Death is a passage, a passover, an exodus from this world to the Father: for believers it is no longer an enigma, but a mystery, because it is inserted once and for all in the death of Christ, the Son of God, who was able to make it truly and totally an act of offering to the Father. The Christian, who by his calling dies together with Christ (cf. Rom 6:8) and with Christ is buried together in his death, by dying brings to fulfillment his obedience as a creature and is transfigured in Christ, resurrected by the energies of eternal life of the Holy Spirit.

Only in this awareness, in this vision, which derives from faith alone, does death really appear as “sister”, in order to be transfigured in an act of re-delivery to God, out of love and freely, that what he had given us: life and communion. For this reason the Church on earth, in commemorating the deceased faithful, unites itself with the Church in heaven and in one great intercession invokes mercy on those who have died and stand before God in judgment to give an account of all their works (cf. Rev 20:12). Prayer for the dead is an act of authentic intercession of love and charity for those who have reached the heavenly homeland; it is an act that we owe to those who die, because solidarity with them ought not to be interrupted, but should continue to be lived as communio sanctorum, “communion of saints”, that is, of poor men and women pardoned by God.

Enzo Bianchi

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