They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
We have no choice but to recognize the brokenness of the world around us in all of the injustice, the suffering, in ultimately the death that fills it. Others may try to rationalize these things as merely natural, as though they were meant to be a part of life. But we know that the wrongness of death is undeniable. When loved ones leave us we recognize a rending of relationships which ought to have been allowed to endure. Yet, in acknowledging this brokenness we need not slide into despair.
The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
Recognizing God's providential care for the dead we do not "grieve as others do who have no hope" (see Thessalonians 4:13). There is a place for Christian grief because of our separation from them. But let us allow this natural affection we have for the departed to motivate us to continue to reach out in love with our prayers for them. We know that most of us are indeed still in need of purification after death, still not completely in possession of the holiness without which no one will see God (see Hebrews 12:14). Yet there is much comfort to be had even so.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
This promise that Jesus would not lose any of those given to him is most perfectly realized by those in Purgatory who no longer need fear the possibility of hell. Their decision for God has been finally and unalterably made and accepted. They know for sure that, though "indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself". Therefore, even while the process of perfection persists, even while they are refined like gold in a furnace, on some level "they are in peace." There is no more uncertainty for them. There is only the need for patience as God himself by his grace completes the task of conforming them to the likeness of his Son. How great is the grace of God that he not only does for us what we can never do, he even makes up for our lack of cooperation with his will which he had empowered but which we had not yet embraced in this life.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
The power that we celebrate today is the power of the resurrection, at work in a special way in the souls of the faithful departed. It is a privilege of those who have been baptized, and who do not turn away from Christ by grave sin, to have this hope. Others too, who do not recognize that hope through no fault of their own may yet receive it. In no case do we have cause to despair. We can help to share the suffering and purification they have yet to endure. Prayer is always the right response until we are all gathered around the throne together with all of the saints whom we celebrated yesterday.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
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