Angels carried him/her away. Bought the farm.  Croaked.  Departed.  Ended one’s career.  Final Curtain Call.  Gave up the ghost.  Handed in the chips.  Iced. Joined the great number.  Kicked the bucket.  Laid to rest.  Met one’s maker.  Negative patient care outcome.  On the other side.  Pushing up daisies. Quit the rat race.  Reached the finish line. Swimming with the fishes.  Terminated.  Untimely end.  Victorious.  Walking with the Angels. ‘X’pired. Yield one’s last breath.  Zoologically deconstituted.  (Okay, I made up that last one – let’s go with Zapped.) 

There is a euphemism for death beginning with every letter of the alphabet. In fact, more than one (except perhaps for x and z – but there are not a lot of words beginning with those letters in the first place). From that, I would draw two conclusions.  One, that we are not very comfortable as human beings when we think and talk about death.  So if we can hide that reality by calling it another name, then by all means, let’s do so.  Two, euphemisms teaches us is that our starting place says a lot about how we view death.  “Being carried away by the angels” is a lot different than “swimming with the fishes.” Those who struggle with belief and faith had a completely different starting point when they talk about death.  Just look at any Woody Allen film – he starts at a very different place when he thinks about death.  So, when you think about death, what is your starting place?   

On this feast of All Souls, the church invites us to look at our assumptions and presumptions about death.  My uncle Wally, Fr. Wally Boul gave me my starting place in my thinking back in 1991 at my father’s funeral.  He said two things: “Billy, it is the day that we were born for.  It doesn’t make it any easier for us left behind, but it is the reason for everything –the day we were born for.”  And then, later in the evening he said:  “Billy, The good Lord knows that I love him, and that I want to see him face to face.  But not just yet!”  Talk about giving me a wonderful starting place in my reflections – that there is a purpose to our lives, an end point to this sojourn – the day we are born for – that is immensely comforting.  And with the same breath, to acknowledge that how I live prepares me for that day, and that I need to be preparing each day to see him face to face – gives me some practical insight into the meaning of my life. 

Today’s readings speak of those same truths, don’t they?  “The souls of the just are in the hand of God  … they are in peace… because God found them worthy of himself.”   “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might LIVE a new life.” “ This is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.”  If the starting point is rooted in the promises of faith – then death, though not something we consciously seek out, becomes a welcome guest - “our brother death” as St. Francis of Assisi called him.   

Each of us began that journey in Christ toward death at our baptism.  At that moment, the life that we were given at birth was initiated into the dying and rising of Jesus.  By our Baptism, we were marked for that journey to the “day that we were born for.” 

So, on this All Souls day, a day when we raise up in prayer those who have gone before us in faith, we pray that we might remember the journey we have begun, to see the Lord face to face, and renew our commitment to living well the life of faith.  And whether you call it

walking with the angels, being born into glory, or Baptized into the hope of the Resurrection, may we always remember – “It is the day that we were born for” – and live accordingly.