Commentary
Thursday, 11/2/2017, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
Remember Our Deceased with Faith
First Reading Commentary: Wisdom 3:1-9
Today, we celebrate everyone who has died to this life in faith. The book of Wisdom tells us that their souls are in the hand of God and that no torment shall touch them. But this is not the first thing that comes to our minds when we loose someone who is close to us. We grieve and mourn because they are gone from us forever, or so we may think.
Our experience in this life is but a temporary journey and it is an exodus from this world into the next and when we complete our journey, we will be with the ones who have completed their journey before us. People who do not understand this; the book of Wisdom calls foolish, because they consider the passing away of a loved one as an affliction and destructive.
But even people who do understand the exodus of this life struggle with their emotions when they loose someone who is close to them. That is because we will miss them and the idea of never seeing them again breaks our hearts and hurts us deeply. That is a sign of love which is a wonderful thing. But it is also the result of our thinking in a worldly way which causes us to think of ourselves. But doesn't God have that same, right? Consider this: We are not in the habit of thinking about how much we break God's heart when we die to Him in sin although we should.
This is a day for us to remember that our departed faithful are with God which means that they are at peace and will experience eternal joy in heaven and that is something which should bring joy to our hearts. This is a day for us to remember that we should be thinking about ourselves but not in grief. Rather, we should be thinking about the day that we will be with them and experiencing eternal joy with them. Therefore, we should be thinking about the way that we are living our lives because our journey is not yet complete. We should be focusing on making ourselves ready for when our last day in this life comes so that when it does, we also die in faith. Then we will see our loved ones again and be with them forever.
Wisdom tells us that everyone who has died in faith has been tried and found to be worthy. God has taken them to Himself. On the day of their visitation, they shall shine and they shall judge nations and rule over peoples and the LORD shall be their King forever. This message from Wisdom was shown to John in his vision of the last day in Revelations 20:4.
None of us wants to die and we are not supposed to invite death because God gave us this life. He wants us to make the best of it and this gift of life is not ours to take away from ourselves or others. But what we see in Revelations is something to look forward to. It is our inheritance and God’s promise to us if we are found to be worthy and we should strive to achieve the reward of that promise.
Wisdom tells us that if we trust in God and are faithful to Him; we shall understand truth and abide with Him in love because His grace and mercy will be with us and He will care for us. There is nothing on earth that can compare to God’s love and grace and the promise of the Kingdom.
To Die with Christ Is to Live Forever
Second Reading Commentary: Romans 6:3-9
In this part of his letter to the Romans, Paul confirms the message in today’s reading from Wisdom. Paul also reminds us that when we were baptized, we were baptized into the death of Jesus because our sins went to the cross with Him so that we might live in newness of life.
Paul tells us that when we die to sin, we are in union with Christ and our sinful body is done away with so that we are no longer slaves to sin. When we die to sin, we are absolved from sin. But we do not have to wait until we have taken our last breath to be given this absolution because Jesus gave us the Sacrament of Confession. And every time that we make an honest and sincere confession, the grace of the sacrament flows and we experience a death to sin.
Paul also makes the point that when we die with Christ, we live with Christ. Death has no power over Christ. Therefore, if we live with Christ, death has no power over us and we live with Him throughout all of eternity.
I Shall Raise Him on the Last Day
Gospel Commentary: John 6:37-40
Jesus said, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” This is a confirmation that we are all God’s children which is why Jesus does not reject anyone who goes to Him. We have all been given to the Son by the Father.
Jesus tells us that He did not come to do His own will but the will of the Father and that it is the Father’s will that the Son does not loose anything which is given to Him. This is another reason why Jesus does not reject anyone who goes to Him. This also means that God wants us to be with Him. Jesus tells us this when He says, “…everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
What Jesus says in this gospel is a promise to fulfill the vision that John had in Revelations. It is the fulfillment of the Son’s New Covenant with the human race. It is the fulfillment of the promise of the Kingdom which Christ made when He gave us the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. It is the promise that everyone who dies in faith, will be with the Son forever in the Kingdom.
On this day, we remember the promise of this gospel as we also remember our deceased. But we should also remember that few of us will die totally free from sin and may spend time in purgatory before entering heaven. Therefore, we should pray for the souls in purgatory asking that they receive their reward in heaven just as we will want the living to pray for us if we should go to purgatory first, and most of us will because we are all sinners. So even though we set this day aside as a special day to pray for the dead and the souls in purgatory; we should pray for them every day. This is why Catholics always include an intention for the deceased in the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass.
