I am not a huge Disney fan. I know to some this is a sacrilegious comment. But, except for a few rare instances, animation is just not my thing. I think 
this has been more of an adult revelation since I would get up very early on Saturday mornings as a kid and be glued to the tube for hours until Saturday morning cartoons turned into college football.
One of these exceptions occurred recently when my eldest daughter was home visiting from Senegal. She convinced me to watch one of Disney/Pixar’s latest creations, “Coco”. For those who may not have seen it, it is the story of a young Mexican boy longing to be a musician but whose family has rejected music because of the boy’s great-great grandfather who supposedly abandoned his family to pursue his career as a singer. In the background of the story is the observance of the Mexican holiday, Dia de Muertos, The Day of the Dead.
The family celebrates the holiday by keeping the memory of relatives alive by keeping their pictures on an altar in the family home and praying to them. The legend goes that if these relatives are forgotten, their souls will be forever lost. And, as a result, they can never again visit their relatives in life. They cannot be present to them and celebrate with them. It is clear that these “dead” relatives are very alive and present to those who are living. As our pastor said recently, there is a much thinner veil than we realize between those that have died and the land of the living.
We know the many stories of those who have died, have seen a glimpse of heaven and returned to tell their story (if you have not seen the true story, “Heaven is For Real” it is worth your time). Or people who are close to death who see and speak with relatives or friends who have passed before them. Our pastor also spoke this past Sunday how we, as parents, should be talking to our children, even our very young children, about death. About how death is not the end but merely a transition to a greater life. If we do not, then what they see in comparison is a death surrounded by misery and, at times, violence. The death portrayed by Hollywood or in video games.
The other Spanish tradition that I love surrounding Dia de Muertos is the practice of spending time in the cemetery around the graves of loved ones who have passed. This is not a solemn occasion by any means. It is essentially a picnic in the park, only it includes the departed. I recall several years ago driving down the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago and sitting in typical bumper to bumper traffic. As we crawled along we came upon a large cemetery bordering the highway. At the edge of the cemetery was a family celebrating Dia de Muertos around a grave as I described above. The traffic was slowing, then moved along at normal speeds. Why the slow down at this point? I believe it took people by surprise. No one has a party in a cemetery!! These places are for mourning and misery. We avoid them…not party in them!!
But the concept of death has been turned upside down by Jesus, hasn’t it? In the reading from Luke today Jesus makes the statement that “…for to Him all are alive”. There is no distinction. It is merely a transition. Like leaving high school and going away to college. This new life away at the university is a big unknown but we forge ahead into this unknown with the faith that growth will occur. Yes, growth occurs even after death. Jesus also rebukes the Sadducees who claim there is no resurrection (they are Sad-You-See because of their non-belief, as is distinguished from the Pharisees who did believe that the dead are raised). He tells them that even Moses knew there was a resurrection as evidenced by his praying to the God of Abraham, God of Issac and God of Jacob. He is the God of the living…not the dead.
And John speaks in Revelations about the resurrection of the prophets, the witnesses, who were killed by the beast from the abyss (Emperor Nero who was persecuting the Church). The people cheered their death because of the torment that the prophets inflicted on them during their life. How they pointed out their sins and short comings before the Lord. Or today’s saint, Andrew Dung-Lac and the Vietnamese martyrs who gave their lives for holding fast to their proclaiming the Gospel in Vietnam during the 19th century.
Conquest over death means we get to live a life that is not focused on the fear of death. We do not have to live such they we are always trying to “get our share” before we die. Life is not a race to the end to see who can wind up with the most. It is just the first leg of a long distance marathon that lasts for eternity.
