The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)
Every priest has his favorite ministry. Some priests like weddings, some like preaching, others like visiting the sick and still others teaching. I am among those priests whose favorite ministry is funerals. Last year, we had about 40 funerals here at IC. And If I add the funerals I had at St. Helen and at funeral homes, I had a funeral a week. I had funeral services of elderly and young people, people I knew well and those that I did not, those who died of natural causes and those who took their own life, those who believed and those who gave up their faith, and I also buried a little baby. The one thing that was common to these funerals was the each one of them was unfailingly was a deep experience of God. Not that the other aspects of my ministry are not divine encounters, but at a funeral, I cannot but confront the God who loves us beyond death.
Perhaps, though, I should begin with you. Within the last year most of you present here have laid to rest someone you love very dearly – father, a mother, a husband, a wife, a brother, a sister, a son or a daughter. For that matter, all of us have at some time laid to rest someone we love. And it hurts. Nothing hurts more than death. But in the most paradoxical way, death also reveals God. So today, even though we are here to remember the death of a loved one, it is not death that we celebrate. We are here to celebrate the God who leads our loved ones and us to eternal love, eternal rest, and eternal life.
1. Death is the moment of Life. One of the starkest realities of life is standing in the presence of the dead body of someone we love. And perhaps memories flood our minds; memories of playing, eating, sleeping, praying , loving or perhaps even fighting with that person. This same person now lies lifeless in our presence. Recently, I had the most chilling experience of “touching death.” I was at hospice to administer the last sacraments to somebody. As I anointed the person, I felt the warmth of the body; but it was as if I was touching death. Later the family informed me that the person has in fact died barely moments before I came. At that very moment, I also became aware of how alive I was. This is where today’s first reading comes in. It tells us that “The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.” This means that in reality, the person who we consider lifeless is actually more alive than we are. We are the ones who are dead. Our loved ones are now as alive as God is. For us who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, death is also the moment of life.
2. Death is a moment of Grace. Today’s second reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans is my all-time favorite passage. St. Paul says, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” This is precisely the meaning of grace – that we are freely given what we never imagined we would deserve. Because of the death of Christ, our death has been transformed into a moment of grace. It is precisely at death that we become one with the unimaginable love of God in Jesus Christ. And scripture does not say that this is only for the righteous. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. God loves us beyond sin and death. So today, no matter what the circumstances of the death of your loved one, they are not untouched by the God’s unfathomable love in Jesus Christ. Death is a moment of grace.
3. Death is the moment of Salvation. The most permanent and paralyzing effect of death is absence. Is that not why we call death, a loss? In death we lose the people we love. Or do we? Today’s gospel gives us a different picture. Revealing God will Jesus says to his disciples, “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me.” The God of Jesus Christ is a God who saves. The birth, life, and death of Jesus is witness to a God who is eagerly eager to save. Death is that moment when we experience the fullness of the saving power of God. Really speaking, then, in death we do not lose our loved ones gain them for eternity. Death is our moment of salvation.
- Fr. Satish Joseph