On All Souls' Day (1839) by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Yesterday, I spoke a little bit about how we have the duty to pray for our loved ones who have passed from this life, and not to presume that they are necessarily in heaven and even more that we are for sure going there too. Today, I want to say something about another danger in regard to how we think of death. That is, we are plagued by grief at the passing of our loved ones to such degree that we become filled with worry, fear, or even despair rather than focus on the loving mercy of God. The readings today wish to remind us that God is more powerful than death and that even in death the Lord Jesus cares for those who have been entrusted to him.
Grief and sadness at the passing of a loved one is very understandable – very human. Our life is changed by the absence of the person who had been part of it, perhaps a very integral, central part. But in grief, the teachings of our faith give us strength and especially can fill us with hope. Hope is the desire for something from God and the expectation of receiving it. As Christians, we ultimately hope for one thing – union with God, whether for ourselves or for another. We find reason for that hope in the promise of Christ – that those who have been made sharers in his Passion and Death, will also share in his Resurrection.
When we are filled with grief at the passing of a loved one, when we feel helpless at the void their presence was, the Church reminds us of this hope and directs us to pray that it be fulfilled. We don’t pray just in a general or vague sense but with a very specific intention: that God would have mercy on the soul of the loved one. And believing in the promise of Christ, having hope in God’s mercy, we can help that person’s soul. We can assist them to be purified of the sins they committed so that they will be united with God.
Friends, death may not be a pleasant thing to think about, and often we are filled with sadness at the thought of it or the memory of those who have died. But in our grief, let’s not forget our hope, and let’s act upon that hope by our fervent prayers. May the souls we assist in reaching heaven become a help for us one day, so that the love of Christ which conquers all things, even death itself, might bring us to that place of joy, light, and peace.
Grief and sadness at the passing of a loved one is very understandable – very human. Our life is changed by the absence of the person who had been part of it, perhaps a very integral, central part. But in grief, the teachings of our faith give us strength and especially can fill us with hope. Hope is the desire for something from God and the expectation of receiving it. As Christians, we ultimately hope for one thing – union with God, whether for ourselves or for another. We find reason for that hope in the promise of Christ – that those who have been made sharers in his Passion and Death, will also share in his Resurrection.
When we are filled with grief at the passing of a loved one, when we feel helpless at the void their presence was, the Church reminds us of this hope and directs us to pray that it be fulfilled. We don’t pray just in a general or vague sense but with a very specific intention: that God would have mercy on the soul of the loved one. And believing in the promise of Christ, having hope in God’s mercy, we can help that person’s soul. We can assist them to be purified of the sins they committed so that they will be united with God.
Friends, death may not be a pleasant thing to think about, and often we are filled with sadness at the thought of it or the memory of those who have died. But in our grief, let’s not forget our hope, and let’s act upon that hope by our fervent prayers. May the souls we assist in reaching heaven become a help for us one day, so that the love of Christ which conquers all things, even death itself, might bring us to that place of joy, light, and peace.
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