In the Hand of God

In this way, our gratitude and affection will become a prayer of suffrage for them so that the Lord, after their purification from the inevitable sinfulness which the human condition entails, may embrace them in heaven.



In the light of our faith, the pain of not having them beside us any more is transformed into hope: the hope that they are now truly happy, and that, in a mysterious way, they are still watching over us.



The memory of our departed friends and loved ones thus becomes an opportunity to confirm our faith in Christ’s Death and Resurrection – in the First Born’s promise of Eternal Life. Moreover, that memory is also an opportunity to treasure the teachings and the examples they handed down to us. We should be mindful of the fact that our dear departed are ever summoning us to trust in the Lord; that they are constantly praying for us, anxiously awaiting the time when they will finally embrace us again in full and perfect communion with God.



Bereavement and sorrow are the painful part of that obscure mystery we call death. Many flatter themselves into believing that death awaits them only in the far future, yet life constantly reminds us that it may strike us and our loved ones at any time, like a thief in the night. Thus death does not make its presence felt only when our last breath draws nigh – its ominous shadow crosses our path constantly in life, even from the first day our eyes opened on the world.



Though we have a great fear of death, to whom we must either willingly or unwillingly bow our heads in the end, we Christians are sustained by faith in the Resurrection.



From the depths of our sufferings, disappointments, fears and solitude, we raise to heaven the cry contained in the Bible: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? As a matter of fact, if God is with us, who indeed can cause us serious harm?



Our strength as Christians lies in the fact that, whether we live or die, we are always in communion with God: for those who believe, life is never taken away, but merely transformed.



Every time we offer a loving thought or a prayer to our dear departed, we place them in the hands of Christ so that they may experience what is written in the Book of Wisdom: The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.



For the same reason we place ourselves in the hands of the Lord Jesus. Only the loving power of those hands can give us confidence and comfort; only in them do we wish to place all our trust.



In conclusion, I would like to confirm to all those who have written to us that we, the friars of the Basilica of Saint Anthony, will celebrate a Holy Mass for your departed loved ones and friends on November 2. We will pray for you and with you that God may dry your tears, and bring you His sweet solace and comfort.