Monsignor Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel of this Sunday, November 2, 2025, entitled:  “If we die with Christ, we will rise with Him.”

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Isaiah 25:6, 7-9: “The Lord will swallow up death forever”

Psalm 129: “Lord, hear my prayer”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, 17-18: “We will be with the Lord forever”

John 6:51-58: “Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and I will raise him at the last day.”

The death of a Christian is not a moment at the end of the earthly journey, but an event separate from the rest of their life. Earthly life is preparation for heavenly life. Some writers have compared earthly life to the life of a child in its mother’s womb: a period of formation, preparation, struggles, and decisions for the life to come. In death, the person will come face to face with that which constitutes the object of all their deepest aspirations; they will come face to face with Christ to make the final decision formed through all the partial decisions they have made on this earth.

The countless questions and comments that arise on this day indicate the seriousness of this celebration and its importance in the Christian calendar. Throughout history, death has prompted reflection and questioning about its causes and meaning. Why death? What lies beyond? Is a relationship possible with those who have gone before us? Isaiah presents us with the astonishing banquet of joy and delicacies that the Lord offers, destroying the veil of mourning and death that hangs over the nations. The prophet’s vision clarifies the reason for such joy: God’s elimination of all suffering, especially the greatest of all, which is death. Although the prophet intended to describe the rise of the people of Israel from abject poverty, the text takes us much further, to understand Christ’s triumph over death and the participation of his disciples in his resurrection.

In his letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul gives us some guidance that can help us live through these events more serenely. The first thing he tells us is that we cannot live in sadness like the pagans who have no hope. Death is the step that leads us to the definitive encounter with the risen Jesus, for “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so we must believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and so we will always be with the Lord.” Let us, then, see our own death and the death of our loved ones as a step toward meeting God. The absence of our loved ones will certainly grieve us, but we will be comforted by the hope of knowing that one day we too will be with them. What lies beyond? Jesus often speaks to his disciples of a life of fullness with the Father and that he will go to prepare a place for us, but he doesn’t give us further details. St. Paul uses the symbol of the seed to indicate that the one who dies is like

a seed that certainly dies and decomposes, but afterward has a different and fuller life.

We have little information about what life is like after death, but what we do have encourages our hope, for Jesus himself invites us to prepare ourselves to participate in that new life: “He is the bread of eternal life.” Our attitude, then, will be one of hope and vigilance. No one knows the day or the hour of their death, but if we await it with serenity and faith, we may find ourselves acting righteously before our Father. Is there communication with the afterlife? We believe in the communion of saints, and that is why we offer our prayers and affirm that there is communication, but it is very different from the style of communication and manipulation that charlatans continually use, taking advantage of the unwary. Of course, we can pray for our deceased loved ones. They are not far from us; all those who have died in the embrace of God belong to the community of humankind and to the community of the Church. That is why our prayers and our offerings for the faithful departed are so important.

For us, dying must also mean dying to evil. We are called each day to make death to sin a more real part of ourselves. We continually put things off until tomorrow, from which we always expect “more”: more love, more happiness, more well-being. We live sustained by hope. But hope should not lull us to sleep; on the contrary, it should keep us awake and active, recognizing the fragility of life, always looking toward the eternity for which we were created. This day invites us to live life to the full, without anxiety, but also without complacency or negligence. Each day we draw closer to the final encounter with the Risen Lord.

On this Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, let us rekindle our faith in Eternal Life, recognize that we are building day by day that definitive moment in which we will meet Christ, let us pray for our departed brothers and sisters, let us console one another with words of hope, and let us strive to continue building that Kingdom, which, begun now, will have its fullness in the presence of the Father.

Hear, O Good Father, the prayer of the community of believers, sustained by faith in the Risen Christ. Strengthen us in the hope that together with our departed brothers and sisters, we will rise again in Christ to new life. Amen.