All Saints’ Day: A Brief Reflection
Last night on All Hallows’ Eve and today on All Saints’ Day, Denise and I have been thinking a lot about our parents. My Mom was the first to cross over the threshold from this world to the next (Nov 2017), followed by Denise’s Mom four months later (Mar 2018). Four years later Denise’s former mother-in-law Betty (loving Grandmother to Denise’s two boys and a dear friend to both of us) crossed over to be followed by her Dad two weeks later (Sep 2021). My Dad was our last parent to cross over the threshold just over a year ago (Jul 2023). There are days when it seems surreal that we would be orphans before either of us hit the age of 63. We miss them so deeply and yet, for them, they have experienced perfect healing and peace.
Perfect healing… I believe that they have, in a sense, experienced what Thomas Merton wrote about as he described his Epiphany on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in the shopping district of Louisville, Kentucky in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (p. 191, Kindle edition). Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed….
May the Saints and our Ancestors continue to shine like the sun and live on in our memories.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 
Hi Michael, thank you for this post. It brought back memories of both my parents. Your reference to being orphaned reminded me of a comment I heard from a wise person after my mother died, when I was 59.
♥️
Thanks for your reflection. It is hard to process so many losses coming quickly one after the other. May your memories of each special person, gladden your heart.
I think we still are processing. We attended the All Saints Requiem Mass at the University of San Francisco last year. Dad was an alum and his name was being placed in the Book of Remembrance. Partway through the Mass we both had tears in our eyes realizing that this was our first opportunity to grieve all five.
❤❤❤ Grief takes its own journey and time.