Homily for 2 Nov 2015 All Souls

2 Nov 2015

All Souls Day

Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40

Death is not the end.  And that’s not just wishful thinking; it’s a fact of life revealed to us by the One who made us.  If there’s anybody who knows that death is not the end, it’s God.  And that’s why Jesus can speak of “eternal life,” and being “raised up on the last day.”  He knows about such things because he is God.  And that’s why we listen to him. 

Without the hope that he gives us, there’s really no reason to celebrate All Saints Day or to gather and pray for All Souls.  But we do come together in hope and with faith in Christ, who “takes all things to himself” here on earth and in the afterlife. 

On All Saints Day yesterday, we heard in Scripture the idea of “purification,” and how the Saints are those who are “pure of heart,” and so come to “see God.”  And the life stories of many Saints remind us that coming to “see God” is a process; it’s a process of purifying our souls and minds from all of those things that get in between us and God.

It’s like trying to look through a dirty window.  The dirtier the window is, the harder it is to see, and the darker it is.  But the cleaner the window is, the more we can see; and what we see is more vibrant and distinct.  “Blessed are the pure of heart, the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”  The Saints are those who finally attained such a purity of heart that they see God as he is and experience the perfection of the love, happiness, peace and joy.

Of course, that’s what we’re hoping for.  We’re always working to clean off those muddy smudges of sin, and the foggy haze of unbelief in our souls so that we can see better and live more fully—today and forever.  It’s a process of cleansing that begins when we’re born, and it continues on until the time we finally come to see God face-to-face in heaven.

Now, it’s significant that All Souls Day follows on the heels of All Saints Day . . . because today we pray—not for the Saints, but for all the dead who are still being cleansed and purified.  Death is not the end.  It isn’t the end.  Death is the continuation of the life we began to live here on earth—a life of turning toward God, a life of faith and hope and love.  We pray for our departed loved ones and friends (and all the faithful departed) who see God more clearly than we do . . . but who are still on the journey toward seeing God perfectly.

Of course, our the Catholic Tradition calls this “purgatory.”  But it would be a tragic mistake to think the faithful departed are, somehow, “lost” or in torment.  No, no, no.  “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them” [Wis 3:1].  The faithful departed we pray for today are on the doorstep of heaven; they’re on the front porch.  The door of God’s heart is open to them, they have a foot on the threshold, and they’re in the process of going through that door.  After all, they are the faithful departed. 

And they’re in the same process that we ourselves are in today—the process of letting go and letting God take them to himself.  Exactly where our departed loved ones and friends are, we don’t know.  They could be among the Saints who see God face-to-face, or they could be among those who are almost there.  We don’t know.  But we do know that they are the faithful departed.  As they were faithful to God here on earth, so God is even more faithful to them in death.  We pray that they come to see God face-to-face, and enjoy the perfection of peace and life.

Death is not the end.  It’s not the end of our life of faith—it’s the fulfillment of our life of faith; our life of hope and love.  And this is just a fact of life revealed to us by Jesus our Lord and Savior.