Jesus gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink.  To be nourished by him is to pass from death to life, from the dark to the light.

Sooner or later, we will pass from the land of the living to the place of the dead.  We will take, yes, the path of no return.

Yet death does not just take place when we breathe our last.  In fact, we start to die on the day of our birth, just as a candle starts to last less when it is lit.  No, we cannot but pass from death to life as our life goes out second by second. 

We may die slowly or quickly, but just the same, we do not want to die, to pass from this life.  By sure instinct of the heart, we spurn the idea that utter ruin, total extinction, is our lot (GS 18).

And we baptized folks believe that the risen Christ frees us from death by his death.  His resurrection guarantees that the life of those who believe does not end but goes through change; that when the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven (Preface).  He shows us besides the way to take to have full life, to pass from death to life.

He makes it clear that we have to take the way of service and love to the end.  And this is the way Vincent de Paul takes.

He is so much about serving the poor that he does not seem to prepare for death.  In fact, he does so each night for the last eighteen years (Abelly 257).

But he prepares most of all as he consecrates his life to the poor.  As he preaches to them, by words and by works, the Good News.  For, yes, to live and die, following Jesus in serving the poor, surely means to be happy forever (SV.EN III:384).

Lord Jesus, assimilate us who eat your body and drink your blood.  Thus, we shall love like you and live in the light, not in the dark.  And we will pass from death to life.  Make us, who remember the faithful departed, keep in mind that God is their God.  He is not God of the dead but of the living who are in his hand.  And when you sit in your throne and gather us before you, may there be poor folks who will say:  “Lord, these are the men who helped us for love of you”; “These are the women who taught us, through their good deeds, that you are good” (SV.EN IX:200).

2 November 2025
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
Wis 3, 1-9; Rom 6, 3-9; Jn 6, 37-40