Dear Friends,
The number is over 730,000. That’s how many Americans have succumbed to the pandemic: famous people, your relatives and friends, mine
as well. In many cases, death came to them without the presence of their loved
ones.
On All Saints’ Day (Monday) and All Souls’ Day (Tuesday),
the Church – all of us – take time to say “thank you, God” for their lives, for
the lessons they taught, the goodness in them, the hard things they struggled
to overcome.
It's easy to limit the notion of saint to the canonized and the
worldwide, but the saints are all who have gone to God in the sure and certain
hope of eternal life. These days, bask in their victory over death. Honor them
for their faithfulness. Call on them to stand by you as you make your way.
Let’s think of our loved ones who have died – our own local
homegrown saints. We can say that when they died, they crossed a threshold. One’s
loved one is not where he or she was. That’s why the Risen Jesus told Mary
Magdalen in the garden not to cling to Him (John 20.11-18). He had crossed a
threshold. She still wanted Him back where He was. In order for Mary to
continue in this new moment with the now-Risen Lord, she too had to cross a threshold.
That’s the key to turning life-draining grief into new life. Not only do our
loved ones cross a threshold in death, we must do so as well as they’re dying.
Another helpful thought comes from the Celtic branch of
Christianity, where people speak of the “thin veil” that separates this side of
eternity from the other. As the days grow shorter and the winter winds gather
strength, let’s pause to peer through the thin veil. Consider our loved ones.
They are closer than we think. Think of great ones whom you know only from a
distance. Their greatness hides in us as well, waiting to be set free.
These are not the days to think of our loved ones with
sustained sorrow, nor to count the saints or to name them. These are days to
celebrate the full flowering of humanity as we take God‘s promise in Christ
seriously.
This is the meaning of this day.
Now go out and join the saints.
Be saintly.
What a daring thing to do.
~Sister Joan Sobala
