Project BLACK MAMBA: Allhallowtide

'Tis the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day): All Souls-link ūnus, All Souls-link duo, Wikipedia-link All Souls, & Wikipedia-link Allhallowtide.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

All Souls, the Holy Souls, or the Faithful departed commemorates the souls of Christians who have died. Observing Christians typically remember deceased relatives on this day.

Quoth Joyfully Living the Gospel Day by Day:

St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote, "The worst day in purgatory will be better than the best day we ever spent on earth." Isn't that an amazing statement? Think about it. Those in purgatory are in the dressing room, preparing for the banquet. We on earth are not finished with the testing period.

Closely related to All Souls' Day is the Día de Muertos (the "day of the dead"), a syncretic Mexican holiday that combines Catholic & pre-Columbian beliefs: Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
The Book of Wisdom, chapter three, verses one thru nine;
Psalm Twenty-three, verses one, two, & three(a); three(b) & four; five; & six;
The Letter to the Romans, chapter five, verses five thru eleven;
or, the Letter to the Romans, chapter six, verses three thru nine;
The Gospel according to John, chapter six, verses thirty-seven thru forty.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus talks about how he will “raise [us] on the last day.” Our faith is that God will clothe the soul in a new and higher body, what Paul calls a “spiritual body.” Here we might rely on the musings of John Polkinghorne, the Christian physicist, who appreciates the soul as the “form” or pattern of the person. God remembers this “form,” and then reconstitutes it at a higher level during the resurrection, much as the pattern of an article or a photograph could be preserved in a computer’s memory and then reproduced in a new way.

Listen again to the words of Jesus in our Gospel today: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.…” As you pray for the souls of your beloved dead, take comfort in those words. They will be raised again.

Video reflection by Father Don Miller, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Quoth the missalette:

On this day the readings & psalm are chosen from the Masses for the Dead (Lectionary 1011-1016) or the options given at Lectionary 668. The [above] are suggested from among the many options.

Bible Study—Proverbs in a Month & a Psalm a Day
The Book of Psalms, psalm two (verses one thru eleven);
The Book of Proverbs, chapter two (verses one thru twenty-two).

Commentary: A Psalm for a Royal Coronation (Psalm 2); I: The Value of Wisdom (cont'd): The Blessings of Wisdom (Proverbs, 2:1-22).

A Humble Contribution to the New Evangelization
The Popish Plot—Theology Thursday: "All Souls"