Posted by The WORD in other words (2022) by Fr Antonio Gilberto Marquezes SVD – Rome
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed – November 2 / All Souls Day
At the request of the Vatican, one of our apostolates as SVDs here in Rome is to take care of the catacombs, the vast ancient subterranean cemeteries where the first Christians buried their dead. The extant frescos and inscriptions carved on the tombs powerfully reveal how the early Christians lived their faith and how they viewed the reality of death.
The catacombs, in effect, served as a “dormitorium” where the deceased were covered with sheets as if sleeping, and some of which were accompanied by carved Christian symbols like an anchor, where they hope to awake at the arrival of the soul in the harbor of the eternal life.
The word catacomb signifies “coemeterium” which was derived from the ancient Greek, κοιμητήριον, koimeterion, meaning bedroom or resting place, which emphasized that Christians viewed burial as a provisional moment as they await for the resurrection.
That is also the spirit of the commemoration of the faithful departed. The unity of our lives in Christ through baptism makes us also united in his death and resurrection. The first reading boldly points to this, “for if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead” (2 Mc 12:44).
That is also the tone of the second reading that “it is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us (Rm 8: 34).” For centuries, Christians clung to this faith, and even in the darkest moments of history, Christians wait for the light of the resurrection.
The Gospel reading is taken from John and among its notable features is his emphasis on eternal life, zoe, not βίος, bios, in Greek. Jesus is the way (ὁδὸς, odos), the truth (ἀλήθεια, alētheia) and the life (ζωή, zōē). Bios is our quotidian experience of earthly life in the natural creation, while zoe emphasizes the present dimension of eternal life, and it is a mode of life by “being born from above” (Jn 3:3).
Our celebration then of the commemoration of the faithful departed is a testament of hope and union in the risen Christ. His death is not simply understood as a moment of his demise and humiliation but paradoxically his own glorification, his victory over sin and death so that he can offer eternal life.
“Christ goes towards his passion and death with full awareness of the mission that he has to fulfill… he must bring it about that man should not perish, but have eternal life” (Salvifici Doloris 16).
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