Commemoration of
All the Faithful Departed
(Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 5:5-11; John 6:37-40)
Now, in November, the
cold winds have begun to blow, at least in northern climes. The days grow dark
early, and the trees have shed their leaves. Death is in the air, and some of
us can feel it in our bones.
At seventy or eighty years of age, we no longer have the same energy we once had.
We cannot work all day and stay out late at night. Many people we once knew
—relatives, teachers, and friends— have already departed from this world.
Moreover, modern times, with its endless novelties, can leave us feeling lost,
as if we awoke one morning in a foreign land.
It is time to prepare
for death. Death takes us away like a moving truck carries away our furniture
when we relocate. It is a passive act which we can resist for a while, but
eventually to which we must yield. Yet death can also be a positive act. We are
not speaking here of suicide, which is merely an acceleration of the passive.
Rather, we can see death as an opportunity to encounter Christ. In his Letter
to the Philippians, Saint Paul writes: “For to me, life is Christ, and death is
gain” (Phil 1:21). The apostle awaits his death as a bride awaits her beloved.
Our goal, too, is to live with the Lord forever. Today’s Gospel shows us the
way: Jesus says that those who see him and believe that he is the Son of God,
will have eternal life.
Sadly, there are
forces in our society that work against our desire to see death as the doorway
to eternal life. They trivialize death,
as if it were merely the end of living, with little meaning in itself. Such
people do not place their hope in Christ as their eternal Savior. For them,
life is confined between birth and death, and its value is measured only by
what happens within those limits.
One of the factors
that trivialize death can be seen in how Halloween is now celebrated. It is no
longer the eve of All Saints’ Day, when restless souls were permitted to wander
the world in search of comfort. Now the day is filled with images of violent
death designed to frighten the gullible —until, like Santa Claus at Christmas,
no one believes in it anymore.
Assisted suicide also darkens the meaning of death as the threshold to meeting
the Lord. Those who choose this path see life as worthwhile only so long as it has
promising, earthly rewards. They fail to see that human life has a
transhistorical dimension which calls for the sacrifice of self in order to do
the will of God.
Finally, we see death trivialized in the “celebrations of life” that many now
prefer instead of a funeral. These gatherings often overlook the sins of the
deceased and make little mention of their virtues. Too often they focus on the
incongruences of a person’s life that make way for laughter.
Our Catholic tradition
is rightly more solemn. We bring the body to church, surrounded by family and
friends. We come to console one another for the loss of a loved one. Our
presence acknowledges the good deeds of the deceased while our hearts give
thanks to God for their virtues. Equally important, we pray that their sins may
be purified so they may enter the presence of the Lord.
Today, on All Souls’
Day, we have another occasion to pray for the dead. We ask God not only for our
deceased loved ones but also for the countless anonymous souls who have gone
before us. We pray that the Lord will forgive their sins and cleanse their faults.
And in return, we may hope that others at some future time and place will pray
for us.
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