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Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)
1 Wisdom 3:1-9
Psalm 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6
Romans 5:5-11
S
UMMARY
These are lovely readings about the factual truth that God and Jesus will be there
for us no matter what. The Wisdom reading describes it as protection, personal
power, and blessing. The 23
rd
Psalm offers profound assurance, and Romans
gives us great hope.
R
EFLECTION
None of us have been on an awesome retreat featuring as the speakers God or
Jesus Christ, or sat down and had a one-on-one with them, or had one of them
look us in the face and tell us: ˈMy child, I am your new father. I will take care of
you until you join me in heaven. You never need to worry again.ˉ We are so con-
ditioned to the here and now that no matter how many times in how many ways
we are told not to be afraid, to trust the Lord, to be content and turn it all over to
Him, there far too often remains a tinge, a feeling of doubt.
What˅s so striking about these passages is the emphatic nature of the promises.
It˅s like they
have
spoken to us to try and calm us, as in ˈI will tell you again and
again that with me as your Lord and Savior, I will guide you, I won˅t give you too
heavy a burden, I will protect you. So please do not be afraid, let me handle your
troubles and burdens and doubts, believe I am telling you the truth.ˉ More often
than we might admit, our humanness comes out as lack of trust. What is so great