30th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, 11-2-23, Year A
Readings: 1st Reading Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4,5,6; 2nd Rom 5:5-11 Gospel; Jn 6:37-40
All Souls’ Day
Theme: Hope and Despair
The call came into my Chaplain’s phone with a loud ring, startling me. Instantly my heart raced, as I knew what the call would be about. I quickly excused myself and left the meeting I was in, the phone still ringing in my hand. I pulled the pen from my uniform shirt sleeve and my notebook from my tactical pants, found an empty office, and answered the caller. On the other end was Control 5 of the 911 dispatch center letting me know that officers on a scene in Rockford had requested the Chaplain on duty to help with a death.
As I drove my Chaplain car to the scene, I ran through all the scenarios of just what I might be walking into. Every situation, people, and family are different, no two are the same.
I pulled up to the scene, parked behind the police cars already there, and got out. The sounds of crying emanated from the house as I greeted the officer in charge and asked to be debriefed on the situation.
The grandmother’s adult daughter had died of an overdose in the basement. Her eight-year-old granddaughter was the one who found her mother first and told her grandmother. The grandmother was inconsolable, and the police needed help calming her down and working with the granddaughter. They also asked that I help with the extended family to get them focused on me so the police and coroner could do their jobs. In an instant, I was now the advocate, counselor, and spiritual director for this family whom I had never met.
The sting of the death of their loved one was deep, and they had fallen into despair. I asked what faith they might be, and the response was “none.” I could see the despair in their eyes and hear it in their voices. There was no hope. It was as if the words in our first reading from the Book of Wisdom today spoke about them:
“They seemed, in the eyes of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction.”
My work was cut out for me. I began to bring Jesus to them and try in some small way to ease their pain, to give them the hope they lacked, and to remove the despair that their loved one was gone forever. The pain was overwhelming, the utter loss of hope, and the abyss of despair consumed them. Maybe in some small way, I reached them, leaving the seeds of hope for the Holy Spirit to work in them.
Contrast this with a similar situation that happened to a family who had faith in Jesus and knew that there was something more to this life than what they could see. They had hope and did not despair. Oh, their pain was real and the loss of their loved one a source of great sorrow, but there was always hope in something greater than themselves. They came together as a family, supported one another, and prayed the prayers with me. They respected and reverenced the blessing of their loved one’s body before the coroner took the body away. I could see tears of joy mixed in with those of sorrow.
We pray today for all the souls of the dead, especially for those who had little or no faith and died outside of baptism through our Lord Jesus Christ. We must pray that there was a desire in them to know Jesus and that they longed to be just, for
“The souls of the just are in the hand of God.”
God promised through His son Jesus Christ that His will for Jesus is that He should not lose anything that God gave Him, but that He should raise it on the last day. Knowing this, console each other at the death of a loved one with these words:
“God our Father,
Your power brings us to birth,
Your providence guides our lives,
and by Your command, we return to dust.
Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.
We pray in hope for our family,
relatives and friends,
and for all the dead known to You alone.
In company with Christ,
Who died and now lives,
may they rejoice in Your kingdom,
where all our tears are wiped away.
Unite us together again in one family,
to sing Your praises forever and ever.” 1
Amen.
1 – Author unknown
Saint James Catholic Church 