God preserve us from becoming greatly misled! Sometimes our logic and our reason and our scientific knowledge and even our devotion can ensnare us, confuse us and mislead us. Our rapid-paced culture of instant access and gratification may sometimes cause us to forget our Christian tradition about the nature of the resurrection. We honour the day of the year on which someone dies as their "birth" into eternal life and believe that the Saints are with God in paradise. Yet even so they, too, await the resurrection. They await the coming of the new heavens and the new earth when they again will be fully human persons and their souls will be clothed with glorified bodies.

We speak of the coming of God's kingdom as being both already here but not yet here fully. So also with regard to the dead. The saints are with God but also await the fulfillment of our hope when Christ will raise our mortal bodies to be like his own in glory.

We living Christians are entrusted with continuing the ministry of Jesus until he comes again. We are called to a holy life. We are called to conduct ourselves in such a manner that we have clear consciences, are praying unceasingly, are tending and feeding the fire enkindled within our hearts at our baptisms.