In the Father’s Hands: The Light That Never Goes Out

Yesterday we looked at the stained-glass windows in our home—those saints who let God’s light shine in. Today, November 2, All Souls’ Day, the light is still shining, but we look at it from a different perspective: that of grateful remembrance and prayer.

The Church dedicates this day to remembering those who have completed their earthly pilgrimage. It is a day when the pain of separation is tempered by the certainty of the Resurrection. We do not remember them with inconsolable sadness, but with the faith that those who walk with Christ in this life live and rise with Him forever.

That is why the family of the Daughters of Jesus comes together today in a shared prayer of gratitude and hope for our sisters who have passed away in the past year, for our family members, and for all our loved ones.

A Light for Our Prayer

To mark this day, we wanted to return to Mother Candida. The reflections that follow are drawn from the book *The Daughter of Jesus in Illness According to the Writings of the Foundress*, by Placidia García García, FI, which compiles her letters and reflections on the Christian meaning of suffering, the final passage, and eternal life.

Thy will be done

Faced with the frailty and passing of her loved ones, Mother Cándida’s deepest attitude was always to accept God’s will with love. In her letters, she expressed this with simplicity: “May God’s will be done, and may His most holy will be fulfilled.” She was convinced that “the Lord is just as worthy of blessings in sickness as in times of health.” She teaches us to accept the end with peace, placing ourselves entirely in the Father’s hands.

Suffering That Is Not in Vain

Mother Cándida tells us that the hardships and suffering of recent years make sense when they are united with Jesus on the cross and the Virgin of Sorrows. It is a journey of identification with Christ, and she summed it up this way: “We must climb to Calvary, and from there, to heaven.” Whoever dies with Jesus out of love walks with the certainty of rising with Him.

Two Good Friends for the Final Hour

When the time came to face the final stage of life, Mother Candida instilled a deep sense of peace in her daughters. She asked them not to be afraid or lose their peace, and reminded them with a mother’s tenderness that “Jesus is our most loving Father and Mary Immaculate our loving Mother,” the “best friends and advocates at the hour of death.”

With her gaze fixed on heaven

Christian hope looks toward the heavenly homeland, for which the Foundress “longed continually.” In her writings, she imagined entering eternity as God’s merciful embrace, in which He welcomes the faithful soul with these words: “Come, my bride, to enjoy the glory I promised you… Enter the Kingdom of your Lord.”

A bond that cannot be broken

Death does not sever the bond of love that unites us with our sisters and loved ones. Mother Cándida asked the sisters who had gone to heaven to continue interceding for the Congregation and for the world. Those who rest in God continue to live in the communion of saints; they accompany us on our journey and pray for our families.

Grateful Remembrance

These certainties we receive from Saint Candida help us and fill us with hope. Thus, with sisterly affection and trusting prayer, we remember today the sisters who have gone to their eternal rest in the past year:

Prayer

Lord and our Father, on this Day of the Faithful Departed, we thank you for the lives our sisters and loved ones have given. Welcome them into your dwelling of peace and eternal light. Grant them the rest You have promised, and grant us—who continue our journey on earth—the grace to live with a living faith, united in love, until the day when we are all reunited with You in an eternal embrace of mercy. Amen.