Yesterday was for All Saints (and that includes a great many who have not been proclaimed as such by any religious authority.) Today (as opposed to yesterday's ringing "Alleluia!") is more solemn. Today, we remember, with the prayers for the dead, all souls, even those for whom on the human scale we see little or no chance of redemption in the age to come. Hitler. Nero. Crabby Uncle Henry who scoffed when Aunt Marta took the kids to church, because "that's jest a buncha stupid stuff fer dang fool wimmen."
And yet -- God is love. His love surpasses ours so greatly that we really can't understand it. And He "takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked". (ref Ezekiel 18:23) Certainly some are condemned, or rather condemn themselves by their choices and actions. But since God is infinitely merciful and wise, we who are finite must leave such judgments to Him. And since He is outside time, our prayers for those who have gone ahead of us are never wasted, as we ask His mercy in the eternal NOW. And we pray for ourselves, that we may be numbered among the saints at His right hand, our faults and failings notwithstanding. Lord, show us Your mercy! Amen.
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I've always thought that is one of the hardest things- praying for people that you don't like.
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