During the month of November, we are called to remember those who have died and to offer prayers on their behalf. This is not just a way of overcoming our grief but is an expression of how we still hold them in love and affection. This mirrors God's love and affection for the person. There can be a tendency to believe that it is through our prayers that a person is saved and drawn into deeper communion with God. However, I believe that God prompts us to cooperate with being lovingly present to the person and seek out what is best for them. Thus our prayers for those who have died are not based out of just our own initiative but out of God's loving desire for all things to be at one. This overwhelming desire wells within us and seeks to give voice to what God wishes for all people.
This allows us to notice that God is at the centre of all things and wishes all things to discover the freedom to have our hearts turned towards God and be fortified in Christ. This divine desire helps to strengthen us against even those forces which threaten to destroy us and would rob us of the liberty of being children of God. Those forces which seek to emphasise the utility of things rather than the relationship with people. In this way, we can see a false message which treats temporal things with greater respect than eternal relationships. This is where God prompts us to notice that in praying for the dead we also pray for the living. We seek to discover what brings life and hope to our age and where the meaning in our life resides. What do we work for: power, status and influence or do we seek to allow life to unfold in beauty, surrender and giftedness. One seeks to rest the control of life to possess it and hold on to it while the other seeks to discover God in all things. This is where especially in these last days of the liturgical year that we are called to reflect on which voices hold the greatest sway over our lives and to at whose feet do we lay down our gifts.
No comments:
Post a Comment