The solemn feast we celebrate to honour the merits of all God’s saints together, and the solemn commemoration of the faithful departed during the first two days of November, seem to set the tone and devotion of this month on the note of the reality of death and what comes after it. A symphony which reaches its conclusion with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the whole of Creation—the One whom death will bring us to meet. Thus, the melody, though perhaps somewhat sombre, is one of hope and serenity, because we who believe know who truly awaits us at the end of this journey: Jesus Christ. It is not for nothing that in the hymn of praise Te Deum, the Church sings:
You will come, so we believe, as our Judge.
And so we ask of you: give help to your servants, whom you set free at the price of your precious blood.
Number them among your chosen ones in eternal glory.
In the Liturgy of the Hours, for the 8:00 a.m. hour, Saint George Preca asked the members of the society he founded to stop and meditate on the Last Things – that is, the final realities. A short, concise meditation, yet truly filled with meaning:
“It is certain that I shall die. When, I do not know. And only once. The moment I die, I shall be judged on all the deeds of my life, and the sentence given to me will surely be one of these two: either eternal joy or eternal suffering.”
Dun Ġorġ would also reflect on these last things, insisting that whoever thinks about them never sins—a phrase many of us probably remember from catechism classes in the M.U.S.E.U.M. groups.
As we continue to pray for our dear departed, that the Lord may soon welcome them into His eternal joy, may this also be a time for us to remember that we too must one day die and pass through all this. Yet, may we not allow this thought to lead us into circles of sadness or despair, but rather, during these weeks, let us renew our faith in our resurrection to life through Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and let our lives be renewed by this profession of faith.