Dear Brothers and Sisters, Continuing with our reflection on the Last Things, this week I’d like to focus on what’s probably the hardest aspect of our earthly existence: death. It’s a sad and tragic reality, when we grieve the passing of a loved one or friend, and also when we find that we have to consider the end of our own lives. But since it’s part of human experience, it’s something we should look at with the eyes of faith. First, I think it’s important to acknowledge that death is a tragedy, and that it’s okay to feel sad and even cry sometimes when we’re going through grief. It’s easy for us to sometimes feel like the experience of genuine grief makes us less of a Christian, that our faith in the Resurrection means we shouldn’t be sad when we lose someone. But God makes it clear that we shouldn’t feel guilty about feeling sad. Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died, and the promise that every tear will be wiped away in heaven means that God understands why we have tears now. Part of the path of confronting death in faith is recognizing that our feelings of grief are okay. But at the same time, when we talk about death, it’s important for us to speak some words of hope. When Jesus died, he changed suffering and death into the pathway to everlasting life. Through the power of the Resurrection, death is not the end. We’re all connected in the Communion of the Saints—which is why it’s important for us to pray for our departed loved ones. We remember them, and we know that they also remember us in their prayers. Feeling that connection in Christ with those who have gone on is perhaps the greatest consolation we can feel in our grief. Let’s reclaim a favorite Catholic prayer together this month, a prayer filled with love and hope that conquer sorrow: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.” Amen! God bless,