Commemoration of All The Faithful Departed

If you have ever entered the Church of Our Savior on Park Ave and 41st street in Manhattan, your eyes are immediately drawn to the large words written across the ceiling of the high altar. “Lord it is good that we are here.”

These words were spoken by St. Peter after he witnessed the transfiguration of our Lord. It must have been a wonderful expereince, one that Peter did not want to end.

My dear friends, tonight it is good that we are here. We are gathered here in this church, united, perhaps in sorrow and sadness as we remember our family and friends who have passed away this year.

But know that as we celebrate the mystery of Christ love at every Eucharist, we are also united in faith and hope that our loved ones are now enjoying everlasting life with the Lord Jesus.

Most of us would agree that our Word is our most important asset - We rarely promise anything unless we can deliver. We are especially careful what we promise our children. They all listen very carefully to our every word and expect results when we make promises.

They will pester us to make sure we deliver.

We must also be careful what we say to adults, especially to a grieving family or friend. Often we are lost for words we greet them at a funeral home. Why? Because deep down we know that we can not magically take away their pain and suffering. Most of the time, we compromise by offering our much needed presence and support.

The same is not true when the Lord Jesus speaks. His words have meaning because he is the only one who can give us hope and offer us eternal life.

Why should we believe him?

No parent would promise their children anything if they could not keep their promises. Do you think Jesus would make a promise he couldn't keep?

Jesus knows how we feel right now.

Although the Gospels are silent on this, I am sure Jesus felt the same when his foster father Joseph died. This is a pretty safe assumption knowing that the gospels tell us how he wept when his friend Lazarus died.

The human person of Jesus felt the same pain we are feeling.

Yet we, as believers, we know that the divine person of Jesus, by his own life, death and resurrection offers humanity a chance to receive everlasting life.

Yes, we all will admit that perhaps all our loved ones, even those who were advanced in age and those who suffered with long illnesses were all taken too suddenly. Unfortunately, we can not change that.

We must find hope and consolation in the words Jesus spoke in our Gospel proclaimed this evening.

We heard him say, “Do not let your heart be troubled.”

"In my father’s house there are many dwelling places.”

“If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?"

My dear friends, tonight, it is good that we are here. It is good that we continue to come to this place to listen more attentively to the words of Jesus, who is the way, the truth and life.

In our prayer life, we must be like children, hanging on to every word spoken by God and believing in God’s promises.

Tonight, we must commit ourselves to follow Jesus and live in faith and hope knowing that our loved ones are at peace with the Lord they most faithfully served.

Let us continue to pray for one another as we continue our journey in life, with faith in Jesus.