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No one is comfortable with death. This unease transcends all cultures and religions as they grapple with the inevitability, powerlessness, and the finality which death makes real. Such things weigh heavily on us, even if we’re not always consciously aware of it.

It’s no surprise, for instance, that depression and anxiety have increased in the world as faith and acknowledgement of God have slowly decreased. It may only be correlation, but one that suggests a deeper causation. All the platitudes of the world about “living for the moment” and “gathering ye rosebuds while ye may” seem to wear thin as our lives march on. Is that all there is? Then why are we so unsettled by mortality? Our hearts cry out for more meaning, for life to have more certainty than just death and taxes.

Thankfully, we’re offered a great deal more in Christ! Today we celebrate a rare Sunday in which the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) takes the place of our usual Sunday programming. We are, as a community, invited to contemplate our mortality, that of our loved ones, and those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. We’re also invited to pray for them, in particular those souls in purgatory. But we’re also given hope and a promise to lift our spirits as we contemplate the power of the Resurrection.

Accordingly, our Gospel reading from the heart of John 6 provides a beacon of hope even as we remember and are discomfited by death. Jesus explicitly tells us that he will not lose anyone who comes to him and will raise them on the last day. No one who appeals to Jesus will be rejected. All we need to do is see Christ (in the church, the Scriptures, the sacraments and the poor) and believe in him (by repenting, loving, and reverencing him where he is found) and we will be saved.

Several aspects of this promise are heartening. First, that none who call on Jesus will be lost or rejected. Thank God for that. Imagine having to come before the Lord as if it were a job interview, trying to justify why we are worthy not just of mercy and grace, but of eternal life. Our resumes would all come up short. Even the most decorated hero or brilliant scientist pales in comparison to the perfection of God. Belief, trustful following of Christ, is the order of the day, and none who embrace it will be rejected.

Even more refreshing is the notion that Christ will not lose anyone who is given to him in faith. Can you imagine a scatterbrained savior, so preoccupied with making sure the stars keep shining and the fish keep swimming that he forgets to pick up a soul or two as they shuffle off this mortal coil? Thankfully, the Lord knows us intimately and personally as beloved sons and daughters. We cannot be lost from life by neglect other than our own.

Last, on this day we give thanks that Christ promises the resurrection on the last day. This is nothing less than the promise that our unease with death is in fact for a reason: We’re not made for death, and it does not have the last word. We’re made for life, and if we’re willing to receive it in faith, we shall have it eternally.

It’s worth closing by noting that this text forms a part of the Eucharistic discourse in John 6, a fitting connection for today. Each and every time we celebrate Mass, we reach out and touch a small part of eternity (or rather, it reaches out to us). In the Eucharist, we enter a small embassy of eternal life and partake in Christ’s salvation and Resurrection. And in it, we draw close to all who are alive in Christ, all who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. Thus, even those in purgatory are still near to us in Christ in the Mass. Today as we meet death face to face, we also meet it transformed in Christ, a desert that has become an oasis and a doorway to fuller life. And, as we make contact with Christ in the Mass, we offer our prayers for all the souls who have gone before us in faith in him, knowing that though separated for our hearts for a time, they are still present to us whenever we truly open our hearts to eternity.