Death is Not the End

Monday 1st November 2021. Read: Wisdom 3:1-9, Ps. 23, Romans 5:5-11, Mark 15:33-39,16:1-6

“Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts.” (Romans 5:5)

At the death of a person, there is usually grief and sadness especially by his close friends and family members but no sooner had the tears dried up, the person is completely forgotten! It is as though he or she never existed. Nothing can be more painful than knowing that a time will come when no living person will remember you anymore. Thanks be to God, the church sets aside this day for us to remember the dead.

There are great benefits of remembering the dead. One, by honouring their memories, we are reminded of our own mortality. There is no teacher like the grave. If you wish to gain wisdom, to learn humility, to despise vanities, to know the value of time and so much more, please pay a visit to the grave. Look at the tombs of those you knew who reigned on earth but can no longer get up, talk or do anything.

The second and most important benefit of remembering the dead is that it reminds us to pray for them. Today is not a day of tears. Rather it is a day for prayers. No matter how busy you are, try to attend Mass or at least pray the rosary, visit the Blessed the Sacrament, say the Lord’s Prayer, even it is just one minute, just take it out to pray; pray for the dead. Pray for the souls in purgatory. This is the reason we have so many masses celebrated in every Catholic Church today. 

You may wonder; do the dead need our prayers? Yes, they do! The dead need our prayers because unlike other objects in existence, there is something within every human person that never really dies. It is our souls; the breath of God within us that continues to live after our physical bodies have died. It is true that a dead person cannot eat food or spend money but the souls of the faithful departed hunger and thirst for our prayers. The only real gift we can give them is to pray for them.

What we are celebrating today is HOPE. Hope that it is not yet over for the dead. Hope that one day, when we too depart, there would be people around here praying for us. Death is not the end. It is only a passage, a new beginning and our prayers go a long way to affect what comes to a person after they have died.

Let us pray:  Lord Jesus, help me to make it to heaven and my very life be an inspiration to others after me. Amen. 

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (All Souls. Bible Study: Wisdom 3:1-9, Ps. 23, Romans 5:5-11, Mark 15:33-39,16:1-6).