Brothers and sisters 

May the Lord give you peace! 

On this day, “November 2nd”, the Church invites us to commemorate the faithful departed, to bring back to mind and heart our loved ones who have passed from this earthly pilgrimage to eternal life. I insist on calling it a pilgrimage because this is the most correct image. Life is a pilgrimage, where we learn to live, and we know that the time will come to return home, to the Father’s house, that his mercy awaits us. 

This celebration is also an invitation to remember, and we know it well, to “remember” means to bring back to the heart. 

(In English we say to “remember” which comes from the latin re + cor: that means ‘heart’. So: “to remember”, means not only to bring back “to mind” but, even more, to bring back “to heart”.)

For this reason, today’s celebration leaves us with feelings of nostalgia, memories, perhaps even sadness, or perhaps a desire to go back to the past, maybe to say one more word to those we loved and who are no longer here, among us. 

Truly, anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one – a parent, a relatives, a friend – knows well what it means to bring a loved one back to heart. Death takes away many feelings of affection, it takes away intensely close relationships, and causes a lot of pain. 

In the face of all of this, which are our human feelings, the word of God today is a reason for great consolation and hope. Today’s liturgy also has this focus… In the first reading we heard, Job says: «I know that my redeemer lives and that I will see God». Yes, we are not here to celebrate the God of the dead. But the God of the living. And if we have truly understood the mystery of our faith, then we are here in the communion of the saints: all alive, we, too, on our earthly pilgrimage, and our brothers and sisters who have left us. “We all meet in the living God. 

In the words of the Gospel we heard, we find the great promise of Jesus which allows us to overcome all sadness and fear: “He who comes to me I will not leave outside” (Jn 6:37). This is the Will of God: to have everyone enter into his faithful and eternal love. This is the principle of the Resurrection! In this faithful and eternal Love we meet our loved ones, and we are in communion with them. In this Love we share the life that never ends, in other words we already share Paradise. And then, the question comes immediately: if it is so beautiful, why are we so afraid of dying? Why don’t we want to leave? This is not to scare us, even if in reality this is the only thing that is sure, the only thing that each person has in front of them; among all of the many things that could happen, this is the only thing that will surely happen. 

When we used to go to school, we didn’t care too much about knowing the date of the exams – yes, that was important too – but we were mostly interested in knowing what would be asked in the exam. Yes, if we prepare for this every day, and if we remember that life is a time of transit, the fear of dying turns into “hope” and expectation. (If we pay attention, the whole liturgy will help us to do this: it will help us to wait for his coming, in the liturgy of the Mass. And we will truly start living more with what is essential).

 And if this becomes the case, then we can say that Paradise, heaven, is already beginning here, that is, when we are charitable to our brothers and sisters. When we make the rule of our life: Love, taking into account that such actions come to the aid of the souls of our deceased.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord asks us to live our lives well and trust in his mercy. His words are for us: “Come blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from all eternity”. We therefore, pray to the Lord that we may be signs of his Mercy in this land and we ask for eternal peace for our departed brothers and sister and the resurrection on the day of judgement. Amen…