📖 Read
Matthew 22:31-32; Hebrews 11:33–12:2
🔎 Focus
“‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living.”
Matthew 22:32
“[Jesus] will come again to judge the living and the dead”
The Apostle’s Creed
”I believe in…the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”
The Apostle’s Creed
✟ Devotion
The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish) has become a cross-cultural celebration/observation in the US, as the holidays south of the border gain prevalence due to population changes. There is a belief that the Conquistadors brought the Day of the Dead to the New World with them, and because the Black Plague was their backdrop, it became a more morbid observation of All Souls Day.
In many cultures, there is a belief that for a time period (from a day to a week), the “veil” between the dead and the living is “thinned”, so that the two “sides” of the veil can interact. It probably was over varying times, but as the Western Church (particularly the Roman Catholic Church) spread, it likely coalesced to today (and yesterday for some).
Is the thinning of the veil true? Perhaps. It could also be, because its a day set aside for that belief, that we become aware of the separation between the living and dead. Then there was an older Christian belief that the communion of saints was such that the thinning was irrelevant, because believers were already unified.
The spreading of the Day of the Dead across cultures might be something more that an excuse to party or to eat or display Calavera (edible or cast skull-shaped items). The modern culture, particularly in the US, does not do death well. The Dying with Dignity movement, hospice, and other things are a shadowing of this, too (not to disparage either).
We fear death. The Day of the Dead and even Halloween (with its macabre and scary themes) are signs of it. They are a play, so-to-speak, that we “cheated” death. Yet, death comes for us all.
All Souls Day is a day set aside to recognized, grieve, mourn, those who had died. We don’t mourn those we’ve lost very well. “They’ve gone to a better place,” is a common refrain. However, their death still impacts our being, and All Souls Day is a good day to recognize that.
🤔 Reflection
Have you lost anyone this year? If so, thank God (as you are able) for their life and their impact upon your life? If they harmed you, ask God to be released from the burden of the pain, and to heal the wounds.
Whose death do you forget (on purpose or accidently)? What can you do to remember them?
Why is it important to remember the dead in our lives as relationships, rather than historical fact?
🙏 Prayer
Thank you, God, for the reminder of those you have placed in our lives for good. May we recall the blessings of the people. Amen.