to say when you speak of them, ‘My good friends the souls in purgatory.’ “ (The Way, 571)
“Purgatory shows God’s great mercy and washes away the defects of those who long to become one with Him.” (Furrow, 889)
Here are points from the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the chapter on the Communion of Saints. Each could be the starting point of one’s meditation.
946 After confessing “the holy catholic Church,” the Apostles’ Creed adds “the communion of saints.”
In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?” The communion of saints is the Church.
947 “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others… We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head… Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments.” “As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund.”
948 The term “communion of saints” therefore has two closely linked meanings: communion “in holy things (sancta),” and “among holy persons (sancti).”
Sancta sanctis! (“God’s holy gifts for God’s holy people”) is proclaimed by the celebrant in most Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy Gifts before the distribution of communion. The faithful (sancti) are fed by Christ’s holy body and blood (sancta) to grow in the communion of the Holy Spirit (koinonia) and to communicate it to the world.
