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All Souls' Day -- A General Requiem Mass
[November 2]
THE COLLECT
Remember them, O Lord, in Thy kingdom, the faithful souls whom we knew but see no longer: Grant them Thy peace; let the light above the aeons shine upon them; grant them we pray thee, a place of refreshment, a blessed tranquility, and the splendour of Thy Gnosis. O Eternal One, who abidest ever outside the limitations of time, we beseech Thee to shed forth upon the assembly of Thy faithful children on earth, in heaven and in the underworld the bright beams of Thy light and supernal comfort; and grant that we, following the examples of those who have attained to Thy Gnosis, and for whose blessed memory we continually give thanks unto Thee, may with them at length enter into Thine ineffable splendour and unending joy and attain to union with Thee who wert and art and art to come.
Amen.
THE LESSON
The lesson is taken from the Book of the Pistis Sophia:
Every man who is to receive the mysteries, if they knew the time wherein they would leave the body, they would be mindful and commit no acts of darkness, so that they might ever inherit the Kingdom of the Light. Now then, let him who shall do what is worthy of the mysteries receive the mysteries and go to the Light. He who is to receive the mysteries becomes a great fire, very mighty and wise, and it burns up evils, and the flames secretly enter the soul and consume all the veils which the spirit of imitation has fastened on it, and the soul surrenders their destiny, saying to the rulers of destiny: ‘Take to yourselves your destiny; henceforth I come no more to your region; I have forever become alien to you, being about to go to the region of my inheritance.’ Thus the knower, the receiver of the mysteries is free in his body and out of it, whether born on earth or reborn in heaven.
THE GOSPEL
The gospel is taken from the Gospel according to St. Thomas:
Jesus said: I took my stand in the midst of the world and in flesh I appeared to them; I found them all drunk, I found none among them athirst. And my soul was afflicted for the souls of men, because they are blind in their heart and do not see that empty they have come into the world and that empty they seek to go out of the world again. But now they are drunk. When they have shaken off their wine, then will they repent. Jesus said: If the flesh has come into existence because of the spirit it is a marvel; but if the spirit has come into existence because of the body it is a marvel of marvels. But I marvel at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty. The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us how our end will be. Jesus said: Have you then discovered the beginning so that you inquire about the end? For where the beginning is, there shall be the end. Blessed is he who shall stand at the beginning, and he shall know the end and he shall not taste death.
A Homily for All Soul's Day
presented by the Most Reverend Stephan A. Hoeller, bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostic