Fr. Vivek Lionel Basu –
After the feast of all saints on 1st November, immediately on November 2, the Universal Church dedicates to the commemoration of the departed faithful, which is also called “All Souls Day.” There is always a question that arises, why All Souls Day is celebrated after the feast of all saints? In our profession of faith, at the end of the creed, we affirm and profess to say “I believe in the holy Catholic Church, in the communion of saints.” By the communion of saints, the Church means the collective life of all believers in Christ, both those who are still on earthly pilgrimage and those who live in the other life in Paradise that is in their heavenly abode and also in the state of purification (Purgatory).
Communion refers to the network of relationships between them that makes them all one family, in the unity brought about by the Holy Spirit. In this life together, the Church sees and wants the flow of grace, the exchange of mutual help, the unity of faith, and the realization of love.
Furthermore, the Church fosters this communion even in the daily mass, where the liturgy reserves a small space by saying “remember, also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection (….)” Thereby, the Church offers universal prayers of suffrage for the souls of all the deceased in a state of purification. Having said this, the main focus of this article will be on the meaning of death from the Christian perspective. This article will reflect on how each and every baptized faithful is united with Christ in his/her death, and will also be one with him in his resurrection. Further, we will also investigate the union that exists between the earthly Church and the heavenly Church.
The Death of Man
No man can escape death. It is a reality that is present in its own experiential structure. Death is linked to human existence. However, despite the fact that this fact is obvious, man finds it difficult to accept death. Death creates anguish from the fact that with death he/she separates himself/herself from relationships, family, friends, projects, etc.
For pure reasons, man cannot understand the phenomenon of death. Only in the realm of faith the meaning of death can be understood. Death is the way of access to the very reality of God, the baptised moves to a condition of life with Christ. This means of access is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the man who believes lives an eschatological condition even in death means to say that he/she is on the way to eternal life in Christ.
The Paschal Meaning of the Christian’s Death
The paschal event of Christ’s death and resurrection is a decisive eschatological event for the hope of the entire creation. Jesus descends into hell and this act indicates that Jesus fully shares the experience of human death. Therefore, Jesus shows solidarity not only with the living but also with the dead. However, Jesus does not remain there but he breaks the chains of death thus frees man from the power of death and leads him together with him into the Kingdom. The baptised faithful engages his/her entire life in the mystery of Christ (passion, death and resurrection). Therefore, it is not an act that occurs only at the instant of physical death, but it is an act that he/she performs continuously throughout the course of existence. Martyrdom could be a concrete example of dying with Christ.
The Death of the Christian as the fulfillment of Personal Existence
The grace of paschal salvation that the believing man encounters in death is decisive for his eschatological (final) destiny. This encounter is the revelation of all that man has lived in the relationship of faith, hope, and charity for his/her baptismal call. Thus, the constitution Benedictus Deus, (Encyclical on the Beatic vision of God by Pope Benedict XII) states that when one dies in and with Christ immediately after death, immediate retribution follows. In other words, in the encounter with the Lord in death, at the end of his earthly pilgrimage, man achieves his definitive eschatological destiny.
Human death cannot be reductively thought of as the biological end of an individual. Death is the moment in which man’s earthly journey ends and his eschatological condition is established for eternity. Encounter with Christ in death defines the eschatological salvation of the man who believes hopes and loves. However, this encounter also defines the possible eternal death of the one who refuses to believe, hope, and love. In fact, Christ didn’t want to create hell. He wants everyone to be saved.
Communion with Christ in Death
The most significant biblical passage from the point of view of our theme is Lk 23:41-43. This is the passage that reports the dialogue between Jesus on the cross and the two thieves crucified with him. To the outrage on the part of one of the thieves, the prayer of the other echoes, who recognizes their condemnation as just and that of Jesus as unjust. And he says “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom”. Jesus’ response is decisive “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:42-43).
From the Christian perspective, Jesus corrects the hope of the thief which is centered on the end of time, by promising him his destiny in the person of Christ through the utterance of the words “with me.” Evangelist Luke affirms here that the messianic and redemptive reality of Jesus Christ is already on the cross. And the man can benefit from it if he chooses to be in communion with him. Further, in Pauline letters, specifically in the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans in which we see the affirmation of St. Paul who speaks on the dying and rising with Christ. St. Paul says “By this baptism we were buried with Christ into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in a new life” (Rom 6:4-5). Therefore, the believer has undergone death to sin with Christ, in order to rise with him to a new life.
Death is understood as a decisive encounter with the dead and risen Christ and it is the fulfillment of the process of personalization of the Baptised faithful. And it must be thought of within the community because all Christian existence is ecclesial existence means to say that every person, through the sacrament of baptism is inserted in the ecclesial community. Therefore, the believer who dies in and with Christ always remains in a community. The second fact is that there is a vital union between the pilgrim Church that is we on earth and heavenly Church those who are already in eternal abode. This union is made possible by the Holy Spirit. The only means of communication between the living and the dead is Prayer and Eucharist. The living expresses their relationship with them, from below, through the suffrage prayer and by offering a Holy Mass, while the dead express their relationship with us, from above through their intercessory prayer. They are also with us in our struggles; they accompany us and help us along our path. Therefore, the union between the living and the dead is consolidated by the exchange of spiritual goods in and with Christ.
Fr. Vivek Lionel Basu is from the Archdiocese of Bangalore.