NOVEMBER 6, 2022
The big question is what it will all be like?
Jesus gives no details.
We live in hope and die in hope. We are to be alive forever in the love of God. God keeps love safe.
When life ceases, love stays.
God is God of life, the Gospel says; to him all are alive, even the dead.
God breaks into life in a new way at our death. It happens in small ways every time we are transformed a bit – when we forgive, make peace, really help another, when we promise ourselves to someone or some cause, we are in resurrection mode. But the final one is a gift unlike any earthly gift.
We need to share this hope with each other. The peace you may have felt at the death of someone, the dream where the loved one was happy, the thanks you feel for another forever – all brings hope even if their death is sudden or self-inflicted or at a young age. As we place our candle at the altar for our loved ones in November, we are letting them go off into what death really is – our finding our way to the arms of God.
Words of Pope Francis – “Hope is not looking at a half-full glass, which is simply optimism, which is a human attitude that depends on many things. Hope is a gift of Jesus, of His very self, His very name is hope. It is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
This is the eternal hope, which is the root of our joy even in the losses of our lives.
Lord, give us this day a renewal of faith in eternal life.
