November 2, 2008, Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day)

Fittingly, the readings this Sunday are “funeral readings.” We are commemorating our dead. The first reading assures us that those who were tragically slain, young, before their lives could be lived (especially those who were struck down for the sake of goodness,) are in God’s eternal care, a “future” that may, indeed, involve them in the Greater Responsibilities of “judging nations.” Why? Because they’ve learned the hard way all about the pointlessness of violence and revenge, and, because His Grace and Mercy abide with them, they are tutored in a deeper, more profound charity. In the first option for a second reading, St. Paul reminds us that “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts,” the very same Love that the Song of Songs assures us is “stronger than death.” The second option for a second reading presents a “cosmic view” of baptism, wherein it may start in a small baptismal pool, but in reality it is an initiation onto the eternal path that will bring us “to the Glory of the Father”--the beginning, then, of an eternal journey to the Heart of God. And, in the Gospel reading, Jesus assures us by all that’s Holy and Good that the will of the One Who sent Him is that He should not lose anything given Him...and in I Corinthians 15, which will be read in a few weeks for the Feast of Christ the King, we are told that by the end of time, ALL will have been given Him, and all creation will be placed beneath His feet so that He can present it to the Father. These are indeed optimistic and hopeful readings in the face of death’s dominion, and they call us to trust the God Who gave us life–a God Who has proven trustworthy in every generation.