Rejoice Now, Mother Church

Psalm 130 or 116:10-17 • Wisdom 3:1-9 or Isaiah 25:6-9
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 or 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 • John 5:24-27 

“What comfort can I find now for my grief?” asks Eve, in the opening line of a play written in Latin by John Foxe in 1556. “I have used up my tears; my moans don’t help at all.” Eve is grieving for her daughter Psyche (the Soul), who not only has died but also is imprisoned and tortured by Satan. Eve doesn’t have to grieve alone, though, because another grieving mother enters the scene. This newcomer is Mary, who is grieving the death of her son. But the grief of both women soon turns to joy: Jesus Christ rises from the dead, rescues Psyche from Satan, and greets her like a sweetheart.

This may sound like a happy ending, but the play goes on for four more acts. One of the main characters in the rest of the play is Mother Church, a widow and single mother. Mother Church was married to Psyche’s brother Soma (the Body), and they had three children: Africa, Asia, and Europe. Mother Church rejoices that her sister-in-law Psyche is at peace and now dwells in heaven, but Mother Church still is troubled that even after Christ’s resurrection, people still die. Mother Church still has to endure life without her husband, the Body. But Paul the apostle explains to her that death is like a temporary sleep, when the Body lies down for a few nights and the Soul basks in eternal light. One day, the same Lord who rescued Psyche the Soul will resurrect Soma the Body, and the widowed Mother Church will have her husband back again.

I’m not sure how effective Paul’s theological mini-lectures are for Mother Church, since grief typically isn’t something that can be explained away. However, on this All Souls’ Day, we can attempt to share the complex feelings of Mother Church. Like Mother Church, we can rejoice at the peace and eternal light enjoyed by the souls of all the departed. As our reading from Wisdom assures us, departed souls “are in the hand of God, and no torment will touch them,” and “they are at peace.” But also like Mother Church, we can acknowledge that the resurrection journey of these souls will not be complete until they reintegrate with the world of the flesh. As our reading from Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians advises us, “When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” 

When we think of the departed, we may experience both grief and joy. The souls of the departed have mixed feelings of their own—peaceful contentment in the presence of God, but also restless yearning to reintegrate with embodied life. (Bernard of Clairvaux writes poignantly of these feelings.) Both the living and the departed share a longing to be reconnected inseparably through the resurrected body of Christ. Today, we can live more fully as that body by remembering all departed souls and their yearnings to be among us as well.

Written by Lora Walsh

Lora is passionate about discovering the literary qualities of the Bible, praying the Ignatian examen daily, and deepening our faith through dialogue with other religious traditions. She holds a PhD in Medieval Christianity.