Communion with God and Neighbor

Homily of His Eminence Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle

Pro-Prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization

November 2, 2025 | The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

We praise and thank the Lord who has gathered us, has formed us as family of faith on this Commemoration of All the Departed, a commemoration which we call, “All Souls’ Day”, and it is significant that yesterday, we celebrated All Saints’ Day, and now All Souls’ Day.

This is an expression of our faith. Yesterday, we commemorated those who we know, and the Church has declared as already enjoying the beatific vision. They are with the Lord. But then we know not everyone, not all the departed, are already enjoying it. So, today we pray, we intercede for the departed, and we are asking everyone to also do some penances for the benefit of our departed.

If you are here on pilgrimage and you performed the prescriptions for the indulgence, maybe you can pray to God that the indulgence be given by God to the departed. Hindi ‘yung puro “ako…” “May indulgencia ako.” I-donate mo naman yung iba.

Our commemoration of All Souls’ Day today, within the Year of the Jubilee, with its theme of “Pilgrimage of Hope”, we being pilgrims of hope—this day is a great proclamation of Christian hope, what we believe in. With the help of the three readings, let us identify some of those elements of hope.

First is in the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom 3:1-9, we already see the faith present even before Christ, faith in the immortality of the soul. Not all believed in that, but there was already a presence of such a belief in the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Wisdom; but because of sin, according to St. Paul, because of the transgression of our ancestors, sin entered the world, and with sin, condemnation, and death entered.

What is death? Death is isolation from God. Death is being confined, according to the view of the Old Testament, to the netherworld. In that world, you are dead because you are not connected, especially to God. Life is communion. Death is isolation. That's the product of sin. Sin cuts communion with God, communion with others, you are alone. You are dead. So, even if you are breathing, if you are not connected to God or to neighbors, you are dead. Some of those who had gone ahead of us. If they are in union with God, they are alive.

Thanks to Jesus Christ, according to St. Paul, with the transgression of one person, death entered the world (Romans 5:12); and you remember that in the account of Genesis, when, after the fall, God was looking for them, and they were hiding (Gen. 3:8ff). They were separating themselves from God. They did not want to be seen by God. The first sign of death: hide from God, [to say] “I don't need God.” Then, when they were discovered, the man blamed the woman. The woman blamed the serpent. All the relationships were cut. Death has entered.

Jesus has restored that communion with God and neighbor. So, St. Paul can say, “with the transgression of one man, death has entered the world, but by the obedience of one man, Jesus, life has been restored” (Romans 3:15ff).

So, this is our hope. We have not been left alone by God to wallow in death. Hindi yung “Mamatay ka na.” No. God will never say that. God, through Jesus, will offer life, communion with us, and restored communion with one another. This is our hope.

Jesus in the Gospel, confirms that. He says that part of His mission is not to lose anything of what God has given to Him. With sin, we are lost; but we who are lost have been given by God to Jesus, and it is His mission that we will not be lost anymore, but that we should be raised on the last day. This is our hope. Who could give us life? Jesus. So today, we also have to review that. On whom or in whom do we find life?

There are very wise advertising firms. They use Biblical images to sell their product. I won't mention it, but “_______ adds life”. No. It is Jesus, who gives life, not that [drink], but people believe, and they buy, buy, buy, and after drinking all of that, you become diabetic. It's not life that you earn.

So, today we proclaim it is Jesus who gives life. He is our hope because He fulfills His mission; and His mission is that we should not be lost again. We have been lost already, but God wants to restore us to life, finding us. He wants to find us, and He wants to bring us to the Father, and He wants to bring us to each other. That's life, and only Jesus could give it.

This is our prayer for our departed, those who are not yet enjoying the full communion with the Lord, so that state, what we call purgatory, purification, because we know we who are still here, who among us can claim, “I am perfect, I'm fully alive, and after my earthly existence, I am sure I will be welcomed right away to the beatific vision”. No, we know our faults. We know there are many things in our minds and hearts and in our past that must be purified. If we need that purification, our departed also need purification. So that the promise of Jesus would be fulfilled, they would enter eternal life.

We are in communion with them, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection from the dead. So, our prayers, our penances here on earth, by that communion in Christ, in the one body of Christ, we benefit not only ourselves, but also our departed brothers and sisters.  As I said, let us remember in a sincere way the departed who are not remembered, who are forgotten.

Yesterday, I received a letter. Somebody, as I was after the Mass with the Pope, somebody gave me a letter. They said, “Your Eminence, I just want to share something with you.” He's a person who does not know his parents, and said, “I'm still searching who gave me life. I'm thankful to the family that adopted me, but I learned that I was adopted…and who gave me life?” He wants to write his reflections and is asking me to read his reflections and even contribute to that.

So, there are many people who are searching for life and the source of life. There are many people who are crossing the seas, and the deserts, to flee from conflict, from war, from violence, from hunger, and they die there. They may not be believers in Christ, but we believe Jesus has a heart open for all. Even for those who are searching for what is good and true. May they discover that He is the Truth and the Way and the Life.

So, dear brothers and sisters, it is not enough to long for a long life. Yeah. If God would give us a long life, it's a blessing, but we should aim at eternal life, not just a long life, a long life without communion with God and with neighbors, that long life is a long death.

Kapag tinanong tayo, “Ano ba ang hangad mo?”, [isagot natin], hindi lang mahabang buhay, kung ‘di, buhay na walang hanggan, sa piling ng Dios. 

Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo