November 2 — COMMEMORATION OF THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED

Presence of God. — O Lord, grant eternal rest to the souls of the departed and make the thought of death spur me to greater generosity.

Meditation

1 — “The Church, our good mother, after having extolled with worthy praises her children who already enjoy heaven, wishes to succor the souls that still suffer in the place of purification and for them intercedes with all her strength before the Lord and her Spouse Christ, that they may as soon as possible attain the community of the elect in heaven.” Thus we read in the Roman Martyrology. Yesterday we contemplated the glory of the Church triumphant and invoked her intercession, today we contemplate the expiatory pains of the Church suffering and solicit for it the divine succor: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.” It is the dogma of the communion of saints in action: the Church triumphant intercedes for us, the Church militant, and we, in our turn, run to the aid of the Church suffering. Death has torn from us dear persons and yet there cannot be true separation from those who are spirits in the kiss of the Lord; the bond of charity continues to unite us all, joining in a single embrace earth, heaven and purgatory, so that from these three shores circulates fraternal help, fruit of love, and which aims at the triumph of love in the common glory of Paradise.

The liturgy of the day is suffused with sadness, but it is not the sadness of those “who have no hope” (I Thess. 4, 13) since there shines upon it the faith in the resurrection of the bodies, in the eternal happiness that awaits them. The three passages chosen for the Gospels of the three Masses of the dead speak to us precisely of these consoling truths and speak to us of them in the most authoritative manner, reporting the very words of Jesus: “This is the will of Him who sent Me, of the Father, that I lose nothing of what He has given Me, but that I raise it up on the last day” (Vg. II Mass: Jn. 6, 39). What more consoling affirmation than this? Jesus presents Himself also today as the good shepherd who does not wish to lose even one of His sheep and spares no means to lead them all to a place of salvation. As if responding to the sweet promises of Jesus, the Church, full of gratitude and enthusiasm, exclaims: “To Your faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away; and when the house of this earthly dwelling is destroyed, they obtain an eternal one in heaven” (Preface). Much more than an inexorable end, death is, for the Christian, a door wide open upon eternity, a door that introduces into eternal life.

2 — The day of the dead makes us thoughtful not only for the death of our dear ones, but also for our own. Death is a punishment, and therefore necessarily brings with it a sense of pain, of fear, of dread; even the saints have experienced it and Jesus too willed to experience it. But the Church places before us the scriptural passages most suited to encourage us: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord... (for they die) to rest from their labors; for their works follow them” (Ep. III Mass: Ap. 14, 13). The life of the body dies, what is human and earthly dies, but the life of the spirit remains, the good works accomplished remain, the only endowment that follows the soul in the great step and renders its death precious: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” This death has been justly defined dies natalis, the birthday into eternal life. How we would wish that our death might be! Dies natalis that introduces us into the beatific vision, that makes us born to the indefectible love of heaven.

But precisely today the liturgy, inviting us to pray for the faithful departed, reminds us that between death and eternal beatitude there is purgatory. Precisely because our works follow us and are not all good works or, even if good, are full of imperfections and defects, it is necessary that the soul, before being admitted to the vision of God, be purified of all its dross. Yet, if we were perfectly faithful to grace, purgatory would not be necessary. Even from down here God takes charge of purifying those who give themselves totally to Him, who let themselves be worked and molded according to His good pleasure. Moreover, while in purgatory one suffers without growing in love, the purification accomplished on earth has the great advantage of being meritorious, that is, of increasing in us grace and charity and of putting us thus in a position to love God more greatly for all eternity. It is this that is the reason why we must desire to be purified in life; but we must not deceive ourselves: even on this earth total purification requires great sufferings; if today we are not generous in suffering, if we do not know how to accept here the suffering pure and simple, similar to that of Jesus on the cross, our purification will necessarily have to be accomplished in purgatory.

The thought of this place of expiation render us zealous in suffraging the souls of the departed, and at the same time render us courageous in embracing suffering in reparation for our faults.

Colloquy

“Grant me, O Lord, that at the death of my dear ones I may feel a reasonable affliction, shedding resigned tears on our mortal condition, soon repressed by the consoling thought of faith, which tells me that the faithful, dying, only depart a little from us to go to be better off.

“Keep far from me the grieving in the manner of the gentiles, who are without hope. I can well feel sadness; but when I am afflicted, may hope comfort me. With so great a hope it is not fitting that Your temple, O God, be in mourning. Therein dwell You who are the consoler; therein dwell You, who in promises do not fail” (St. Augustine).

“O Master and Creator of the universe, Lord of life and of death, You preserve and fill our souls with benefits: You accomplish and transform every thing by the work of Your Word, in the established hour and according to the plan of Your wisdom; receive today our departed brothers and grant them eternal rest.

“May You receive us in our turn, in the moment that shall please You, after having guided and left us in the flesh for the time that shall seem useful and salutary to You.

“May You receive us prepared by Your fear, without disturbance and without hesitation, on the last day. Grant that we may not leave the things of earth with regret, as happens to those who are too attached to the world and to the flesh: grant that we may move resolute and happy toward the long and blessed life, which is in Christ Jesus, Our Lord, to whom be glory for ages of ages. Amen” (St. Gregory Nazianzen).