2.11.2003 Sunday - Commemoration of all the faithful deceased
First Reading: Job 19,1.23-27
Psalm 26
Second Reading: Romans 5,5-11
Gospel: John 6,37-40
The Church reminds us what Jesus said to the Sadducees when they tried to embarrass him with a question about the resurrection. He did not hesitate in replying. Talking about the resurrection from the dead was for Jesus like talking about life, about certainties and beautiful ones at that, like talking about God. On that occasion he concluded: "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; because all are living to Him"! Our deceased brothers are alive for God and, therefore, for us too!
If the deceased are alive in the presence of God, when we are in the presence of the Father we are also in their presence, we can talk of them to Him, and they can intercede for us. Their faith and prayers can intercede on our behalf together with the intercession of the Son of God and we can pray to the Father that He may complete the purification of their lives and bring to them beatitude. Although we know nothing about Purgatory, we can, nonetheless be sure, that in order to enjoy the glory that God has promised us, it will be necessary that He Himself completes the purification of our hearts, of our love and also of our faith! "Many of us will come before God's judgement not as enemies to be condemned, but neither as friends or family to be instantly beatified: too desirous of God to be refused, but too impure to be worthy of Paradise" (P.A.M.Sicari). Purgatory is, therefore, that supplement of merciful love that God pours into us so that we can be received into His Kingdom!
So today, we will pray for the deceased, our brothers who together with us have loved the Lord, but who, because of our indifference or lukewarmness, were prevented from giving themselves completely: may our Father complete in them His act of mercy!
The term deceased in Latin is "defunctus" and does not mean "dead", but he who has completed the task that was entrusted to him! This helps us to consider life as a mission. We are not on this earth because we wanted to be here, but because we were given life as a service, in order to accomplish a task. What is our task? Each one of us must discover our own task in life by asking God our Father!
There is a general task which is common to all men and women, but each of us has a specific task in the place and the time given him or her to live. We can thus summarise the task of every Christian: to reflect the beauty of the love of the Father, to receive and spread out in the world the Spirit of God, to give glory to God by contributing to the harmony and peace of mankind! The way in which we do this depends on the different circumstances of time, place, person and situation which vary so much for each one of us.
Our mission does not stop when we retire! As long as we have life in us, we have the joy of being able to respond to the love of God by living in obedience to Him! When we commend our spirit to Him, we will be "defuncti" - deceased. And the hand of the Father will receive us. He will recognise that we belong to His son, because we have listened to him and he has committed himself to raise us from the dead "on the last day"! With his death he has earned our pardon and salvation.
The death of Jesus is different from our deaths: his death gives meaning to ours, and, thanks to him, it becomes our "sister" as St Francis of Assisi would say! We are not afraid of death, since Jesus offered to die for us, sinners. We can, therefore, observe our passing with joy, as that moment in which we will experience in full the love of the Father without the limitations of our flesh, of our egoism, of our sins and our fears.
We can, therefore, repeat the words from the book of Job full of certainty and joy: "for I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth (dust), and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then without my flesh I shall see God. Whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another."
The mystery of the communion of the saints which we celebrated yesterday and
continue to celebrate today, stimulates us to commit ourselves to living seriously,
though with serenity, our tasks as the faithful, as children of the God of love
and peace and as disciples of Jesus.