Nothing can separate us from the love of God

Jesus said to the crowds: "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day."

John 6:37 – 40

For the Christian, death is not the end. To reduce Christian belief to a set of values, even ‘Gospel values’ undermines the principles upon which our faith is built – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1Cor 15:14): And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless and our faith is useless. The resurrection of Jesus isn’t an added extra, because it is the precursor, the hope, for all who believe. It has been the driver for two thousand years. This approaching Commemoration of the All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) on 2 November is a cogent reminder that prayer for those who have died is still a powerful tool.

The past year has flown quickly since my mother reached out for her eternal reward, and it is my utter conviction that she lives anew with the Lord. I often wonder how those who have no faith think about their loved ones who have died.

Prior to the Hellenization of the ancient near east, the Hebrews believed that death was utterly terminal, that there was nothing after the grave. Socrates, Pythagorus and Plato popularized the Egyptian-sourced concept of the separation of body and soul, and of the soul’s immortality. The Greeks introduced this to Palestine, so that by Jesus’ time, the concept was popular amongst the Jews.

Exactly what that ‘life with the Lord’ looks like or sounds like – of that I am not sure, whether personality continues with the soul, or whether in the same way our bodies merge into the earth once more, our eternal selves merge into a greater being or whether individual souls are infinitely separate. The Church itself teaches of the perdurance of the soul and of the intimacy that comes from friendship with God.

From the moment of death to the resurrection this friendship endures and the faithful are finally transformed.

There are many customs surrounding All Souls Day, many of which have over time  been suppressed or reformed. It is not obsessive or ghoulish to remember those who have died. Our remembrance is a spark of the eternal life that they already live. Once again St Paul writes (Romans 8:38 – 39):

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.