EDITOR’S NOTE: In preparation for the celebration of All Saints and All Souls’ Day, October’s formation topic for adults and junior and senior youth focused on death and hope.

On Wednesdays at Mosaic, Fr Peter offered greater understanding of the Burial Rite’s language and history. We used our new insight to reflect on the deaths of loved ones and on our own mortality.

We talked about the gift of life and its frailty—and about how our “earthly pilgrimage” leads to our deaths. Parishioners shared what they’ve learned about how they want to live from those whom they loved who have died.

We also focused on the Commendation and Committal in the Book of Common Prayer, and how the idea of commendation (entrusting ourselves and our loved ones to God) is found throughout the liturgies for death and burial. One difficult question Fr Peter posed is what it means to accept death with peace and “quiet confidence,” even while what comes after death is a mystery to us.

Though life is filled with the experience of death and sin, we have the hope of the resurrection because Christ has defeated death by death. We cannot be separated from God’s love, which will set all things right in a world not bound by sin and decay. It has been comforting to discuss these themes in community!

Junior Youth built on previous discussions about the church calendar and cycle of the seasons to explore All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

Throughout the month our discussions covered the origins of both observances, the lives of some key saints, and how we mark their individual observances throughout the year. We also considered the concept of remembering “all the saints known and unknown” of the church, what it means to live a life of faith surrounded by the Great Cloud of Witnesses, and finally how we can work to see the light of God present in others and ourselves.

On one Sunday Junior Youth met with Senior Youth for a very special project (described below).

Senior Youth also spent much of the time in October discussing the themes of death and hope.

We began with a wide ranging discussion on what it means to be prepared vs not prepared for Jesus’ return through the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. We continued with a discussion of memento mori, medieval spirituality, and ancient Christian ideas around death, including how it influenced art and architecture.

On another weekend, we partnered with junior youth to help make a frontal cloth for the ofrenda in addition to making lanterns out of glass jars (also for the ofrenda). We ended the month by attending Fr Peter’s final Sunday forum about the funeral liturgy and sharing our own experiences involving death.

Reflections