During the month of November our minds and hearts turn to those whom we have loved and who have died - the month of the Holy Souls. The Readings this weekend and the state of the world, especially at present, sharpen that focus.

 In the Second Reading St Paul brings comfort to the people of Thessalonika which is part of Greece, and today to us. In the first paragraph St Paul tells us ‘about those who have died, make sure that you do not grieve about them like other people who have no hope’ – difficult words for us to understand apart from faith in God. At the end of the Reading St Paul reassures us ‘we shall stay with the Lord forever…with such thoughts as these you should comfort one another’.

 This Reading speaks to me of the importance of family and community and the very essence of our shared humanity. It led me to remembering the reflection which one of my nieces wrote when my father, her Grandfather, died suddenly in 1998. My niece was only 18 at the time and I think her words are profound…

An old one has died.

The spirit who lived among us as the father of our beautiful McAlister clan

no longer exists in a place where we can share a beer with him or a birthday dinner, watch the cricket.

Such are the confines of the human form.

Grandfather, Frank moves through time and space in a different way to us now,

And to reach him requires no more than a thought of his life as we relate to it.

His life here on earth as Frank McAlister - this is how Grandfather expressed his essence –

his message and his unique spirit to us and that is how he survives for us.

Once a person has left the plane we live on – the physical world – they leave their life for us when we need it.

In our memories we have access to Grandfather’s mortal expression – and in our futures we may share

our adventures with him again, for we are forever linked through love and experience.

What a gift is death, to our growth and understanding.

The sadness in departure comes only in the belief in endings – which in the circle of nature, the circle of life and the circle of Earth - never ends. Death is rebirth – a transition in living arrangements, as from the womb to the world.

This profound reflection of my niece still speaks to me today and perhaps more than ever – it brings to life our understanding of the ‘Communion of Saints’ – such a rich and core understanding of our faith. Our everyday loved ones who kept ‘their lamps burning’ and who in fidelity to the Dismissal Rite of each Eucharist ‘went in peace to love and serve the Lord’ are indeed members of the Communion of Saints.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Phil Billington