All Souls Day

Wis 3:1-9
Rom 5:5-11
Jn 6:37-40

I have to admit, I worry. I worry about lots of things, most of them completely out of my control. Some worries are irrational, some are understandable, but almost none of them are things I can control. I worry about my daughter, my wife, my mother, my sister, my brother, my friends, you get the picture. I worry, and that brings us to today, All Souls Day, the day we remember all of those who have gone before us. Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of All Saints, everyone who has made it to the bigs, whether we know them or not. Today we celebrate everyone, especially those whose disposition is, shall we say, unknown. And that makes me worry. All of us have lost people close to us, people we loved, but people, human beings, subject to all of the frailties and failings that being human can mean. That leads to worry, one of those worries about something that I have absolutely no control over. I don’t have any control, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do. There is much I can do because I can pray. I can pray for those who have gone on before; I can pray that they reach the ultimate glory. I pray because I love (yes love, not loved) them, and want only for them to be with God, to enjoy the perfect peace and love that is Heaven. I pray so that one day they can pray for me, who will undoubtedly need their help and a great deal more. I pray and I worry, but I also find comfort, comfort in today’s Gospel. Jesus says “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” Later Jesus says “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Everyone who believes, not everyone who is perfect, not everyone who is without fault. God wants us, all of us. Sure, we can still mess it up, but God still wants us, all of us. I find that thought very comforting indeed. Hope for me, hope for those I love, hope for all of us is there, there in the boundless love of God. Maybe today I can worry just a little less.
Deacon John
Feast of All Souls
Nov. 2, 2006