Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

(Rom 5:5-11)

Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly at the appointed time.
Romans 5:7 Now, it is rare to find anyone willing to die for a righteous person; perhaps there may be someone who has the courage to die for a good person.
Romans 5:8 But God proves his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Romans 5:11 Not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Hope does not disappoint, says St Paul. We know nothing about our tomorrow. Our relationship of grace with God does not take us out of life's problems, but far from being discouraged, if we go deeper we will realise that, within the struggles of life, what matters is our relationship with God. If I have a relationship based on hope, even if I experience daily struggles, suffering, and illness, I realise that despite everything, the weight of life is bearable; I have the capacity to endure. Thus, hope placed in God—a theological virtue—does not disappoint, because it has its roots in God's love, and God will never disappoint those who place their hope in Him.
What is disappointment? It is expecting something and then not receiving it. It is being convinced that there will be a better tomorrow, when in reality nothing comes but misery and pain. Disappointment is hope that is not fulfilled. It is hope that does not keep its promise. None of this happens in the hope placed in God through Jesus Christ. Why? "Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." God has poured all His love into us. We may ask ourselves whether the genitive "love of God" is objective or subjective, that is, whether God is the object of man's love or whether God is the subject who loves. In other words, is the hope that does not disappoint because we love God, or because God loves us? It is more likely that it is God's love for us that makes our hope firm. As a pledge and seal of this love, God has given us his Holy Spirit.
However, the hope placed in God will always clash with a future that cannot be seen with the eyes of the flesh, because it is only visible with the eyes of faith. It should be noted that in this passage there is no explicit reference to faith, but faith is always to be assumed, since hope can only be established on the foundation of faith, and without faith there can be no Christian hope.
This must be said to avoid misunderstandings that often creep into the minds of many who would like a hope that does not disappoint but without possessing a firm faith in Christ. It is impossible to desire the fruits of faith without faith. Christians must grow in their understanding of the link between faith and hope, because too often they feel disappointed by God, when in truth it is Christians who have disappointed God because they have ceased to have faith in Him; or their faith is not true and therefore, in reality, theirs is non-faith.
"For while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly at the appointed time" (v. 6). Literally, St Paul says that we were "asthenōn", without strength, in a state of spiritual infirmity. We were far from God, slaves to evil, and God offered us the death of His only Son for our redemption. Christ's death was not spent by the Father on good people, but on the "wicked," a term that expresses man's opposition to God. So the Father sacrifices his Son on behalf of people who are hostile to him. There is no greater demonstration of love than that given to us by God, and there never will be. This is why our hope in God can never disappoint us, since God did this while we were sinners, enemies, far away. So let us stop being afraid of God; let us stop being focused on ourselves and our miseries. Let us open ourselves to his love and live our lives with confidence and hope.
It is interesting that Paul uses the present tense, 'God demonstrates his love' (v. 8), even though the cross is in the past. The fact is that Christ's death is an ever-present proof of God's love; the historical event of the cross continues to be a present reality for the redemption of sinners and their reconciliation with God. Even though Christ died two thousand years ago, this fact continues to be the greatest manifestation of God's love for mankind.
We might also ask ourselves why it is the demonstration of God's love (v. 8) and not the demonstration of Christ's love, since it is Christ who died for us. The answer is that the Father and Christ are one, so that what Christ does can be credited to the Father, and vice versa. Thus, the pain and suffering that Christ endured in his atoning death were also the pain and suffering of the Father, and in Christ's death, the love of the Father is demonstrated as well as that of the Son.
Paul wants believers in Christ to be sure, certain. These verses of his become a hymn to hope and joy: if even now, while we are still fragile and sinful, we have overcome the fear of God, how much more should we be confident and joyful to meet him at the end of our lives.
Those who look at the cross must be filled with certainty, and this certainty is the love of God that triumphs over human sin. Once we live as reconciled people, reconciliation bears the fruit of salvation. All those who have lived as reconciled people will be saved. Salvation comes from living as truly reconciled people, living as true children of God.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books
- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary
- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?
Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery
The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)
All Generations Will Call Me Blessed
Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith
The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

178 Last modified on Monday, 27 October 2025 12:50

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Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

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Familiarity at the human level makes it difficult to go beyond this in order to be open to the divine dimension. That this son of a carpenter was the Son of God was hard for them to believe. Jesus actually takes as an example the experience of the prophets of Israel, who in their own homeland were an object of contempt, and identifies himself with them (Pope Benedict)

La familiarità sul piano umano rende difficile andare al di là e aprirsi alla dimensione divina. Che questo Figlio di un falegname sia Figlio di Dio è difficile crederlo per loro. Gesù stesso porta come esempio l’esperienza dei profeti d’Israele, che proprio nella loro patria erano stati oggetto di disprezzo, e si identifica con essi (Papa Benedetto)

These two episodes — a healing and a resurrection — share one core: faith. The message is clear, and it can be summed up in one question: do we believe that Jesus can heal us and can raise us from the dead? The entire Gospel is written in the light of this faith: Jesus is risen, He has conquered death, and by his victory we too will rise again. This faith, which for the first Christians was sure, can tarnish and become uncertain… (Pope Francis)

The ability to be amazed at things around us promotes religious experience and makes the encounter with the Lord more fruitful. On the contrary, the inability to marvel makes us indifferent and widens the gap between the journey of faith and daily life (Pope Francis)

La capacità di stupirsi delle cose che ci circondano favorisce l’esperienza religiosa e rende fecondo l’incontro con il Signore. Al contrario, l’incapacità di stupirci rende indifferenti e allarga le distanze tra il cammino di fede e la vita di ogni giorno (Papa Francesco)

An ancient hermit says: “The Beatitudes are gifts of God and we must say a great ‘thank you’ to him for them and for the rewards that derive from them, namely the Kingdom of God in the century to come and consolation here; the fullness of every good and mercy on God’s part … once we have become images of Christ on earth” (Peter of Damascus) [Pope Benedict]

Afferma un antico eremita: «Le Beatitudini sono doni di Dio, e dobbiamo rendergli grandi grazie per esse e per le ricompense che ne derivano, cioè il Regno dei Cieli nel secolo futuro, la consolazione qui, la pienezza di ogni bene e misericordia da parte di Dio … una volta che si sia divenuti immagine del Cristo sulla terra» (Pietro di Damasco) [Papa Benedetto]

And quite often we too, beaten by the trials of life, have cried out to the Lord: “Why do you remain silent and do nothing for me?”. Especially when it seems we are sinking, because love or the project in which we had laid great hopes disappears (Pope Francis)

E tante volte anche noi, assaliti dalle prove della vita, abbiamo gridato al Signore: “Perché resti in silenzio e non fai nulla per me?”. Soprattutto quando ci sembra di affondare, perché l’amore o il progetto nel quale avevamo riposto grandi speranze svanisce (Papa Francesco)

The Kingdom of God grows here on earth, in the history of humanity, by virtue of an initial sowing, that is, of a foundation, which comes from God, and of a mysterious work of God himself (John Paul II)

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