The
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day)
(Wisdom
3:1-9; Romans 5:5-11; John 6:37-40)
At the funeral mass of a man who committed suicide
someone made a curious testimony. He
said that the deceased lived a good life and was surely enjoying eternal rest. For ample reason the Church no longer denies
Christian burial in case of a suicide. But
it is presumptuous to claim that one who takes his or her life is with
God. The best that can be done is to hope
that the person was not fully aware of what was being done or repented before
life drained away.
Many of us may find ourselves in a similar condition
someday. Hopefully we will never attempt
taking our own lives. Nevertheless, our integrity
has been compromised by the bad choices we have made. We choose to hang onto to grudges rather than
to forgive. We have robbed people of
their good name if not their purses without making amends. We continually put ourselves first with
hardly a thought for the suffering. Surely
these sins have led us away from Jesus.
As we pray for the souls of all today, we rightly assume
that others one day will pray for us. We
pray that despite their sins they have come to know Jesus. We pray that he will not reject them however
great their sins may be. At the same
time we utter a prayer for ourselves as well: that we recognize the sins that
we have committed, have made reparation as far as possible, and that God will
be merciful to us as well as others.
