All Souls' Day: A day to remember departed loved ones with grateful hearts, love

Thousands visit the graves of departed loved ones on All Souls' Day or the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed and offering prayers.

All Souls' Day, said Fr. Ritche Salgado OCarm, "is an opportunity for us to express our gratitude and love for our loved ones who went ahead of us."

"We don't just remember them, but we pray for them, in our desire to help them to fully enter into God's presence, believing that when we die we still have traces of imperfection because of the sins and regrets that we carry with us," he said.

Lifting a verse from the book of Revelations (Rev 21:27) he added that, "Nothing impure will ever enter it (the New Jerusalem), nor anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

"We pray that our loved ones and all the souls that are being purified would finally join in God's heavenly banquet," the Carmelite priest said. — BAP, GMA Integrated News