VE-CL 9 and IV - All Saints' and All Souls' Day Mini Catechesis

Powerpoint Presentation in All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

1. All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day A Grade 9 and 4 th Year Values Education and Christian Living Lecture

2. Undas , anyone?

3. QUESTIONS: How is All Saints’ Day different from All Souls’ Day? What is the significance of each celebration?

4. Let’s watch this first…

5. All Saints’ Day

6. All Saints’ Day All Saints’ Day (or the Solemnity of All Saints ) is a feast in honor of all saints , both known and unknown. This Solemnity is celebrated on November 1 .

7. All Saints’ Day Many saints are honored on their specific feast days, but there are many unknown saints, who may have been forgotten, or never been especially honored . We also consider as saints those who have gone ahead of us who have lived holy lives while on Earth. On All Saints’ Day, we celebrate these saints who are all in heaven, and we ask for their prayers and intercessions.

8. Remembering saints and martyrs and celebrating their lives on a particular day each year has been a Christian tradition since the 4th century AD. All Saints’ Day In 837AD, Pope Gregory IV extended the festival to remember all the saints, changed its name to Feast of All Saints and fixed the date to November 1 .

9. The Communion of Saints

10. These are Saints ST BARBARA ST POLYCARP ST JOSEPH ST MATTHEW ST PATRICK ST JOAN OF ARC ST THOMAS AQUINAS ST PIUS X ST JOHN VIANNEY ST PAUL ST THERESA LISIEUX ST AUGUSTINE ST JEROME ST MARY OF EGYPT

11. What is a Saint? The word saint comes from the Latin word “ sanctus ” which means “holy.” A SAINT simply means a HOLY PERSON , a Christian who is made holy by Baptism .

12. What is a Saint? A saint is also someone who is noted for his or her holiness and venerated during their lifetimes or after death A saint can be known (canonized) or unknown (someone who surrendered to the grace and will of God on this earth but are not officially recognized ). Saints are publicly recognized by the Church and are considered intercessors with God for the living .

13. The whole idea of All Saints Day is linked with the belief in the Communion of Saints as stated in the Apostles’ Creed . The Communion of Saints

14. The whole idea of All Saints Day is linked with the belief in the Communion of Saints as stated in the Apostles’ Creed . The belief in the Communion of Saints is the belief that all of God's people, on heaven, earth, and in the state of purification, are linked together in a communion, and thus form ONE Church (CCC 962) . In other words, it is a SPIRITUAL UNION of ALL Christians, both the LIVING and the DEAD . The Communion of Saints

15. Our belief in the Communion of saints comes with the belief that there are three states of the Church: Pilgrim or Militant Church Suffering or Penitent Church Triumphant Church The Three States of the Church

16. Pilgrim or Militant Church – comprises Christians who are still living who continue do what is pleasing to God and to fight evil The Three States of the Church asiancorrespondent.com

17. Triumphant Church – comprises those who are in the glory of Heaven because they lived saintly lives until their final hours on Earth The Three States of the Church

18. Suffering or Penitent Church – comprises the souls of all those being purified in Purgatory The Three States of the Church

19. Bottom Line: The “communion of saints” is the CHURCH ITSELF (CCC 946) The Communion of Saints

20. All Souls’ Day

21. All Souls’ Day All Souls' Day is celebrated on November 2 It also known as the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed It is day for us to remember or commemorate and especially to pray for those who have died especially those who are not yet in heaven.

22. Purgatory

23. Purgatory Some souls have died without being fully ready to meet God. We call the place where these souls are Purgatory .

24. Purgatory The word purgatory is NOT explicitly mentioned in the Bible, but is first mentioned in Chapter 12 of the Second Book of Maccabees, where Judas Maccabeus offered sacrifice for the “ atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin ” (2 Mc 12:46)

25. Purgatory According to the Catholic faith, Purgatory is the name given by the Church to the “ final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. ” (CCC 1031)

26. Purgatory Simply put, Purgatory is a place or state where someone gets "cleaned up" before entering into the presence of God .

27. Brief Eschatology

28. Eschatology Eschatology is the theological study of "the last things". More specifically, it refers to heaven, hell, and purgatory, and also the end of the world. 

29. Eschatology The Four Last Things (CCC 1022) Death Judgment Heaven Hell

30. Death Particular Judgment Heaven Purgatory Hell Parousia Resurrection of the Dead General Judgment Eternity Eschatology

31. Eschatology PARTICULAR JUDGMENT Immediate judgment – where you’ll be after you die Immediately after death man can expect : immediate entrance into heaven or entrance into heaven after a purification or  immediate and everlasting damnation in hell

32. Eschatology PAROUSIA The Second Coming of Christ Catholic Christians have always believed that Jesus Christ would come back to close the current period of human history in earth.

33. Eschatology PAROUSIA The Second Coming of Christ Mark 13:26-27 And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory , and then he will send out the angels and gather (his) elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.

34. Eschatology PAROUSIA The Second Coming of Christ What comes BEFORE: Antichrist Great Tribulation

35. Eschatology PAROUSIA The Second Coming of Christ What comes next: Resurrection of the Dead General or Last Judgment

36. Eschatology PAROUSIA The Second Coming of Christ Question: Do Christ know His own Second coming? “But of that day and hour no one knows , neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son ,  but the Father alone .” – Matthew 24:36

37. Final Thoughts

38. We believe that as we can ask a fellow Christian - - a saint --to pray for us, we should be able to ask prayers from the saints already united to the Lord in heaven.

39. Just like the Saints in heaven pray for us on earth and their prayers benefit us, so the prayers and Masses we offer are of help to the souls in Purgatory.

40. We must always be prepared for death and judgment, because the end of time, or the end of our lives, may come at any time.

41. Prayer for the Holy Souls Eternal rest grant unto them. O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen