Fr. Steve Witt’s Homily Reflection Commemoration of All Souls – November 2, 2014 You know preparing to speak this weekend is more difficult for me; mostly because of the subject matter. I think that I am a lot like everyone else; if I can put off talking about the inevitable, maybe it will go away. Of course it won’t. I guess we have to talk about death. It is of course a certainty in our lives, but today we celebrate it. Yes, we celebrate it because in a way we have all experienced it. Today we celebrate those whom we have loved and for sure have loved us that have gone before us and have believed. For me, it means grandparents, parents, my beloved wife, three brothers and countless aunts and uncles as well as many, many others who have touched my life. For you, it is those who have touched your life. The great thing that we are taught in John’s Gospel today is that Jesus’ purpose in becoming man was to reveal the Father, the God of love to all and further that he might return all creation. That’s right, all creation returned to the God who created. So it is an invitation and if we say yes to that invitation, it is also a promise. It is a promise of life beyond the life we now live. It is a promise of eternal presence with the God who created all of us in love. I want you to take a few minutes and think of all the people in your life who have touched you; those who in some way changed your life and made you better. Were they perfect people? The answer in most cases is “heck no”. Today we celebrate that although imperfect, they said yes to an invitation. They said yes in the same way as we say yes, we do it as best we can. The invitation in Jesus’ word is framed in such a wonderful way. He says that the will of the Father is “that I should not lose anything that he gave me”. Now if that is not a reason for hope then I doubt that there is one. Friends, today we honor those who have gone before us in faith and it reminds of the great gifts we have been given; his gift of love and the gift of mercy. Today we appreciate their journey and are given new hope for our own.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 17:08:36 +0000
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