Homily

The Gospel affirms that the Lord does not abandon those whom he loves; he never leaves them, especially during the difficult passage of death. Instead, he gathers them together and makes them part of his resurrection. Consequently, the pain of separation is accompanied by the hope, indeed the certainty, of a new encounter. Life, the Gospel says, does not end with death. The names of the people we have loved and known are not lost in the great darkness of the end of life. It is significant that the Church places the feast of the saints alongside the feast of the dead. This insight has extraordinary evocative power: the saints and the dead are united in a single future. If we remember a single person on every other day of the year, on these two days we are invited to remember an enormous number of men and women, entire peoples, masses of saints and the dead, all gathered together in a single destiny. The fact that the dead are united with the saints in a single memorial is a utopian prophesy for the world.
The resurrection of Jesus, “the firstborn of the dead” (Col 1:18) is such a cardinal element of the Christian faith that the apostle Paul said: “If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). It was precisely on the point of Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection of all those who followed him that the Athenians disagreed with Paul on the Areopagus, saying: “We will hear you again about this” (Acts 17:32). Even though they had accepted the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the flesh was completely unacceptable for these Athenians. This, however, is the Christian innovation: Jesus’ complete and full victory over death. Those who believe in Him will rise with their bodies. This is Gospel, good news, which is truly surprising and consoling. Nothing is impossible for God, certainly not the salvation of those whom he loved so much that for them he sent his Son to Earth. We all certainly feel the harshness of death, and, if we think about those who have died, especially those who are dearest to our hearts, we cannot help but feel the sadness of separation.
Nonetheless, the apostle Paul invites us to not forget that the future is reserved for the children of God: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption…and if children, then heirs.” He then adds: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:15, 18). Even though death still takes us, after Jesus’ resurrection, it no longer distances believers from one another; it no longer breaks the bonds of love made on Earth; it no longer takes people out of God’s family. Jesus, who gave his life so that none of those entrusted to him by the Father would be lost, gathers the believers. Jesus’ love is stronger than death. The one who loved his disciples and did almost unbelievable things to be with them does not allow death to separate them from him. All believers are in God’s hands, and his love is stronger than death. Sometimes we wonder where those we have loved who have died might be; perhaps we try to think about them and imagine where they live and what they are doing. The tradition of visiting cemeteries is certainly strong and beautiful. An ancient Christian tradition says that the dead “sleep” and wait to be awoken. But is also beautiful (and perhaps more beautiful) to imagine that our departed loved ones continue to be present in our churches, where they received the sacraments, where they prayed, where they praised the Lord, where they hoped in difficult moments, and where they were accompanied on their way to heaven.
We could say that the departed are in the churches of the communities to which they belonged. Indeed death has not broken those bonds. They continue to be near to celebrate the praises of the Lord with those who are on earth. This is why in the past people were buried inside churches or at least nearby them. There exists a strong communion with the departed that is guaranteed by Jesus. It is true that it is not a visible communion, but this does not make it any less real. In fact, it is even deeper because it is not based on external appearances, which often deceive. Our communion with the departed is based on the mystery of God’s love, which gathers and sustains everyone. God’s love is the truth of life and death. Everything passes, including faith and hope, but love does not.