Today we renew the hope in eternal life, truly founded on Christ’s death and Resurrection. “I am risen and I am with you always,” the Lord tells us, and “my hand supports you. Wherever you may fall, you will fall into my hands, and I will be there even to the gates of hell. Where no one can accompany you any longer and where you can take nothing with you, there I will wait for you to transform for you the darkness into light.” Christian hope, however, is not solely individual, it is also always a hope for others. Our lives are profoundly linked, one to the other, and the good and the bad that each of us does always affects others too. Hence, the prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that is being purified after death. This is why the Church invites us today to pray for our beloved deceased and to pause at their tombs in the cemeteries. (Pope Benedict XVI) – CTS New Daily Roman Missal 2012, p 3104
