In today’s first reading we hear the comforting words, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. Death is a great mystery that each of us must face. When someone close to us dies it is quite natural and human to feel emptiness and to ask where are they now? God tells us in today’s Scripture; they are in his loving hands. “They are in peace.”
Our responsorial psalm tells us that God is our shepherd and God leads us through the “valley of darkness” as we pass from death to new and eternal life. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that God’s will is to save every one of us: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who see the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” God’s will and desire is to save us, but we can reject this gift of God’s love and salvation.
What happens to those who have not professed faith in the Son? We are given an answer in one of the prayers at mass: “Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone have known” (Eucharistic Prayer IV). Those who have died “in the peace of your Christ” are those who have professed faith in the Son. But there are others who by their life show that they are striving to do God’s will and follow the way of Jesus even if they are not explicitly Christians. These are the one “who faith you [God] alone have known.” So, they too are in the loving hands of God. We can never judge or restrict whom God can save or how God will save. We leave that in God’s hands.
Today, on All Souls’ Day, we commend our loved ones into the hands of God:
“Into your hands, Father of mercies, we commend our brother or sister in the sure and certain hope that, together with all who have died in Christ, they will rise with him on the last day. We give you thanks for the blessings which you bestowed upon them in this life: they are signs to us of your goodness and of our fellowship with the saints in Christ.”
Merciful Lord, turn toward us and listen to our prayers: open the gates of paradise to your servant and help us who remain to comfort one another with assurances of faith, until we all meet in Christ and are with you and with our brother or sister forever.” (Prayer of Commendation).
Image: “Cross-in-Chimayo-Area” by Glen’s Pics is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.