The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Lectionary: 668

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.

Among the treasures of the Church recently reclaimed is the "Commendation of the Dying." I know nothing of its history but I discovered it in the liturgical book, The Pastoral Care of the Sick. Where the pre-Vatican II priest anointed the dying, the Church offers this more appropriate "Commendation." 

The Prayer of Commendation is basically a vigil. It consists of scriptural readings, the litany of the saints, and a final address to the patient, "Go forth Christian soul...." The vigil may be a single reading, or a series of readings, interspersed with silence or words of reassurance and farewell. The vigil may extend for several hours as the patient lapses into silence; or it may be a few minutes of prayer. 

I mention the Commendation because the last suggested scriptural reading is the passage from Saint John's Gospel which is recommended by the USCCB for today's gospel: John 6: 37-40. Jesus assures us, "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me...." 

Here is the mystery of "oblation," a gift belonging to the giver and receiver, a bond between them. The Father has given you and me to his Son who, embracing us to himself, gives himself back to the Father. We are a most precious gift in God's sight, to the Father and the Son; offered with enthusiasm by both and received with equal gratitude by both. The Son who loves his Father with enormous joy would not dream of rejecting anything or anyone the Father gives him. 

"...because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

Jesus, like every other human being, has an "ego" but he has set it aside entirely in favor of his God. He cannot allow his own will to come between himself and his Father. 
If someone asks me to pray for a mutual acquaintance it's entirely possible that I might have certain reservations about that third party -- opinionated, judgmental sinner that I am. I might allow my feelings about that person to interfere with my prayer. Jesus sees us only through the loving, affectionate eyes of the Father. 
And the Father regards us through the affectionate eyes of Jesus. He has looked on us as family, friends and neighbors. He embraces even his enemies as he prays, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.

Jesus has declared, "The Father and I are one!" 
As we honor our beloved dead we pray with confidence in Jesus' prayer for them. We give them to the Lord who will give them back to us -- a sacred oblation -- in the Bliss of Eternity.