All Souls’ day, Monday – 02nd November 2020 — Gospel: Jn 6,37-40
Promised Transition
As we commemorate All Souls Day, it evokes mixed feelings. On the one hand, we miss the presence of our loved ones who have gone before us; on the other hand, we are reminded that death is not the end of life, but it is the promised doorway to eternal life. The Capuchin Crypt in Rome that contains skeletal remains of friars has this quote: “What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be…,” to remind us about the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality. 2 Mac 12,44-45 points out that it is good to offer prayers and sacrifices for the dead. It is as sensible to pray for the dead as it is to pray for the living. Death, then, is a transition from earthly life to eternal life.
In the Gospel, Jesus promises to raise up all those who believe in him. Jesus proclaims that he has come to do his Father’s will. Part of the will of God includes his raising up all who believe in him and share in his life (death and resurrection). Even though the believer might experience physical death, yet he will live eternally. Eternal life is a gift, a grace that God gives us (Rom 6,23), but while we live we are exhorted to work out our salvation (Phil 2,12-13). Jesus, then, will not reject anyone who comes to him, nor will he force a soul to follow him in this life. We must freely choose, and the time for choosing Jesus is in this life. For those who refuse to acknowledge the life which Jesus offers to them, death is not a joyful transition to eternal life, but a sorrowful movement to eternal separation from God, whom they have chosen not to accept or with whom they didn’t want to have any relationships. In that case, death can be scary, particularly as we realize our own imperfections. Yet, the belief that we are striving to be faithful followers of Jesus, despite imperfections, opens up the fullness of eternal life. It gives an eschatological hope that we too, along with the dead, will join someday, to see God face to face.
