by Rev. Herbert Nichols

The coincidence of the calendar this year moves aside the ordinary celebrations of the next two weeks to focus on death as the threshold to eternal life and the dedication of a basilica as the symbol of what lies beyond the threshold.

It is the fitting culmination to the theme of suffering and service on which we have been focusing these last four weeks. Today we let all our heartaches, misfortunes, anguish and wounds, death-dealing dimensions of life, be gathered to Christ who embraced death.

It is a day to remember all who have made the walk before us and have let their fears fall into Christ’s victory over death.

The use of banquet imagery is very common, used throughout both testaments to describe the fullness of life in God’s presence. Isaiah uses this theme with particular vividness, portraying death as the portal through we pass to the great banquet hall of heaven.

Isaiah is looking far away to that day when Israel will be restored to greatness and enjoy the blessings of happy life together under the provident hand of God.

In the second reading, Paul reminds us of our Baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ, assuring us that it is the only way. There is no other way to life but through death. By His death, Jesus has absolutely identified with us. The grave is the place of ultimate identification. At the grave, all is equalized, all differences are erased. Death no longer has power over those united in Christ.

The gospel today holds out tremendous promise and hope. It is by God’s loving initiative and not our own doing that we are saved and bound for eternal happiness. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s will to save the world from falsehood, sin, corruption, and death. Jesus’ resurrection is our guarantee that God’s will for us cannot be thwarted.

It is not for us to decide what shape our death will take. Life, however, is a different matter. It is for us to decide how to meet the challenges that summon us and surround us along the way.

Christian life is not merely about delivering messages or bristling judgments and condemnations or burning with self righteous fury; but rather letting our differences become opportunities for getting to know and love one another It involves reaching out with love to the one who stands at the door of our house or heart, not turning them away.