The Lord God, beauty, goodness, truth,
tenderness, the fullness of love -- all that awaits us, and all those who
preceded us and died in the Lord are there, in heaven with God. Even the best
of the saints were not saved by their good works, but by the blood of Christ.
God is the one who saves; he is the one who carries us like father -- at the
end of our lives -- to that heaven where our forebears are.
The
feast day reading from the seventh chapter of the Book of Revelation described
a multitude of people from every race and nation standing before God. They were
dressed in white, the pope said, because they were "washed in the blood of
the Lamb”. We can enter into heaven only thanks to the blood of the lamb, the
blood of Christ.
If today we are remembering these brothers
and sisters of ours who lived before us and are now in heaven, they are there
because they were washed in the blood of Christ. That is our hope, and this
hope does not disappoint. If we live our lives with the Lord, he will never
disappoint us.
We are children of God, and live in hope of
one day seeing God as he is. On the feast of All Saints and before the Day of
the Dead, it is important to think about hope.
