November 2^nd 2014. Feast of All Souls

Gospel: John 6:37-40

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Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast of Vatican Radio

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Gospel JN 6:37-40

Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
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.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Kieran’s summary . . . The Feast of All Souls is not a sad feast that looks back in time. It is a Feast of hope in the resurrection. Our loved ones are not behind us in history, but ahead of us. They have crossed the threshold to the true destination of our lives. But what is our hope of the resurrection based upon? Is it founded on our own merits, on the capacities of the human flesh? No! Our hope in eternal life is utterly based on the paternal love of the Father who has the power to raise us in the same way that he raised Jesus from the tomb. On this feast of All Souls, we contemplate the choice that God has placed before us. He gave us life and wants us to have eternal life. But he cannot compel us to follow him and have life. True love doesn’t compel! The choice is ours! But it is not a choice that is focussed merely on the future. It is the choice to accept God as my Father today. Once we begin to live this daily relationship with God, trusting in his paternal life-giving nature, then we look towards the future with hope. And we become confident that we will see our dear departed in the future. God loves each of his creatures and he will hold them in the palm of his hand until we meet them again.

Our dear departed are not behind us in history but ahead of us. They have taken a step forward and await us at our true destination

The words of Jesus in the Gospel come from his wonderful discourse at Capernaum where he describes himself as the Bread of Life. In the passage we read on Sunday, Jesus tells us that the Father’s plan for everyone is the resurrection. The Book of Job tells the story of an afflicted man who looks towards death and towards that which comes after death. He sees his Redeemer who is beyond the flesh, beyond the limits of the human body, which, as Job experiences it, is already undergoing decay. The Feast of All Souls, similarly, is not a sad event but a proclamation of our faith in the resurrection. On this feast, we feel grief for the loved ones that we miss, the dear ones that we cannot embrace or speak with at this time, but we are consoled by the good news that we are headed towards the resurrection. Our loved ones are not behind us in history, but ahead of us. They have made a leap forward. Death is the threshold of something new, not a wall where our existence is wiped out. Once we cross the threshold of death we arrive at our true destination.

Is our faith in eternal life based upon ourselves?

On what is our faith in the resurrection based? The human longing for a life that never ends can be based on many things. Different religions have different ways of expressing their understanding of how we can go beyond the limit of death. However, if the answer is based on ourselves; if we look within the human condition for the solution of how we can live forever, then our hope will be something very precarious because it is evident that we are limited and vulnerable. Our lives can be destroyed in an instant. It is easy to make us suffer or to lose our lives altogether. But our hope is not based on ourselves! Job says, “I know that my redeemer lives!” As Christians we know that the one who saves us is very much alive. I do not base my faith in the resurrection on myself or on my merits. I can produce nothing of myself that is capable of cancelling the limits imposed by death.

Our hope in the resurrection is based on the omnipotent paternity of God

In the Gospel Jesus says it even more clearly. “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. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day”. This is God’s plan for humanity, and we are invited to believe in this plan and open ourselves to it. God is life and his plan for us is a plan of life. Our hope in the resurrection is ultimately based on the omnipotence of God, on the power of the heavenly Father who raises his only begotten Son from the tomb and extends this possibility to me. It is the contemplation on the paternity of God, the capacity of God to generate me and give me life, that dissolves my desperation in front of the despair of death. My redeemer lives! My heavenly Father has a single plan for me, and that is life. God is not someone who does things half-heartedly. He began this life that is within me and he doesn’t intend to lose it!

God offers me life, but he cannot compel me to accept it

The only limit that exists in God’s love is that he cannot do otherwise except allow us to be free. I can accept his offer of life or reject it. If God’s love imposed itself and gave us no option except life, then I would be something akin to a video game in the hands of God, a fleeting entity whose movements are determined by another. But I am a real person, someone who can accept or reject God’s offer of life. On this Feast day we contemplate the fact that saying “yes” to God’s plan brings salvation and eternal life.

Our hope in future life is grounded in the present. The relationship I live today with the Lord is a relationship of trust that constantly contemplates his paternal life-giving nature

Belief in God’s salvific plan of life is not simply a focus on the future, on what comes “after”. It always involves an acceptance in this moment of a relationship with God that guarantees what will come after. If today I experience that God is a paternal being who generates life in me, who stands always on my side and recreates constantly, then I will naturally gaze towards the future with hope, confident that my dear departed are not lost but are waiting for me. They are in the hands of God, and God does not allow his dear creatures to fall through his hands easily.