Most of us feel, at one time or another (for some people, multiple times), that certain loved ones who have gone before us have come back for a visit. I’m not talking about hauntings but about the strong sense of another’s presence. It may happen when we are under great stress, and we feel that a grandmother or sibling or close friend is suddenly beside us, even though that person is deceased. We may feel such presence during a family celebration or on a significant anniversary. Or there may be no apparent reason for the visitation, but we feel it happening. In many cases, it brings great comfort, feelings of joy and peace.
What is happening, really? No one knows, and if they say they know, they speak foolishly. Christians believe that people have souls that live eternally. We do believe there is life after death. Beyond that, we have only bits and pieces of theology. There are many theories about how this soul business works. And many of us have experiences we cannot explain. But we trust experience, and we trust the loving Holy Spirit that hovers over all creation, the God whose love permeates all existence, including existence after death.
Also, Christians believe in “the communion of saints.” What that means is, I am still in community with people throughout time, living and dead. At some level of existence, we are together in God—or, in the terminology of the Church, we are in the Body of Christ—and death does not change that. Our experience changes because of death. Our perception changes, and our participation with deceased loved ones certainly changes.
But the reality is ultimately one of hope and comfort. When we remember loved ones who have died, we can entrust their souls to God’s care. We can do this over and over again. We intuitively know that no one ever stops growing, that our journey with God continues beyond age and beyond death. So our prayers support the journeys of the people who have crossed death’s threshold.
This week, take time to remember in detail loved ones who are over that threshold. Thank God for them, and pray for them.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes thank you Vinita for reminding me of the communion and the connection. My mom died this past April at age 99 and my favorite aunt died later the same day. In life they were like sisters. I find myself “in a need” at times praying to them to facilitate “the best” for the loved one. It is all good! Vera
Vinita, I know I sound like a heretic, but I do not pray for my loved ones. I ask them to pray with me.My sister died in great pain with cancer, my mother after five years debilitation. Their suffering was on earth. It helps me to think that Jesus welcomed them both into his arms. God’s forgiveness is complete— he doesn’t require us to “make up” for the past.
“What is happening, really? No one knows, and if they say they know, they speak foolishly.”
Vinita, then you go on to state the reasons why we believe we are still in connection with our loved ones who have died. It is our Faith, (it is not foolishness), as stated in the Apostles Creed – . . . the Communion of Saints, Life Everlasting.
St. Teresa, St. Anthony, to name a few, have jobs that they do very well even beyond this life. Since my young daughter was killed six years ago, my faith has increased and I believe with a certainty that Love never dies. It is a certainty, sure fact of our faith, – I Believe . . ..
I think Vinita meant that nobody really knows what happens after we die. Nobody has come back to tell us although there have been visitations et al but that’s it folks. Further, ghost hunting and studies into the paranormal are truly foolishness (dangerous too, there are demons out there). We are supposed to live by faith and be satisfied with what little we are allowed by God to know about life after death. Nobody knows more than what he will tell us. Personally I am content to leave it like that since people have been trying to figure it out since the beginning of time and haven’t learned a thing. We are supposed to spend our years living in the real, not the unknown.
As well I believe that your daughter is looking over you. Host of witnesses.
Vinita: I thank you for the reminder of the “communion of saints”. I strongly affirm it and experience it so deeply especially when I receive Eucharist (true Communion)
Vinita, It was very interesting that you chose to write about the communion of saints this week. Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a Byzantine Catholic Liturgy while visiting my dad in another state. In their tradition the Sunday after Pentecost is All Saints Sunday. The priest gave a wonderful homily regarding the difficulties you can expect to face on the road to becoming a saint. He also spoke of how the saints, besides giving us role models to follow, are there praying for us, watching over us and giving us strength in our own personal journeys to sainthood. So then, it makes sense that the best saints to do this for each of us are the ones we were blessed to know and live with in this life.
I think of the Dogma of Communion of Saints shows us a close relarionship between the ones who are alreafy in God´s presence, those still awaiting in Purgatory and we living our lives in Hope