The Christian prayer for those who died that distinguishes the month of November can only take place in the light of Christ’s resurrection. Indeed, the Apostle Paul says, If Christ is not risen, your faith is in vain…. If we have hoped in Christ for this life only, we are the most miserable of all people. But Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep (I Cor 15, 17, 19-20).

More than ever, the world today needs to rediscover the meaning of life and death in the perspective of eternal life. Outside it, modern culture, born to exalt the human person and his dignity, is paradoxically transformed into a culture of death, because, without the horizon of God, the person finds himself a prisoner in the world, overwhelmed by fear, and gives way to many collective and personal pathologies.

I am happy on this topic to quote a text of St. Charles Borromeo. He wrote, “The resurrection of your dead body will be a gift of God, so that not a hair of your head will be lost; the glorification after the resurrection will be a gift of God; and finally, it will also be a gift of God to be able to praise him continually in eternity.” (Homily, Sept. 5, 1583).

Excerpted from a homily, Sunday, September 3, 2002.