Today,
on the day after the Feast of All Saints, we gather to pray for all our
beloved dead who await their place in heaven. Yesterday we celebrated
and sought the intercession of all those who are already with the Lord.
Today, we assist those on the way with our prayers.
We gather to pray for those who have died down
through the ages - in wars, through disease, in accidents. We pray for
those who have died too young and those who died in peace after a long
life, safe in their bed and surrounded by those they love. We pray for
those who died in anguish, alone and seemingly forgotten.
This day, when we gather for All Souls Day, we
remember, in particular, those we know who have died. We pray for our
parents and grandparents, our spouses, our siblings, our nephews and
nieces, our cousins, our children and our friends.
Remembering, commemorating is what we do today so
that none of those who have died may be lost or forgotten. In that
Gospel we just heard, Jesus reassures us that his mission, given him by
the Father, is to make sure that no one is lost.
For those without faith, death is the ultimate
and lasting separation from those we love. These are the ones for whom
the ancient author of the Book of Wisdom says that death is “utter
destruction,” and that those who suffer and die seem to endure
punishment.
But for people of faith, “the souls of the just
are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them.” It is that
faith that helps us to endure death - the death of those we love, and
the death that seems all around us at times in senseless shootings, by
drug overdoses, by acts of terror, in war, and incomprehensibly in the
twenty-first century, by starvation.
Our faith does not protect us from the pain of
death. To be separated from those we love by death can break our hearts.
The voice we knew so well is silenced. The touch, the smell, the loving
gaze is no longer there. No, our faith does not make death easy, but it
does make it meaningful.
St. Paul says to the Church in Rome long ago and
says to us today, “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has
been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given
to us…God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners
Christ died for us.” Death is meaningful for believers because of the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Death has meaning because we have been plunged
into Christ’s saving death and resurrection in the waters of baptism.
And we don’t earn this new life. It is pure gift. God takes the
initiative, as St. Paul makes clear — “while we were still sinners
Christ died for us.”
For people of faith, death has meaning because it
does not get to have the final say.
The final say belongs to the Father who raised
Jesus from death to new and everlasting life. We wear white vestments
today, the color of Easter Resurrection, because our prayer for those
who have died is a prayer of confidence in God’s power to overcome sin
and death, and bring new life.
But, we might ask, what about my family member or
friends who either left the church or were never baptized? Jesus says to
us today, “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” So we pray for
them, too, this day, and we trust in the Lord’s mercy for them. We
trust that his love can overcome whatever obstacle that might have been
placed in the way of his life-giving love.
Our prayers for them, and for all who have died,
affirm our belief that all the ties of friendship and affection that
knit us together in this life do not unravel at death. Even though we
can no longer see or hear or touch them, we believe that we are still
connected to those who have died. And so we believe our prayers touch
them and help them.
As we gather around the altar of the Lord on this
All Souls Day, we call upon all those saints we celebrated yesterday to
assist our beloved dead on their journey to join them. Here we bring all
those who have died, trusting that they will never be lost or forgotten.
May the Father of mercies and our faithful God,
who raised Christ from the dead, and makes him present today on this
altar through the power of the Holy Spirit, may this faithful One draw
us, along with all our beloved dead, into his saving, and life-giving
love.
Father Gary F. Lazzeroni
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