2 November: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: Homily

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(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)

If we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, then we can believe in the resurrection of our dead loved ones, but if we do not believe in their resurrection, then we do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead.  The two go together.

Why is this so?  It is so because by virtue of our baptism we have been made into Christ so as to be one with Christ.  We are not separated from Christ, but we are one in Christ.  What has happened to Christ has happened to us, first of all in the mystery of sacrament and, second, of all in the fullness of resurrection after our physical death.  If Christ died and rose, then we die and rise.  If Christ rose, we have to rise.  If we do not rise, then Christ has not risen.  We are one with the Lord.

Today, the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, is a celebration of the resurrection, that of Christ from the dead, and of us because we are intimately one with Christ.

This should be a short homily because this says all that our faith declares.  It is based on facts.  One fact is that Christ died and rose from the dead.  Another fact is that we are intimately made into one with Christ by our baptism into the Church, which means the very Body of Christ.  Another fact is that since Christ died and rose, we have to rise from the dead with Christ.

If we believe that a piece of bread and a few drops of wine can have a resurrection and become the very Body and Blood of Christ, then we can believe that through baptism into Christ, we become intimately one with Christ so as to become, like the bread and wine, the Body, or Person, of Christ.

All these have intimate connections with each other.  Our belief in the resurrection, our belief in baptism and our belief in the Eucharist are all tied together.  If one belief goes, then all of them are gone.

So, we have gathered to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as it applies to all who have died before us.  It is now for us to continue living this faith in the resurrection of Christ.