All Faithful Departed (All Souls)

THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED Homily The scriptures today tell us several things. The first is that we, as Christians, take death seriously. We do remember and mourn our deceased loved ones, because death significantly alters our relationship with them. They can no longer hug us or bake cookies for us; we can no longer phone them for advice or ask them to babysit. We miss those things… we feel their loss… and so, we shed the tears of the prophet Isaiah.

In his humanity, like every other human before or since, Jesus experienced pain and bodily death. Then something special happened. Because he surrendered his life freely, in obedient trust to his Father, the Father vindicated him. On the third day, which we celebrate as Easter (and weekly every Sunday), the Father raised him up to life –a life transformed, forever beyond the reach of pain and death. And his resurrection is the source of our hope.

We have the promise of Jesus himself on this; as we heard in the Gospel from John: “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [or her] (on) the last day.”

What will eternal life be like? The short answer is that we don’t exactly know –it is beyond our experience. A couple of things we do know, however. It won’t be disembodied. It is no accident that the risen Christ in the Gospels eats with his disciples. He is reminding them, and us, that the body is God’s creation, and that he has sanctified the flesh by his own incarnation. He is also reminding them, and us, that we are incomplete unless we are the whole package, a body permeated with indwelling spirit.

Many years ago, when I was teaching moral values in high school, a 15-year old came to talk to me. He was struggling with our Catholic belief in the afterlife; and he basically confessed that he didn’t want to live forever. We talked for a bit, and I found out that he had had a pretty sad and painful life: his mother had died; he had lost a sibling as well; his surviving parent, his dad, was a public official and so had little time to spend with his kids. I did my best to stretch the young man’s imagination that evening –to help him to see that yes, eternal life was forever, but that it was a forever different from any life we have ever known. We will be united with those we love, and like ourselves, they will not age, or suffer illness and injury, or die and “leave us” again.

One last thing, according to the old Baltimore Catechism, the Church Militant is us –still on the front lines battling with sin and suffering and the vicissitudes of everyday life. The Church triumphant we celebrated yesterday –the feast of All Saints, known and unknown– those who are already in Heaven. And the Church Suffering we celebrate today for those who are destined for heaven, but who are undergoing purification for the sinful parts of their lives in purgatory. We can support these “souls” in their painful self-

confrontation by our solidarity and our prayers; they can support us with their love and prayers in our struggle as we stumble along constructing our own flawed lives.

We remember and unite ourselves with the saints and with all the dead each time we share the Bread of Life at this table. We celebrate our hope that life and love endure unvanquished, even by bodily death –that God, in Jesus, has conquered sin, pain, and death, and that our final destiny is eternal joy and peace, even in our bodies. And so, we join St. Paul in laughing at death: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (I Cor. 15:55). And We confess with Job: “I know that my Redeemer lives… and after my skin has been… destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:2526). And so it is that we can pray in faith: “Saints of God, come to our aid! And may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”

Entrance Today's celebration of All Souls is more a feast of hope than a day of mourning for the dead. By visiting the graves of our beloved ones and praying for all who have died, we profess and affirm our faith that we are still linked with the dead, that for us they are not gone for ever but that we shall see them again in the home of our Father in heaven. Let us celebrate this resurrection faith today.

Prayer of the Faithful Let us pray to our living God, who created us for life and happiness. God will not give us up to death but give us eternal life. Let us pray to him.

God of life, we thank you for the assurance that the dead are in your hands and that we are called and destined to eternal life on account of your risen Son Jesus. Do not let our heart be troubled but reunite us one day with those whom we have known and loved. Lead us all to you through him who is our way, Jesus Christ our Lord.