To Surpass Them in Goodness!

Sunday, November 2, 2025

All Souls’ Day!

Wis 3:1-9; Rom 5:5-11; Jn 6:37-40

Today, we join the Universal Church to pray for all the faithful departed for their eternal rest. 

But the day reminds us that praying for them is not the only way we remember them. From a person we learn two things: how to be and how not to be. Hence, while we pray for the gift of our loved ones, we must not only cherish the beautiful moments we shared with them but must also imitate the virtues if we witnessed them animating their lives. As such, today is a day of love, memory, prayer, and communion. 

1. Love and Memory: Our remembrance of the dead comes from our love for them. It is love that celebrates their lives, honors their memory, and commits to replicating their goodness. We may recall the saying: ‘Forgetting the dead is to subject them to a second death.’ It is by thoughtfully remembering our loved ones who have gone before us that we keep their stories alive and carry on their legacy. More importantly, we ‘resurrect’ them when we remember them. 

2. Memory and Prayer: Unlike others, Christian remembrance of the dead concludes only in prayer on their behalf. While praying for the dead highlights the Christian hope that the glory of Christ’s resurrection will be extended to all, the power of intercessory prayers signifies the spiritual help that we can offer to those who have already passed. In this sense, praying for the dead is a profound act of love, mercy, and charity. Whenever we remember the dead and pray for them, we invoke God’s mercy upon those undergoing purification in purgatory. 

3. Prayer and Communion: When we pray for the memory of our loved ones, we not only remember the fact that they lived with us but also remind ourselves of our true home in God. As the journey heavenward is the real journey for Christians, we do recollect the promise of eternal life. In this way, our prayers for the dead also signify our future communion with them. By praying for them, we reassure ourselves of the fact that we walk the same road that they once did, and we will unite with them at a distant time in the future. 

While remembering the dead and praying for their souls is a Christian charitable act, All Souls Day gives us an important invitation – to surpass the souls in goodness.

When we remember the dead, we also think of the life ahead for us. In this sense, our remembrance calls for correction and imitation. What St. Paul says fits here aptly: ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’ (2 Tim 4:7). Indeed, they finished their race. Now it is our turn to run ours, and we must do it in a way that we surpass their goodness in every way. Hence, our remembrance of the dead is a simultaneous call for learning from their mistakes, mending our lives, and bringing to fulfilment what they began. 

For this reason, yesterday, on All Saints Day, we were resolved ‘to be like them in goodness.’ But today, on All Souls Day, we are resolved ‘to surpass them in goodness.’ 

Let us pray that our remembrance of the dead will not only uphold their legacy but also surpass their goodness.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar