Remembering the Dead to Alter Our Lives!

Thursday, November 2, 2023

The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

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

Following the celebration of All Saints Day, we celebrate All Souls Day. 

This day evokes mixed feelings in us. While, on the one hand, we remember the loss of loved ones and offer our prayers for them, we are called to remember our mortality as humans on the other. A day like this is also a stark reminder of how powerful death remains ‘as if’ it can never be conquered and will devour every human life on a fateful day. 

However, it is not to reel under such negativity about life that we celebrate All Souls Day. 

Rather, we are called to honor the lives of the dead in the face of the victorious resurrection of Christ himself. Death or the end of human life may look powerful and threatening. However, we are called to realize that our God is omnipotent and more powerful than death and that it does not have the final say in a Christian’s life. There is life after death, and therefore, death as a finality is not a reality for Christians. 

If the life of Jesus had ended in his death, it would have been yet another human tragedy. But it was not so! The resurrection of Christ has given us the hope that there is ‘life after death’ and that it is more glorious than our life on earth. 

Hence, though it is a day to remember the dead, its objective is to make us examine our lives. The fact of death should not discourage us; rather, the fact of life should animate us. 

As such, the day leaves us with three lessons. 

1.To follow the model of Jesus: Jesus’ life taught us how to live, and his death taught us how to die. If we believe that Jesus was glorified by his resurrection, then, one day at a future time, it would be ours too because of our faith in him. That hope should animate our lives. If faith in Christ can vindicate us from death, a life like his is sure to bring us the reward. 

2. To make this one life meaningful: If we have to make meaning out of this life, human mortality should not cripple us but give us wings. It should help us experience the urgency of living our daily lives in goodness and love, just as Jesus lived his. The earthly life of Jesus was purposeful. His public ministry was steadily progressing from Galilee to Golgotha. Though he was inching towards his death every day, he did it by giving life to many along the way. The reality of his death never deterred him from spreading God’s love. That is our example of imitation for a meaningful life.

3. Heaven as the Goal: If heaven is our goal, we should add life to our years and not vice versa. Our worthy life on earth will earn heaven as its reward. In other words, helping people experience God is a gateway to a perpetual life with God after our death. Living in the ‘Colony of Heaven,’ let us make it our goal and destiny. 

As we gratefully remember our loved ones for the memories they have given us, let us pray for God’s grace to live our lives in faith and love, imitating the life of Christ himself. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar