During the month of November the Christian community remembers the dead. We rejoice with the saints in heaven and we pray for the souls in purgatory whom we call the Holy Souls. Remembering our dead in November is a good thing; it is good for the dead and it is good for the living. In the Christian view of life the living and the dead continue to be present to each other. They also continue to influence each other.
Of course our focus on the dead during the month of November is also a reminder to us that we too will die one day. We have here no lasting city. Our true homeland is in heaven. God’s other world beyond the grave is our destination and our destiny.
With its focus on heaven the month of November gently challenges us about our readiness for death. When we meet Jesus as Lord face to face in death will we feel comfortable and at home in his presence? At the time of death will the Lord feel like a friend or a stranger. If we want to be ready to meet the Lord in death we need to do what we can to become familiar with him in life.
There are a number of things that can help us to become familiar with the Lord. One is prayer. Prayer is our communication with the Lord. Communication turns strangers into friends. St Teresa of Avila describes prayer as an “intimate conversation between friends. It is taking time frequently to be alone with the one whom we know loves us.” Making even a little time frequently to be alone with the Lord, the one who loves us the most, helps us to acquire personal knowledge of him; and personal knowledge of the Lord is what we seek and desire.
Then there are the scriptures. Perhaps one of the questions the Lord will ask us at the hour of our death is this: ‘Did you read my book?’ If we find ourselves saying ‘no’ then the Lord may insist that we spend our purgatory reading the Bible! The Bible known as the scriptures is the Lord’s book. It is the Lord’s story. It is the Lord making himself known to us, sharing himself with us, opening his heart to us. In the Bible we discover who the Lord is and who we are. The scriptures bring us into direct contact with the Lord. They are a source of encounter with him. If we are to become familiar with the Lord it is necessary to spend some time reading the scriptures and to do so in a prayerful way.