There was a couple from Cleveland who was celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, and
they kind of forget, it crept up on them, and they didn’t really make plans for it. So, on a whim,
they decided that they were going to go to the place where they had their honeymoon 25 years
earlier. Because they were from Cleveland and their anniversary was in February, they wanted
to escape the weather and go back to Cancun where they once celebrated and see what it
was like.
The husband looked it up online and saw that the hotel was still there; the only difficulty was
because they were booking so late, they couldn’t get on the same flight. The husband decided
he would fly down first, the day before, and then when he got there, he would get everything
ready and the wife would fly down the next day.
The husband flew down first, and when he got there, the hotel was perfect; it was everything
he dreamed it would be. Because he was out of the country, he didn’t have cell phone service,
so he couldn’t call or text his wife, so he decided to email her. He sent her an email but he
forgot her middle initial. It didn’t go to his wife. It went to one other lady. Now the other lady that
received the email had actually just buried her husband. She had just got back to her house
later that day and she was looking to see if anybody had messaged her by email and she
opened up the email and she read this:
My Dear Loving Wife:
I’m here and I miss you already. I know you might be surprised to hear from me this way
but I can’t use my cell phone, but believe it or not, they have Wi Fi here. I just arrived and
they checked me in. I see that everything will be prepared for you on your arrival tomorrow.
I hope you don’t have any delays.
P.S. It sure is hot down here (laughter).
We all have this desire and this yearning to be able to still be in communion with those who
have gone before us. For me, it seems when people die, it seems so final; I don’t hear their
voice anymore, I don’t see their face, I don’t know often even dream of them, and I wish I could
see them or I wish there would be some sign that I could have with them.
There are a couple beautiful lines in the Funeral Liturgy that always bring me consolation and
one of them we will hear at Mass today, actually at the Preface before the Eucharistic Prayer.
It’s this line: For those of us that believe, life has changed not ended. So, that life of our
beloved one and the connection that we had is not over, it’s just changed. The question is how
do we experience that relationship? How do we still communicate with those in in this new
way?
The most powerful way that we have is right here at the Eucharist because we believe that
when someone dies, they encounter Jesus. They come face to face with Him. If they are with
Jesus, which we believe they are, and as the bread and wine are transformed into Jesus’s very
Body and Blood, when we receive the Eucharist into us, when we receive Jesus, they are now
within us in a deeper way than they ever could have been here in life. They are closer to you
now in the Eucharist than they were in this physical life.
The second line that I love is: The ties which wove us together in this life do not unravel even
in death. During life we are tied together with our loved ones and when they die, these ties
don’t unravel, we’re still intimately connected. For this I often think about the idea of fishing.
Growing up we used to go Walleye fishing and Perch fishing, but I think especially of Perch
fishing. You go out on Lake Erie and you can’t see below the surface, you cast your line into
the water and there’s no bobber or anything because Perch bite very lightly. So, what you
actually have to do is you hold the line in your fingers, and you just wait till you feel a little
gentle tug and that’s how you know you’re getting a bite.
I think about that with the ties that weave us together in Heaven with our loved ones, it’s very
subtle, but we can still feel them, we can still experience them. That’s what we celebrate today
on this Feast of the Commemoration of all of the Faithful Departed, this All-Souls Day. We pray
for those that have gone before us. What this day really is, this praying for the dead, it’s a
praying for their release from Purgatory to see Jesus in the Beatific Vision.
Pope Benedict in his writings said, that if purgatory didn’t exist, we would have to invent it. He
said that because we all have this innate desire to pray for our loved ones; we have this deep
down desire to pray for them, that they may be forgiven of any sin that they have, that they
may be healed of any sin that they have, or any hurt or unforgiveness and that they’d be
received into heaven.
There are two things that I want to talk about briefly because I know it’s a rare thing to
celebrate this on a Sunday and to kind of Catechize a little bit about what All Souls is.
First, is that we pray for the faithful departed. Why do we pray for them? This goes all the way
back to scripture.
Second Maccabees says, that turning to supplication (which is prayer) they prayed that
the sinful deeds of the dead might be fully blotted out and they made atonement for the
dead that they might be absolved from their sin. That’s what we’re praying for, that if there
is any sin that they died with, that they may be absolved from that and be forgiven for
that.
Saint Ambrose says, We love these people still and our prayers aid them that they may
sooner enjoy the brightness of God’s countenance. We pray for them that they may
sooner experience His face,
Saint Bonaventure says, Purgatory is not a punishment of wrath but of love, the divine fire
burns away rust and the prayer of the faithful increases its sweetness. We’re praying that
this person may be loved into heaven.
Saint Vincent de Paul says, Let us pray for the poor souls with confidence because God
uses our love as the key to their freedom.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori says, Our prayers relieve their pain and increase their joy; they in
turn obtain for us the perseverance in grace. This is how we continue to relate to them.
Secondly, what is this communion with the faithful departed and how are we still in communion
with them?
Secondly, what is this communion with the faithful departed and how are we still in communion
with them?
Saint Augustine says, The faithful departed are not lost to us they’ve only gone before us.
When we remember them especially at the altar, they are with us not far away for we and
they are one in Christ.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux says, The charity of the living can reach the dead. The love of
God though death divides us, prayer is the golden chain that still connects us. So, we are
still connected with them in prayer.
Not only do we pray for them they also intercede for us.
Saint Catherine of Genoa, she is the patron saint of the poor souls in Purgatory, said the
faithful on earth can relieve them by their prayers, almsgiving and holy sacrifices
especially of the Mass. These souls filled with charity do not forget their benefactors. The
loved ones that have gone before us, they haven’t forgotten us either.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori says, Our prayer relieves their pain and increases their joy and
they in turn obtain for us the grace to persevere. How beautiful is this exchange of
charity, the church and earth and the church suffering.
On this All-Souls Day, we remember all of the loved ones that have gone before us. We realize
that it is so important that we pray for them, also understanding that we are still in deep
communion with them and also that they intercede for us. This is the primary way of that line
being connected; this is the primary way that we continue to feel and experience them while on
this earth.
As we celebrate this Feast Day and we celebrate the most sacred sacrifice of the Mass, this is
the day where so many souls, because of your presence here, because of our offering of this
Eucharist, where so many souls will be freed and drawn into heaven.
Remember, life has changed not ended, and they are with you in a deeper way now than they
ever could have been on earth.
