Isaiah 25:6-9 / Romans 5:5-11 / John 7:11-17
There are two important days in our life.
One is, of course, our birthday, the day that we came into this world.
That day appears in all our personal documents, and we also celebrate that day in various ways.
The other day that is important is the day that we leave this world.
For all of us here, we do not know when that day will be.
And because we don’t know when that day will be, it leaves us rather curious and also anxious.
Today we remember and we also pray for the faithful departed.
We also remember especially our departed loved ones, and we pray that they will rest in peace.
When we visit them at the cemetery or in the columbium, we see the date of their birth, as well as the date that they left this world.
Between those two dates, they were with us, and they have left fond and warm memories in our hearts.
We remember what they said to us, what they did for us, how they have loved us, and how they have helped us become better persons.
Yes, on this day, we remember our departed loved ones and we pray for them.
And on this day, our faith also leads us to think about the other world.
Those who have died have left us and left this world.
They have passed on from this world to the next world, or, to the other world.
For them, life is changed, not ended.
For them, life is changed and changed forever because they have gone back to the Lord.
And God has prepared for them an eternal home so that they can rest eternally in His presence.
The 1st reading gives this image of a mountain where the Lord has prepared a banquet of rich food.
The departed have gone up to that mountain of the Lord, where He will wipe away the tears from every cheek.
So, we believe that the departed have gone back home to be with God forever.
It is with this belief that we remember our departed loved ones with love.
Our faith and our hope tells us that God has prepared a place for each of us in our eternal home.
So, although we do not know when will be the day that we will have to leave this world, let us not be too curious or be too anxious about it.
When that day comes for us to leave this world, let us believe that we will pass on from this world to the next world, where God is waiting for us.
As for the departed, we remember them and we also miss them, and we will also grieve as we mourn for them.
The deeper the relationship we had with them, the deeper will be the grief and with tears.
But the Lord Jesus will console us just as He consoled the widow who lost her son.
The departed will not come back to life in this world.
But the goodness of their lives will continue in our lives as we remember them.
And our hope is that we will meet them again in the homeland in heaven.
In that heavenly homeland, we will see the God in whom we hoped for salvation.
Yes, we will be reunited with our departed loved ones, and we will exalt and rejoice in God who saves us.
That is our faith, that is our hope, as we remember and pray for the departed on this All Souls Day.