The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

November 2, 2025 – All Souls Day-Luke 7:11-17

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This is a feast that once encouraged prayers for the departed. It can still be that, but I think of it also as an opportunity to be reminded that we are connected with all humanity, both those who are departed to the next life and those with whom we share life on Earth right now. This is timely given that it is reported that these days so many live alone, work alone and as a result feel lonely, isolated or forgotten.

I recall a brilliant film made more than fifty years back entitled “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” staring Allen Arkin. Based on a novel of the same title it described the life of an overlooked and largely invisible deaf mute person who passed his days mostly ignored by others and eventually suffers a terrible death by suicide. Implied is that he might have been okay if only people interacted with him. Just a little.

If feelings of loneliness and isolation were a problem a half century back, what is it like today with so many people living alone and distanced from family, friends or anyone?

Such a matter is no simple fix. We live in a very mobile society and in dwellings that are often shut off from neighbors and daily social contact. We also have an aging population which confines people to safe and secure settings, but the result is that people can go days and days without any human contact.

Years back, All Souls Day served Catholics as a reminder to pray for departed souls who might be in purgatory and with our prayers and other acts of piety their time there might be shortened. So here I am suggesting that we expand the meaning of the feast to include all living souls in need of assistance. Our extending a friendly smile, a good word or an offer of assistance enriches the lives of others and ourselves. A win-win situation.

Given that many of us now communicate with others mostly via our cell phones and laptops, we can also initiate contact with others via those technological marvels.

Often these new forms of communication and contact are described as being over-used by teens and young adults. But what about the rest of us who are possibly feeling forgotten or overlooked? So, today remember some souls who would appreciate being remembered,  even if with a brief phone call to see how they are doing. Call it a new work of mercy.

David M. Thomas, PhD