Once dead, always alive

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

            We are made in the image and likeness of God. Perhaps God is all love, neither male nor female.  Let me paraphrase the Monks of the Weston Priory who sing: Seek the Lord while He may be found, come to him, while he is still near. As high as the sky is above the earth, so far above our ways the ways of the Lord!'  While we are made in God's image, God is so far above us. Beyond our comprehension. God is not bound by anything. He bears none of the limits we carry, physicality, time, presence. He can be present at all times, in all places to all people. Pretty impressive. It is believed that when we die we will share more deeply in some of His awesomeness if you will. We will not be bound to the extent we are now and we will not have corporeal bodies as we do now.

             It is this attachment that we have for bodies, physicality and time that I approach the topic of today as All Sous Day.  Our minds and our hearts are drawn to those today who have passed through this life but who enjoy the presence of God which we hope for when our time comes to pass. Still, we can actually ache and we miss the ones with whom we have shared life. Beloved parents, friends siblings and countless others that have touched our lives in innumerable ways. The love that we shared is still alive and is timeless as God is. What's wonderful is that because God is timeless, we have a 'living' connection to everyone who has passed on to  God. 

              When you think about the ones we actually knew and loved, we can smile knowing that they are in the presence of God and with God they are still present to us. The love of life still lives. The memories are precious gifts that we can retain, mementos if you will of cherished moments not really lost at all. With God all things are possible and we can even share in the remembrance of our ancestors and saints that came before us, that sacrificed for us, that forged forward in faith for their children and family (us).

         All souls day is an awesome reminder of the Glory, power and limitless wonder of God. It is also a reminder of the presence of our loved ones still in our lives but have shed their earthly bodies to be in the glorious presence of God. In this way I'd like to put down my own list of some people that I recall, people that I love and who have loved me, people in my life that have gone to their eternal reward.

Isabelle, Robert T., Robert G., Anna C Schuster, Anne, Dorothy, George, Jeanne, Harriett, Fred, Sarah Dougan, Pat Kollmer, Angelo, Alma, John McGuire, Michael and so many others.

       Recall those whom you loved, helped you be who you are. People who were a sign of God's love to you in this world. Smile and know they are with our creator.  Thank you God. 

          

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
   Where, O death, is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.