Hallowe’en. All Saints Day. All Souls Day. Remembrance Day. November comes upon us, and we see the signs of death in nature: fallen leaves; wet and windy days; long and chilly nights. It is a time when we naturally ponder our own mortality, finitude, and vulnerability. Our faith takes death seriously. “Dead serious”, you might say!! But it also tells us that death is not the final answer. “Death, where is your victory? Where is your sting?” For Christians, death is not the end, but the final transition: it is the movement from time into eternity. 

This Sunday, we celebrate not a “Mass for the dead”, but a “Mass of the Resurrection”. As is our custom, we invite the families and friends of those whose funerals took place here at St. Monica’s over the past year to join us as we commemorate their loved ones, the departed members of our faith community. We light candles. We sing songs. We pray. We remember. We celebrate the Eucharist: Christ’s promise of life triumphant over death: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Those who believe in me, even if they die, will live forever.” We believe that Jesus is faithful to his promise. That his Paschal Mystery – his own passion, death, and resurrection – is the pattern of our own lives as well. 

In Sunday's Gospel, we learn that Jesus came to seek out and save those who are lost, to bring salvation to all who are open to his gift of eternal life. As we remember our loved ones who have died, as we recall also those whose names are inscribed in our “loving memory” book – family members, mentors, friends, fellow parishioners – let us be grateful for the gift of life. Life here on earth, with its joys and struggles; life eternal, where we will enjoy the reward of our labours, resting in the arms of our loving Creator. 

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last. Amen.

Blessed John Henry Newman