The Monthly Note
November 2006
November : month of the dead, month of hope
by Fr. Émery Désilets, OP
For centuries, in the Christian tradition, the month of November is a time when our deceased loved ones take a meaningful place. We do not only remember the persons we have known and that have left us during that time. No. Through the liturgies of the month’s first 2 days (All Saints Day and All Souls day), we raise our eyes to God. In that way, we see our deceased loved ones - as well as those who are strangers to us – in a horizon that shatters the limits of our well-known horizon. From a closed horizon, reduced to a few decades of life, we pass on to God’s. There, we enter with the prospect of a shared life with God, in His glory, for eternity. As believers, it is in this way that we have to remember our deceased loved ones. We pass on from an horizon of death to an horizon of life.
On All Saints Day, we start by giving thanks to God for the millions of men and women who, during the centuries, have intensely tried to faithfully answer His call. For this innumerable crowd of persons who have live in justice and charity, on the way of the Beatitudes, we come to glorify God for His generosity. For, in faith, we imagine that all these persons that wanted, with fervour, to be faithful to God, now enjoy a life that surpasses all that they could have imagined. Isn’t that what this short excerpt from the Book of Revelation sums up? « I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb." » (7, 9-10)
In short, during this month of November, we will honour the memory of our loved ones. With thanksgiving, we will remember those who have accompanied us through life with generosity.
We will remember the legacy of those who, by their testimony, have encouraged us to fulfill our dreams. We will also remember those who were hard-hearted. We will entrust their poverty to God. And with this return to the past, we will be invited to look to the future, at this life that we will someday leave to enjoy the one the one promised by God, object of our desire and hope. With confidence, we will welcome the following excerpt: « Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world » (Mt 25, 34)
Jean-Louis Larochelle, o.p.,
« Come, you who are blessed by my Father. » (Mt 25, 34)
