All Souls Day, Nov. 2 2104
Mal 1:24-2:2; 1 Thess 2:7-9, 13; Matt 23:1-12
Brookdale
Today is the commemoration of the faithful departed, more popularly known as All Souls Day. Every year on November first, All Saints Day, we celebrate the saints, those who lived godly lives and are now with God, whether their names are known to us or they lived their lives in saintly obscurity. On November 2, we commemorate those who haven’t quite made it to heaven yet. Of course, in general, we don’t know whether a particular loved one is a saint or not, so together these two days are a commemoration of all those people we love who have died.
Our modern culture treats people as individuals, as atoms that wander through life alone. But in a very real sense, each one of us is a bundle of relationships. I am defined by my grandparents, my parents, my sister, my aunts and uncles, my teachers, my husband, my children, my friends. All those relationships contribute to who I am, and in them I have contributed to who those other people are.
That kind of relationship doesn’t end when the other person dies. There is still a part of me that is connected to my mother or my dear friend who died. The relationship continues, and so we miss them and wonder where they went.
We have various ways to express our continuing relationships with those who have died. Today’s Gospel passage talks about the last day, when the dead shall be raised. Resurrection of body and soul was a common belief among Jews during Jesus’ time. An alternative theory can be found in today’s first reading, which is from the book of Wisdom. Wisdom, or the Wisdom of Solomon, is a book in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic bibles but not in the Hebrew Scriptures or the Protestant bible. Scholars tell us that this book was written in Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime between 30 B.C.E. and 40 C.E. Where Saint Paul talks about the resurrection of the dead, the book of Wisdom builds on the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul apart from the body. It says that God grants immortality to the souls of the just. Even those who suffered persecution in their lifetimes and were put to death will live: “Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love.”
Our Christian image of life after death combines these two notions, with the souls of the departed living with God—that is, in heaven—until the last day, when the living and the dead will all participate in the resurrection of the body, and God will reign on earth.
Of course, our ideas about life after death are not based on first-hand accounts of people who have died and come back to report on what it is like “on the other side.” Death is a one-way door. Only one person ever has come back through that door. I think it’s significant that he didn’t tell us what is on the other side. Apparently, he didn’t think we need to know, and probably he thought we couldn’t really understand it anyway. The simple notions that we have—resurrection and immortality—are good enough. The important thing is to trust that the people who have gone before us are okay. They are at peace. Our relationships with them are still valid. They are still part of us, and we are still part of them, and they are still in relationship with God.
All Souls Day is a day for giving thanks for the people we love who have gone before us, who are still part of us, who we still love, and who are now safely enfolded in the love of God.