"There are no ordinary people"

Homily for All Souls Day, Year A
For most of us, there is nothing that is more real than death. There are few experiences that affect us as deeply and as long as the death of a loved one, or the realization that our own death is imminent. Part of the power of death is the loss, the void that it creates. But we also feel the depth of sorrow that fills our hearts, even if our faith tells us that those who have died continue to live. For us who remain in this life, the separation caused by death is very real indeed. And so, on this All Souls’ Day, the reality of death hits home. Today, we as a parish mourn in a particular way for the 25 members of our church community who have died in the past year, whose names will be read later in our liturgy. But today we also mourn for an unknown number of family and friends, acquaintances and strangers, who have made the transition from temporal life to eternal life, this year or any year. We mourn for the saints and the sinners, the rich and the poor, the known and unknown from all over the world who have crossed the threshold of death.

But today’s Feast of All Souls is not always what it seems. Because, really, today is not a day to talk about death; it is a day to talk about life. Today is not a day to honor the dead, it is a day to rejoice in the living. Because we Christians aren’t really into things that are temporary, or momentary, or fragile. As St. Paul reminds us, the death that we will all experience is transitory – it is just a moment, an event, not a lasting reality. Even the depth of grief and sorrow that we feel when someone close to us dies is a temporary feeling. The loss that pulls at our hearts can be painful, to be sure, but in the big picture, it is just a momentary affliction. Because death itself does not last. Our God is the God of the living, not the dead. As painful as death and separation can be for us, the witness of Christ leads us beyond death to life.

On this All Souls’ Day, we do mourn; but we cannot stop there. We Christians do not exalt death – we rejoice in life. We do not remember the dead as people from our past – we remember them for who they really are – people who are living still, for all eternity. To put it another way, the people put in our lives are not mere mortals – in the words of C.S. Lewis, “there are no ordinary people” (The Weight of Glory). We are all immortal – we are made to live, and to live forever. Whether our earthly life is cut off before it has a chance to live on its own, or we live to a ripe old age, we are all created to live forever – beyond the moment of death, we will live forever. Just think – we live among immortals; every person you ever encounter will live forever; and, if we take that realization seriously, then it comes with a responsibility. Again in the words of C.S. Lewis, “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses.” If we know that every human being will live forever, then we must also know that each human life is holy and sacred. How we treat the life that is next to us, the very life of God that is present in each human being, how we live and how we help others live tells the world what it means to follow Christ. The true lesson of All Souls’ Day is this: there is nothing more important for us as Christians than to see God’s image in every immortal body and soul that is created, from the moment of conception until the moment when God decides that it is time to transition from earthly life to eternal life. We are made to live, and there is nothing more important than the life of God within us.

It is a burden heavy to bear, this gift of life, the weight of glory that lives in each human person. It is indeed a burden heavy to bear, because when we live – completely and authentically – when we truly live, we know that we do not walk alone. When we live as children of God, we carry the weight of the human race on our shoulders, those on this earth today, those yet to be conceived, and those who have already entered into eternity. The weight of life is a weight that will break the backs of the proud and crush those who trust only in themselves. But when we truly live, that weight is not an unbearable heaviness. For us who follow Christ, life is no burden at all, but the glory of God. The only sorrow that will last is the sorrow for a life that is not lived.