Anniversary of All Deceased Brothers and Sisters in the Dominican Family

On November 8, the members of the Dominican family (Order of Preachers) commemorate their deceased.  In reading this morning's Divine Office, I marveled at the history in the second book of Maccabees.  Judas takes such care gathering up the dead after battle.  He even took a collection among his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice.  In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.  But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.  Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

How apropos to read about the dead Maccabean soldiers, on the commemoration of the deceased Dominicans, soldiers for Christ.  The Order of Preachers was founded to battle heresy.  The world is a manufacturing plant for heresy.  There will always be a need for soldiers for Christ.  Let us pray,

2 Maccabees 12:45, 46
There are some who have died a godly death;
--they shall receive the splendid reward which awaits them

It is a holy and pious thought to make atonement for the dead,
so that they might be freed from their sins.
--They shall receive the splendid reward which awaits them.

Anniversary of Deceased OPs

Pere Marie Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P.
Apostle of Prisons

The Church has always connected the feast of All Saints, with that of All Souls, to emphasize the communion of saints.  So does the family of the Order of Preachers.  Accordingly, since yesterday was the Dominican Order's All Saints Day, today, the following day, we Dominicans remember our brothers and sisters who have gone before us with the sign of faith, into the guiding arms of St. Dominic, who lead them to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.  Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

To die with Christ is to conquer the apathy of existence, to put aside greed, to abstain from fickleness, to dismiss levity of mind, to reject what is useless and what is done for appearances' sake, and to choose the gospel with sincerity and faithfully cling to it.

To die with Christ is to free oneself from riches and human glory, and to moderate one's life for the kingdom of God.

To die with Christ is to accept the risk of human love which demands the denial of self, or to accept the danger of witnessing to truth and justice before others, or to experience the difficulty of holding steadfastly to the faith one has received.

To die with Christ concerns those things which in our daily lives are austerities, or to sustain difficulties and accept change which brings about the renewal of fidelity.

To die with Christ is to accept one's own death as a sacrifice and a trusting burying of self in God, and also to accept in hope the deaths of our brothers, sisters and friends.

To die with Christ is to bear with a serene spirit the process of aging, the rejections, the losses -- even in apostolic labors.

To die with Christ is to be freed from egoism and self-absorption through the various incentives to love, to share, to sympathize with and to be reconciled with others.

To die with Christ is to experience at times the darkness of faith and courageously to endure it.

To every Dominican, friars, sisters, nuns, and laity, in whatever time in which they lived, may they receive the Holy Spirit and rest in peace and joy.  May our loving and all merciful Lord, receive with joy all our dead, today.  And may they intercede for us, forever.      Amen.

From the writings of fr. Pierre Andre Liege, O.P. "To die together with Christ."