Commemoration of All Souls

Sunday November 2, 2008

In God’s Loving Embrace

Some of you are old enough to remember All Souls Day prior to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Every priest was permitted to ‘celebrate’ three Masses in succession. In parishes to which three priests were assigned, the first Mass began at 6:00 AM and the last concluded around 10:30 AM. Congregants would come and go, some remaining for three Masses. Priests were vested in black. A structure called a catafalque resembling a coffin that is used to represent the deceased was placed in the center aisle surrounded by six unbleached beeswax candles. At least one of the Masses was accompanied by the ancient Gregorian chant with the Dies Irae—Day of Wrath as the featured sequence between the first reading and the Gospel. It was a heavy day for Catholics bordering on superstition, pleading for the release of their loved ones from the fire of purgatory. Parishioners were invited to deposit donations in envelopes so that their loved ones would be remembered in the repetition of Masses. (The money was split among the priest to augment their salary.) It seems to me that this is one of the practices that Luther rightfully decried. There was an air of superstition in all of this.

There is a stained glass window on ‘our side of the church’ at Assumption that depicted people in the midst of the fires of purgatory crying for help. I hated that window when I was a child and I still dislike it. I had hoped when the other beautiful windows were re-leaded and resealed that that particular window would have been replaced. No such luck. It’s really a barbaric and even blasphemous notion of a sadistic God.

In any event, his year, the Commemoration of All Souls falls on a Sunday, the Day of the Lord. In the Catholic liturgical tradition, Sunday is a ‘mini-Easter’ on which we celebrate the triumph of Jesus over sin and death. The Eucharistic narrative and many of the prayers at Sunday worship refer explicitly to this core belief that Jesus’ death was not the end but the beginning of a whole new way of life for those who are baptized by water and the Spirit. In fact it is also our tradition that even those who are not baptized by water but who have the sincere desire to live in God are virtually absorbed into the life of Christ. In other words, if it is God’s will that all people be saved, then God will provide a way to salvation even to sincere believers outside the Church. The hands of God cannot be tied. John’s Gospel assures us that “God’s spirit blows where it wills” and nothing can prevent God’s embrace of all humanity. The mind of God cannot be changed and the hand of God cannot be chained.

How appropriate therefore that we remember our loved ones who have gone before us “marked with the sign of faith” in baptism and yes, even “those whose faith is known only to God.”

As we remember our loved ones, however, it may be helpful for us to unpack some old beliefs and correct some misunderstandings that in the light of an adult faith accompanied by a more mature understanding, might free up our souls to a deeper appreciation of the all-embracing love of God.

First of all, death is not a punishment for sin; it is a phenomenon of life. The earliest interpretation of death in the Jewish tradition and early Christian biblical tradition was that indeed death was a punishment for sin but a more contemporary Christian reading of death is that it is a passage from one state of being to another, one form of life giving way to another. Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans states that “all creation is in agony even to this moment… awaiting the full redemption of our bodies…” that is to say, a new birth in the Spirit that will enable us to live fully in God. The flowers that fade and in autumn will come to life again in the spring filled with a beauty that no artist’s brush can fully capture or florist duplicate in silk for that matter.

We believe that in Baptism, we were initiated into a life of the Spirit that is unending but which will come to full fruition only at the end of time. As we embrace this life of faith with Jesus as our example and exemplar, that is, as the unique model of what is in store for us, than we can be certain that God’s promise made in Christ will be fulfilled in Christ.

As a matter of fact, we believe that even prior to baptism, at the very beginning of life itself, we were initiated into a partnership with God. In other words, God doesn’t wait for baptism. God embraces us from the very first moment of our existence. Baptism only celebrates that primordial encounter.

It takes us a long time to discover how that partnership with God will play out in life. It takes many mentors — parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers — teachers and even a judge now and then before we know our true call and how our partnership with God will unfold. Nevertheless, from that moment until the present, God has upheld us, never abandoning us and will uphold us until we get it right which of course will never happen in this earthly life.

This ongoing relationship with God has been traditionally described as “living in God’s grace.” I prefer a more contemporary frame of reference which describes our life with God as “living the rhythm of God; smelling God’s breath in the air.” For us Christians it is living the life of Christ to the extent that, in the words of St. Paul, “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.” Christ becomes our identity. Christ becomes our paradigm and we as a Church become a paradigm for humanity albeit imperfect.

This is our conviction in faith with no prejudice toward those who have not known of Christ or who have not accepted him as paradigm. Indeed, for those outside the fold, God provides other means beyond our understanding. In fact, God even uses prophets and teachers outside our fold to challenge those within our fold to integrity and faithfulness. If God could use the pagan Persian King Cyrus of Babylon to free the Jewish people and restore them to their homeland, why cannot God use a Buddhist monk, a Moslem prophet, a Hindu guru or whomever God so chooses. It is God’s decision not ours. Moreover, it’s none of our business!

We have also moved away from the notion that punishment is what is on God’s mind at the end of life. Though we do not deny the possibility of a permanent rejection of God’s love at the end of life we accept more the reality that God’s love is enduring and that it doesn’t end at death. Purgatory is a limited and therefore an inadequate theological construction or explanation of the interim between death and ultimate conversion and entrance into God’s everlasting dominion in which we will be absorbed into the fullness of God’s life. Who on this glorious autumn day in the face of such beauty can say it is ugly? If even the worst sinner with distorted vision can recognize natural beauty that is only a reflection of God’s beauty, how can we not believe that the same sinner will not recognize the infinite beauty of God’s face at the end of life.

This is our hope, this is our faith, this is our belief and we are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let God’s people say: “Amen!”

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