Mass of Remembrance – Homily
Mass of Remembrance
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 23
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 5:1-12a
November 4, 2025
We gather together tonight with a common faith in Jesus and we gather together with a common frame of heart. You have all had someone important pass from this world in the last year.
For some it has been a full year while for others only a few weeks. However long it has been, you have all being mourning. When we mourn, we may feel alone because our loved one is no longer with us but we are not really alone because our Lord walks with us through the dark valley of death.
In fact, Jesus says to us, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.” How does God comfort us?
With his love and with faith in the words He tells us. Words like “Blessed are they poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” When we die with faith in Jesus, He has a place, a reward, waiting for us in Heaven.
When a loved one dies, we find comfort in knowing “life is changed, not ended” in death.
We find this in our first reading tonight from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. It was written before people had a clear understanding of eternal life. When life ended in this world, it seemed final. Our Lord Jesus comes later to “destroy the veil that veils all peoples…he will destroy death forever.”
Jesus is crucified for ours sins but He does not remain in the tomb forever. He was raised on the third day in the Resurrection. Jesus shows us in his Resurrection that God has power even over death.
Knowing all these changes the way we look at death. With the words of hope in the Resurrection, our Lord God wipes “away the tears from all faces.” We can “rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
What we celebrate tonight in this Eucharist is the Sacrifice of Jesus giving his life for us on the Cross. We offer this Mass with our deceased loved ones in mind. We do the same when we offer a Mass intention for them.
None of us is perfect. God stands ready to forgive us. When we ask, He takes away our sins, yet we remain marked with the effect of our sins.
To enter Heaven, we need to be purified of the remnant of our sins. God knows that. God has a solution for that. It’s called Purgatory and it’s a good place. It is through the cleansing fire of Purgatory that God purifies us from our sins that have already been forgiven.
Each of you is likely in a different place in the stages of grieving. Some because your loved ones passed at different but even two people mourning the loss of the same person don’t necessarily grieve the same way or at the same pace. It is different for each of us.
What is in common is the faith we grieve with, faith in Jesus Christ.
Without our Christian faith in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, we would grieve without hope. I can’t imagine what that is like. When I read an obituary with no mention of God and it says there are no services, I can’t imagine what that is like. It seems their loved one is gone in “utter destruction.”
For us as Christians, death is not “utter destruction.” It can a difficult time but, with the hope we have in God, it becomes a profound moment as our loved one passes from this this world to eternal life.
(See my webpage “Funerals, Mass Intentions, and Purgatory” for more on any of these and grieving).