The living must pray for the dead: an act of faith in the resurrection.
November 2 2019: The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
(All Souls)
A Bantu Proverb says, “A dead man does not know where his
grave is.” It is up to the living to bury and to pray for the dead.
A Senegalese writer, Birago Diop, in his work ‘The
Breath of the Ancestors’ wrote, “Those who died never left. They are in the
shadow that lights up and in the shadow that thickens. The dead are not under the
ground. They are in the trembling tree, they are in the groaning wood, they are
in the flowing water, they are in the hut, they are in the crowd. The dead are
not dead.”
Why do we pray for the dead? Far from being an act of idolatry
or a necromantic rehearsal, it is an act of faith, to pray for the dead. It is
the expression of our faith in the resurrection. We pray for the dead to
demystify death. The Psalm 115:17-18 sings, “The dead do not praise the Lord, not
all those go down into silence.” Isaiah reechoes that says when he affirms, “For
it is not Sheol that gives you thanks, nor death that praises you; Neither do
those who go down into the pit await your kindness. The living, the living gives
you thanks, as I do today.” (Is 38:18-19)
Here is a great truth that those who are dead can no longer
praise the Lord, neither do anything which could contribute to their
sanctification. Only those who are alive praise God. Nevertheless, the prayers
the living raises to God can work and serve as ransoms for the justification of
the dead. If our departed brothers and sisters can no longer by themselves do
anything to please and praise the Lord, on their behalf, we can make offerings of
prayers and sacrifices to God.
We celebrate today the Commemoration of the Faithful
departed. This is not a general or a grandiose funeral celebration. We are not
reviving their death, nor renewing the requiem masses we celebrated for them,
each one individually. Instead, we are expressing into acts, what we profess in
our Credo, our belief in the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Through this commemoration, the Militant Church (we), raises
prayers and supplications for the Suffering Church (the dead, souls in
purgatory), through the intercession of the Triumphant Church (the Saints). Yesterday,
we celebrated the All Saints Day, the triumph of our brothers and sisters, forerunners
of faith who made it to reach the Glory of God. It was a call to each one of us
to see holiness as our destiny, the main aim of our life. Today, the projectors
are directed on our beloved brothers and sisters who, though departed from this
world, in our faith, we believe, are still in journey toward the kingdom of God,
a journey of purification.
God is the Most Holy and source of all holiness. Therefore,
no mortal being can approach him without first, be cleansed from evil and all
stains of sin. We know, our brothers and sisters who died were not exempt from sin.
Since dead, they no longer can for themselves ask for God’s mercy.
The readings, today, put a very special accent on what must
be our Christian understanding of death. We read that death is not an end. Rather,
it stands as part of our pilgrimage. Life itself is a journey. We came from God.
We will one day return to God. Hence, through this liturgy, we are challenged
to correct our vision and understanding of death. Death is presented as a light
that guides us through our life so that our decisions may always be wise and
righteous, leading us to embody the beautiful teachings of Jesus in the
Beatitudes.
Actually, when we think of the reality of death, that one
day we will also die, we realize how important and necessary it is to live humble,
righteous, meek, merciful, charitable, open to others, and peacemaker.
In the first reading, the wise man teaches on how good it is
to be just. He also strengthens our faith in the resurrection, and exhorts us
to keep sturdy our hope in God. He affirms that God takes good care of the righteous.
“The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.”
At the end, “those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful
shall abide with him in love: because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and
his care is with his elect.”
Paul in the second reading will push farther that teaching
on the future hope. We read from him that, “Hope does not disappoint, because
the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit
that has been given to us.” Because justified in Christ, we are not deceived by
sufferings, or happenings of the moment, not even by death. Instead, we rejoice
for we see through all these, the manifestation of God’s merciful presence and
love.
Then, the Gospel will have a greater message of comfort and
happiness. Jesus assures his followers “Everything that the Father gives me
will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” In Christ, we
have the assurance of life in God if we open ourselves in love to our fellows.
God created us for life and death won’t be an obstacle to that
life. As members of the Militant Church, it is our duty, by faith, to pray for
our departed brothers and sisters as they pass through this moment of
purification. Though we no longer see them physically, we believe them near us and
in need of our prayers. One day, when they will at last reach the final
destination, the Glory of God, they will in return intercede for us who then, will
be where they are today, in journey to the same homeland. And to finish with an
Ivorian humor, let’s pray while alive! Because tomorrow we could not do it
anymore. It will be up to others to do it for us.
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