WITNESS TO JESUS | COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED (ALL SOULS DAY)
Here is the prepared text for the homily of Bishop Larry Silva delivered Nov. 2, for all Souls Day at Sacred Hearts Church, Kapalua, Maui, after the wildfires in Lahaina that took 98 lives.
Many of you who are here know very well what it is to be “deprived of peace.” Some may even have “forgotten what happiness is.” When you look at all that you have lost, “your homeless poverty” — but especially the people who have been lost in death from the tragic wildfires — you may very well feel that the future is lost. These are very real and understandable feelings, and there is certainly a base to them in the reality you have been experiencing these past almost three months. We have come today to lament with you, to mourn with you, and to grieve with you.
When you think of the future, you may think of a rebuilt and restored Lahaina, with its houses, its schools, shops and restaurants, art galleries and recreational opportunities. And perhaps dreaming of that day when all is rebuilt is like dreaming of the new Jerusalem, “as beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband.” After all the toxic waste is removed, after all the plans are made, and after the frenzy of construction that will surely go on in the next few years, you have reason to hope for the restoration of this once beautiful and historic town. And in spite of the darkness of loss, that may even now see the glimmer of light.
But for those who have died, who were so suddenly snatched from us, we know that those lives can never be brought back. The thought of the horrible way in which many died makes it even more difficult to cope with these losses of loved ones, friends and neighbors. The grief over loss of property, loss of jobs, and loss of precious memories pales in comparison with the grief we feel over the deaths of those brothers and sisters whose names are recalled to us here on this poster. They were, to most of you, much more than names on a poster, and the grief over their loss is deep.
But we are here tonight to celebrate this Eucharist because we believe in what we cannot yet see; we hope for what has not yet been revealed to us. We are here because Jesus Christ, a man who suffered the most agonizing and cruel death imaginable, actually came back from the dead and is really present with us here. He is the first fruits of the promise of resurrection made to us all who believe in him.
So even though we will never see our deceased loved ones again on this earth, we celebrate the promise that Jesus has made, that he will raise up from the dead all who believe in him, and we hope that one day we ourselves will be in that new Jerusalem where all things are made new and where we will be reunited forever, not only with our loved ones, but with the One who is love itself.
This is why Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Do not allow them to despair. Do not give them permission to close themselves only to what has been experienced, as horrible as it might be, but to open them to the promise, already fulfilled in the risen Jesus. We cry out, but take a firm grip on ourselves so that we remember that no matter how bleak things may seem, “the favors of the Lord are not exhausted; his mercies are not spent.” We put our trust in the Lamb once slain who lives forever to make all things new for us, to rebuild those relationships that have meant so much to us, and to make them even more beautiful and to guarantee that they will last forever.
Yes, just as there is toxicity that must be removed from the land before rebuilding can take place, perhaps there is some residual toxicity that needs to be removed from their hearts and souls before they can become the glorious stones in the living Temple of the new and eternal Jerusalem. And so we, in our own grief, pray for them that they may be completely purged of any toxicity that keeps them from seeing fully and clearly the face of God himself and rejoicing in that vision forever.
God has made Jesus new in his resurrection, and we lift up our hearts in hope to claim the same glorious reward for our brothers and sisters who have gone before us. We gather in hope of that day when all the earth will be destroyed so that it may be rebuilt into the glorious and eternal Temple of the Lord, that place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us.
