In some church calendars, today is All Soul’s Day, or “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.” All Saint’s Day is November 1. All Hallows Eve is October 31.

This isn’t a lesson on the celebrations of the church.

Instead, it’s a quiet plea to replace, briefly, All and Every with Each.

Each soul. Each saint.

When masses of people are killed, we tend to linger on how many. Meanwhile, each family is lingering on the way their life has fundamentally changed.

When famous people die, we hear details and responses for several news cycles. Meanwhile, the family I met this week is mourning an amazing mother to several kids and grandkids. She will never make the news, but her death will change the story of this family. The father of a friend. The only child who left only one child. The child who never took a breath.

When we think about all and every, we can miss the value of each.

Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

If a half-penny sparrow is worth remembering, so is each of us.

And when the news stories decide that everything is back to normal, each of those families, each of you, aren’t. And so, perhaps, we can remember them.

Each.