By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating a Mass on All Souls Day, Nov. 2, 2024, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral, located next to Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery.
This Mass is offered for the repose of the souls of all those of your families who have gone home to the Lord — marked with the sign of faith. We pray for those buried at this beautiful cemetery and for those who received care at the end of their life from Catholic Hospice. We pray for them, asking the Lord to bring them to the fullness of Eternal Life — and we pray for you that the Lord will comfort you in your grief.
Ofrecemos esta Misa por el eterno descanso de sus seres queridos y por la consolación de sus familias. Invocamos a nuestra Madre Celestial para que nosotros, los desterrados hijos de Eva seamos consolados en nuestro duelo y fortalecidos en nuestra esperanza de poder alcanzar las promesas de nuestro Señor Jesus.
Como católicos vemos la muerte no como el fin de nuestras vidas sino, más bien, como una puerta que abre el camino para nosotros hacia la vida eterna.
Grief is a cross — a difficult cross — that we must carry; but no one should carry it alone. As we pray for the eternal repose of our dead, we also acknowledge with gratitude those who in our grief helped us. We remember our families and friends without whose support we would truly have been desolate; we acknowledge gratefully the ministry of those who attend to the bereaved in our parishes. In Catholic teaching, death is not the end of human life but a door into Eternal Life.
La fe en Jesucristo nos da una familia —somos hermanos de Cristo y su Padre es nuestro Padre, y su madre es nuestra madre. El corazón de Jesús es de verdad una hoguera del divino amor que esparce sus ardores en todas las direcciones: en el cielo en la Iglesia triunfante, en la tierra en la militante y en el purgatorio en la sufriente. Así, en el símbolo de la fe, o sea el Credo, afirmamos que creemos en la comunión de los santos —esa comunión es esa red de relaciones a la cual entramos por el bautismo en la vida misma de Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espíritu Santo. Y esa comunión es más fuerte que la muerte —pues, como decimos en la Misa, “para quienes creemos en ti, Señor, la vida se transforma, no se acaba; y disuelta nuestra morada terrenal, se nos prepara una mansión eterna en el cielo”.
Even as we remember to the Lord our departed loved ones, we are reminded of the gift of Eternal Life promised us by Jesus Christ who in dying destroyed our death and in rising restored us to life. As Catholics, we learned in the catechism of our youth that God made us to know him, to love him, to serve him in this life — and to be happy with him in the next. God did not create us in his own image and likeness just for us to die one day. He created us for himself. And to bring us to himself, he sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world, a man like us in all things but sin.
He suffered death — as each one of us must one day. But death does not have the final word in the history of our human race, nor is death the final end for any one of us. At the funeral Masses of our loved ones, we proclaim that for those who believe in Jesus Christ, crucified but risen from the dead, “life is changed not ended.” When our bodies lie in death our souls still live for and in the Lord. This is why we pray for them and commend their souls to the Lord and his Divine Mercy. And such prayers are by no mean futile, as St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) stated: “Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation?”
El mes de noviembre, con sus fiestas de Todos los Santos y de Todos los Fieles Difuntos, debe reforzar en nosotros la esperanza cristiana. Y la creencia católica en el Purgatorio — esa purificación final de los elegidos — nos da motivo de quedarnos firmes en esta esperanza. Porque existe el purgatorio, no debemos desesperarnos de la salvación eterna de nuestros seres queridos que han muerto sin haber alcanzado esa santidad perfecta necesaria para poder entrar en la presencia de Dios.
El Santo Sacrificio de la Misa, en el que siempre oramos por los vivos y los muertos, es una celebración de esperanza, pues cada Misa es un anticipo o anticipación del Banquete Celestial que nos espera en el cielo. Cada celebración de la Eucaristía tiene una dimensión cósmica, pues en Cristo, por Cristo y con Cristo, en la unidad del Espíritu Santo, nos unimos a todos los ángeles y santos para ofrecer el culto apropiado a nuestro Padre misericordioso. Por esta razón, la Misa se llama con razón la fuente y la cumbre de nuestra vida cristiana.
In the third Eucharistic Prayer, when prayed during a funeral Mass for a departed brother or sister, the priest says:
“Remember your servant N. whom you have called (today) from this world to yourself. Grant that he (she) who was united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection, when from the earth he will raise up in the flesh those who have died, and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body. To our departed brothers and sisters, too, and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance into your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow in the world all that is good.”
Dales, Señor el descanso eterno; Brille para ellos la luz perpetua; Que descansen en Paz. Amen.
