FAITHFUL DEPARTED
Liturgical Notes:
 

Today the Maronite Church commemorates all the faithful Christians who have departed this life in the faith. This feast is the Syrian Church's equivalent to the feast of All Souls in the Latin Church.

As we have just prayed in the Hoosoyo, we ask our Lord Jesus Christ to welcome all our deceased brothers and sisters, who have been nourished with his body and blood, into his kingdom of light. Not knowing the state of perfection they have achieved in their lives, we commend them to the mercy of God with hope and expectation.

It is a Christian obligation for us to help our brothers and sisters through our prayers and the offering of the Divine Mysteries for their salvation. For though they have not yet reached the joy of the righteous and the just, they are called to ultimately enter the kingdom of light and peace. Our intercession can bring them nearer to the day of eternal happiness.

We should pray in a special way for those who have been near us, our relatives, friends and benefactors who have died. At the same time we should pray for the deceased members of our parish and for all the departed who have no one to pray for them.

We commend the faithful departed to the Lord that by his cross he may lead them into the eternal wedding feast, and newly arrived in God's kingdom may they intercede before him on our behalf.