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Author: Dr Jenny O'Brien At the beginning of November the Church celebrates two important feasts: All Saints on the first, followed by All Souls on the second. While in the minds of many Catholics these two feasts are inextricably linked, they originated at different times and have different emphases.
All Saints From its earliest days the Church has commemorated the anniversaries of the martyrs, those who would face death rather than deny their faith in Christ. In the West, the number of martyrs was particularly high under the rule of the emperor Diocletian at the end of the 3rd century, but less than ten years after his death Christianity was given legal status as a religion. Because there were not enough days in the year to mark the death of each individual martyr the first Sunday after Pentecost was assigned to celebrate all martyrs. Author: Dr Jenny O'Brien The Christian journey begins with Baptism and comes to its earthly conclusion with the Funeral Mass and subsequent burial or cremation. From that moment on we enter the realm of eternal life with God.
The Order of Christian Funerals was published in 1989. A very interesting and important feature of this Order is that there is not just ONE rite, but a sequence of rites, each taking us a step further along a journey of prayer and faith. First comes the VIGIL, usually held in the church on the evening before the funeral, where the story of the deceased person is shared and we acknowledge our grief and loss. It normally consists of prayers, readings from scripture and hymns but may also include part of the Rosary and/or other customs from our multicultural diversity. |
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