In celebrating a Nov. 2, 2020 All Souls Day Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Cardinal-designate Wilton Gregory reminded the faithful that while they mourn the loss of those who have preceded them in death, the Eucharist offers eternal life.

“There are many fine foods that make us healthy and look good – but all foods are intended to make us live,” Cardinal-designate Gregory said. “Only the Eucharist is the food to allow us to live forever. It is a food that does not guarantee health or beauty, but life itself.”

“The Eucharist becomes our pledge that our own lives – fragile and fleeting as they may appear – are destined to last forever,” he said.

Cardinal-designate Gregory was the principal celebrant of the midday Mass in commemoration of all the faithful departed, which was live streamed over the Internet on various social media platforms. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, seating was limited at the cathedral. 

Referring to the Gospel reading for the Mass from John 11 in which Jesus refers to Himself as “the resurrection and the life,” Cardinal-designate Gregory said Jesus is “the bread of life, and those who dine upon this Eucharistic bread will live forever. Those who dine upon this blessed and broken bread will have the source of life.”

While calling the death of a loved one an “awesome and unavoidable experience,” the cardinal-designate reminded the faithful that “we are not defined by or limited by the grave.”

“The grieving that we do at the loss of a loved one is intense, painful and very real. We have profound questions about our own destiny and the meaning of life – that is good because they are intended to draw us very close to the source of our lives,” Cardinal-designate Gregory said.

He said that celebrating the Eucharist in remembrance of the dead is “a commemoration and expiation of those who have gone before us” and is proof that “we have a destiny that death is powerless to destroy or change. The Lord of life never abandons them or us.”

Offering the Mass for loved ones who have died is not a denial of “the sorrows we have felt for a loved one who has died… (but) a promise that we have a relationship, a future that not even death itself can take away from us,” Cardinal-designate Gregory added.

He said the Mass was an opportunity to “join the Church Universal this day in praying for all the faithful departed. We embrace in our prayer … (those) who have preceded us in death and ask the merciful Lord to receive them before the throne of grace.”

During the Mass, prayers were offered “for all who have died in the peace of Christ,” those who have died due to the complications of coronavirus, and especially for the deceased former archbishops of Washington: Archbishop Michael Curley, the first Archbishop of Washington who served from 1939 until his death in 1947; Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle, the archbishop of Washington from 1948 until 1973 who died in 1987; Cardinal William Baum, the archbishop of Washington from 1973 until 1980 who died in 2015; and Cardinal James Hickey, the archbishop of Washington from 1980 until 2000 who died in 2004.

Following the Mass, Cardinal-designate Gregory proceeded to the cathedral’s St. Francis Chapel to offer prayers where three former archbishops of Washington – Cardinals O’Boyle, Baum and Hickey – are buried.

“Grant to the souls of your departed servants release from all their sins,” Cardinal-designate Gregory prayed.

In addition to the Mass at the cathedral, Cardinal-designate Gregory prepared an All Souls Day message that was taped at St. Michael Parish Cemetery in Ridge, Maryland. In that message, he noted that while “we take time during this month (of November) to remember our loved ones, this year we pray in a special way for the souls of all those lost to the coronavirus and pandemic.”

In that message, he said that by offering Masses, saying prayers or praying a rosary for deceased loved ones, “we confidently entrust their souls to the mercy of our heavenly Father who loves us and to His Son, Jesus Christ, who died and rose that we may live forever.”