Love gives us the chance to live in and beyond the material. It gives us right to mock the material death: “Where is thy sting oh death? Death, where is thy power?” (1Cor.15:55). Love sets us free from the death of the soul, keeping us alive in God, for to be alive in God is to be alive in love (1Jn.4:8). We remember the faithful departed because they shared in the redemptive love and lived it out the much they could, and because only the merciful love of God can grant us a place in His kingdom. On our own we can’t merit heaven. It’s all grace. While we are in this material body we must respond to God’s redemptive love in the way we lead our lives.