All Souls
The Christian dead minister to the living by reminding the living that we too will one day be dead. That's not exactly a cheerful reminder for a Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. But it is a necessary reminder. While we move about in this space and time-limited world, we can neglect the reality of the possible worlds we'll come to haunt. With faith lived in earnest hope, we look forward to haunting the Lord's table at an eternal wedding feast. That's one – hopeful – possibility. Another possibility – despairing, at best – is to choose to live eternally rejecting God's love. And then there's a third possibility, the Between Possibility, where we haunt for a while while being purged of whatever keeps us from the feast. If we're honest, most of us will confess to shooting for the third option. Fingers-crossed, relying on the prayers of family and friends, we are confident that purgatory seems our best after-death bet. Here's where the already-dead do their best work. We pray for those in purgatory and in doing so keep our hearts and minds turned toward the inevitable day of our own death. The dead minister to us by just not being here.
If all this talk of death and purgatory seems funereal, it's meant to. In its way, the Feast of All Souls is a funeral Mass for all the faithful departed. One day, one celebration for the repose of all the souls who are no longer with us. And like any funeral Mass for a single soul, this Mass has a double purpose: to pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and to shake the living out of their spiritual complacency. Mourning the dead is a ministry of the living. Shaking the living is a ministry of the dead. If we think the passing of “just souls” is a tragedy, their leaving us behind an affliction, remember that they are at peace. The Book of Wisdom says, “...chastised a little, [the souls of the just] shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.” Of course He did! Paul writes to the Romans, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Jesus himself says, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me...” Why wouldn't the just souls be greatly blessed and found worthy of God Himself? Even if they must be chastised for a little while.
It's too hard to think that one day you and I will be laid out in a box or poured into an urn. But that day is as inevitable as sunrise and sunset. That we are here this morning asking for God's mercy on the faithful departed is just one clear sign that we know our time is short. While we are here, still breathing, our work as those given to Christ by his Father is sanctifying; it's designed to bring us to and keep us in holiness. That work is the work of living freely in the hope of salvation, living freely in the love of God, and trusting absolutely that we are beloved sons and daughters of the Most High. If we are truly free to live as Christ remade us to live, then we will expend what time we have left in proclaiming in word and deed the mercy our Father offers to sinners. And we will be compelled in our proclamation by the reality that at some unknown hour it will be our turn to pass through the purging fire and onto the Narrow Gate. One mercy we can do for the dead is to pray for them. And ask for their prayers. In every sense that matters, they are more alive than we are. Even if they are being chastised, they are closer to God. Mourn for your dead joyfully b/c grace and mercy are with His holy ones. Allow them to bring you into the Wedding Feast.
