The Answer in the Bookends of November

When I lived in the Northeast, I often connected November with a significant change of seasons.  The leaves dropped from the trees and the daytime skies became increasingly gray.  The days, or at least the length of daylight, got shorter and shorter.

In November, the liturgical year winds down.  The month begins with our honoring all the Saints in heaven, the canonized and those whose presence with God is known by him alone.  We also pray for the souls in purgatory who are on the path to eternal life.  

As I looked at the November Church calendar, I was struck by the two things that serve as its bookends. The first deals with what can be perceived as the uncertainty of death.  Reflecting on the fate of our deceased loved ones makes us ponder our own mortality.  What happens when we die?  Is there really eternal life?  If that is my fate, who else will be there?   

These are not uncommon nor insignificant, questions.  Most human beings, if not all, have asked these questions at some point.  These questions really plague every person who ever lived and will plague every person who will live in the future.  In fact, all major religions attempt to answer these questions,

Christianity has its answer in the person of Jesus Christ. He is my second bookend of November.  The last week of November begins this year on November 23rd, which will be the last Sunday of the current liturgical year.  It is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  The uncertainty of early November finds its response in late November. The fears of our mortality and its apparent finality find solace in the great victory of our King. Death does not get the final answer. Our God loved us so much that he sent his only son to us for the primary purpose of defeating sin and death.  There is nothing that can separate us from that reality; that second bookend of November.

And so as each of us deals with death; the death of a loved one and one day our own death, we have nothing to fear.  I recall the death of my own mother at the age of fifty-seven.  As I stood in the funeral home and family and friends came through with words of sympathy that fell short of responding to the uncertainty of death and the feeling of loss, I knew the answer would only be found in my faith.  This faith was not in some wishful thinking that everything would be okay.  It was and is faith in a reality that the victory belongs to Jesus Christ and to those who believe in him.

For so many, the November of life pauses at the uncertainty of the early part of the month.  For some, they never get beyond it.  For those who live the gift of faith, the end of November, with the victory of the King and the promise of a coming new liturgical year, are real reasons to give thanks on Thanksgiving Day.  We have reason for our hope.

- The Servant