OMELIE / Omelie EN

02 nov 2025

02/11/2025 - Sunday - Commemoration of All Souls

02/11/2025 - Sunday - Commemoration of All Souls

First Reading Job 19:1, 23-27 from Psalm 26 Second Reading Romans 5:5-11 Gospel John 6:37-40

The Church recalls what Jesus said to the Sadducees when they tried to embarrass him with a question about the resurrection. He did not hesitate to answer. For him, to speak of the resurrection of the dead is to speak of life, that is, to speak of things that are certain and, moreover, very beautiful: therefore, it is like speaking of God. In fact, on that occasion, he concluded: “Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Our deceased brothers and sisters, if they are alive for God, are also alive for us.

If the dead are alive in the presence of God, when we are in the presence of the Father we are also in their presence, we can speak to him about them, and they can intercede for us. Their faith and prayer can have weight in interceding in our favour, together with the intercession of the Son of God, and our prayer can be addressed to the Father to complete the purification of their lives and bring them into bliss. Although we do not know what Purgatory consists of, we are nevertheless certain that, in order for us to enjoy the glory that God has promised us, it will be necessary for him to complete the purification of our hearts, our love and also our faith himself. “Many of us will come before God's judgement not as enemies to be damned, but neither as friends and family to be immediately beatified: too eager for God to be rejected by him, but also too impure to be immediately worthy of Paradise” (P. A. M. Sicari). Purgatory is therefore that extra measure of merciful love that God must pour out on us so that we may be welcomed by him into his Kingdom.

Today, therefore, we pray for the deceased, our brothers and sisters who loved the Lord with us, but who were also held back in their self-giving by our lukewarmness: may the Father complete his work of mercy in them.

“Defunct”, a Latin term, does not mean “dead”, but “one who has fulfilled his task, has completed what was entrusted to him”. This word helps us to consider life as a mission. We are not on earth because we wanted to be; we are here because life has been entrusted to us as a service, to carry out a task. What is our task? Each of us “discovers” it by asking God the Father.

There is a general task, common to all human beings, but each person then has specific services to perform in the place and time in which they are given to live.

We could summarise the task of every Christian as follows: to make the beauty of the Father's love shine forth, to welcome and distribute the Spirit of God in the world, to give glory to God by contributing to harmony and peace among men. The concrete ways of doing so depend on various circumstances relating to time, place, people, and situations that are very different for each person.

Our mission does not end when we retire. As long as we live, we have the joy of answering to God's love by living in obedience to him. When we give up our spirit, we will be “dead”. Then the Father's hand will gather us up. He will recognise us as belonging to his Son, because we have listened to him and he has promised to raise us up “on the last day”! Through his death, he has earned forgiveness and salvation for us.

Jesus' death is different from our death: his death gives meaning to ours, which, thanks to him, has become our “sister”, as St Francis of Assisi would say. We are not afraid of death, because Jesus offered himself to die for us sinners. We can therefore look forward with joy to the moment of our passing, as the moment when we will experience the Father's love in its fullness, without the limitations imposed by our flesh, our selfishness, our sin and our fears.

We can then repeat the words full of confidence and joy that the book of Job offers us today: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God”.

The mystery of the communion of Saints we enjoyed yesterday and which we continue to celebrate today, inspires us to live seriously, yet serenely, our task as faithful, as children of the God of love and peace, as disciples of Jesus!