20151102
SOLIDARITY WITH OUR LOVED ONES WHO ARE STILL ON THE
WAY
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 25:6-9 ©
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On this mountain,
the Lord of hosts
will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich
food, a banquet of fine wines,
of food rich and
juicy, of fine strained wines.
On this mountain he
will remove
the mourning veil
covering all peoples,
and the shroud
enwrapping all nations,
he will destroy Death
for ever.
The Lord will wipe
away
the tears from every
cheek;
he will take away his
people’s shame
everywhere on earth,
for the Lord has said
so.
That day, it will be
said: See, this is our God
in whom we hoped for
salvation;
the Lord is the one
in whom we hoped.
EITHER:
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Psalm
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Psalm 22:1-6 ©
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The Lord is my
shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
The Lord is my
shepherd;
there is
nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are
the pastures
where he
gives me repose.
Near restful waters
he leads me,
to revive
my drooping spirit.
The Lord is my
shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me along
the right path;
he is
true to his name.
If I should walk in
the valley of darkness
no evil
would I fear.
You are there with
your crook and your staff;
with
these you give me comfort.
The Lord is my
shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
You have prepared a
banquet for me
in the
sight of my foes.
My head you have
anointed with oil;
my cup is
overflowing.
The Lord is my
shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
Surely goodness and
kindness shall follow me
all the
days of my life.
In the Lord’s own
house shall I dwell
for ever
and ever.
The Lord is my
shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
OR:
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Alternative
Psalm
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Psalm
26:1,4,7,8-9,13-14 ©
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The Lord is my
light and my help.
The Lord is my light
and my help;
whom
shall I fear?
The Lord is the
stronghold of my life;
before
whom shall I shrink?
The Lord is my
light and my help.
There is one thing I
ask of the Lord,
for this
I long,
to live in the house
of the Lord,
all the
days of my life,
to savour the
sweetness of the Lord,
to behold
his temple.
The Lord is my
light and my help.
O Lord, hear my voice
when I call;
have
mercy and answer.
It is your face, O
Lord, that I seek;
hide not
your face.
The Lord is my
light and my help.
I am sure I shall see
the Lord’s goodness
in the
land of the living.
Hope in him, hold
firm and take heart.
Hope in
the Lord!
The Lord is my
light and my help.
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Second reading
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Romans 5:5-11 ©
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Hope is not
deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit which has been given us. We were still helpless when at his appointed
moment Christ died for sinful men. It is not easy to die even for a good
man – though of course for someone really worthy, a man might be prepared
to die – but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us
while we were still sinners. Having died to make us righteous, is it likely
that he would now fail to save us from God’s anger? When we were reconciled to
God by the death of his Son, we were still enemies; now that we have been
reconciled, surely we may count on being saved by the life of his Son? Not
merely because we have been reconciled but because we are filled with joyful
trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already
gained our reconciliation.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn6:39
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Alleluia, alleluia!
It is my Father’s
will, says the Lord,
that I should lose
nothing of all he has given to me,
and that I should
raise it up on the last day.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark
15:33-39,16:1-6 ©
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When the sixth hour
came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the
ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’
which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When some of those who
stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on Elijah.’ Someone ran
and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink
saying; ‘Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him down.’ But Jesus gave a
loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from
top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he
had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a son of God.’
When the
sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought
spices with which to go and anoint him. And very early in the morning on the
first day of the week they went to the tomb, just as the sun was rising.
They
had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the
entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they could see that the
stone – which was very big – had already been rolled back. On
entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-hand
side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, ‘There is no
need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he
has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him.’
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SOLIDARITY WITH OUR LOVED ONES WHO ARE STILL ON THE WAY
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISAIAH 25:6-9,
ROMANS 5:5-11, MARK 15:33-39, 16:1-6
One of
the most beautiful articles of faith of the Church is the profession of our
belief in the communion of saints. Who belongs to the communion of
saints? It refers first and foremost to the saints on earth, that is, we
as the members of the body of Christ who are still on our pilgrimage.
Secondly, it refers to the saints in heaven who are already glorified and have
reached their destiny and are with God forever. Thirdly, it refers to the
souls in purgatory. It is these souls we remember today.
The greatness
of the doctrine of the communion of saints lies in the fact that in spite of
our different levels of spirituality, we are very much in communion with one
another. In other words, one cannot believe in the communion of saints
unless one believes that no one ever dies. Our life does not end on
earth. We believe that we will still continue to live in some form but
which is not clear to us. What we experience on earth is only a physical
death. There continues to be a life after death that is eternal.
Nevertheless,
there is also a possibility that this life hereafter can also be an eternal
death or an eternal life. To experience eternal death is what we normally
term as hell; and to experience eternal life is heaven. To those who have
died in total alienation from God and in total hatred for his fellow human
beings, these people can no longer be saved because they have severed their
communion with us and with God. There is no possibility for us to reach
them.
If this
is our fear, the scripture readings today give us much encouragement.
While hell is always a possibility, the scripture readings make it clear that
heaven is a much greater possibility. Indeed, Jesus tells us in the
gospel that it is the will of the Father that He should lose nothing of all
that has been given to Him. Yes, God wants us all to be
saved. He wants to give all of us eternal life, a life with Him
forever. It is not enough to simply overcome physical death, but we need
to overcome eternal death as well. Only in this sense is the prophecy of
Isaiah to be understood, “The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek
and he will destroy Death forever”. Eternal life therefore is not simply
a life in eternity, but rather a life with God and in God.
This
assurance that we will be saved is reiterated by St Paul in the second
reading. He assures us that if Christ died for us while we were still
sinners, even in our sinfulness, God will continue to love us in Christ.
For this reason, St Paul is filled with joyful trust in God, through Jesus who
has gained our reconciliation and demonstrated God’s love for us, a love that
is irrevocable.
This
means that neither we nor our departed loved ones need ever fear that God will
condemn us into the eternity of hell. So long as we try our best to live
good lives, to follow the gospel life, we are guaranteed a place with Jesus and
the Father. Yes, Jesus said, “It is my Father’s will that whoever sees
the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him
up on the last day”. We might not be perfect but God understands our
human imperfections, especially our lack of love.
Does it
mean therefore that it makes no difference how we live our lives since we will
be saved through the mercy of God, so long as we do not cut ourselves away from
God’s love totally? Of course, there is an important difference. If
at the end of our lives, we have not yet perfected our love for God, for
ourselves and our fellow human beings, then there is no way for us to share the
life of God. For what is the life of God if not a life of perfect love
and unity, both with the Holy Trinity and with one another? So while it
is true that the death of Jesus brings about the forgiveness of our sins and
God does not hold anything against us, yet we will not be able to share in His
life if we are still not totally open to the love of God which has been poured
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So long as our docility to God’s love
is not total, to that extent we are prevented to share in the life of
God. The inability to share in God’s life is due to our residues of
selfishness and our resistance to love. Isn’t it a fact that for most of
us, we would die with some kind of attachments, selfishness and even bitterness
or resentment in our lives?
So how
can we overcome such obstacles to perfect union with God, a union which has not
been achieved at death because we have not yet loved totally? The
teaching of the Church is that we can have opportunities after death to purify
ourselves in love so long as we are not totally cut off from God through very
grave sins. This is what the doctrine of purgatory is all about.
The teaching about purgatory shows the compassionate aspect of God and the
Church. It is indeed one of the most consoling doctrines of the Catholic
faith.
For
this reason, we have cause to rejoice when we celebrate All Souls Day
today. When we celebrate this occasion, we are consoled that the souls of
our departed ones are assured of eternal life although they might still be
imperfect. That is why the souls in purgatory must not be understood as
if they are suffering in hell. The difference between hell and purgatory
is like heaven and earth. Those in hell are condemned to total misery
because of their total inability to love. Hell is a state where one lives
in total isolation not only from God but also from others. It is a state
of total hatred of self, others and of God. On the contrary, the souls in
purgatory are capable of love although they are incapable of loving completely
like the saints in heaven. That is why the souls are already happy in one
sense, because they know that they have not lost God totally.
On the
other hand, it is also right to say that the souls are suffering because they
cannot be in total peace and total joy until they are released from their
selfishness and resistance to God’s love. The suffering of the souls lies
in the waiting and in the purification. They are like those of us who are
awaiting our loved ones to come back from their overseas trips. We are
waiting excitedly for them to come home. We are happy that they would be
returning home but the waiting time also causes us a certain amount of tension
and apprehension. This is an analogy of what the souls in purgatory are
going through. They already have a foretaste of God’s love but they
cannot be at rest until they surrender themselves totally to God in love.
This is
where we can help them. Because we believe in the communion of saints and
that in some ways, all of us are related and are bound to one another in our
destiny, we can therefore show our solidarity with them. And what better
way to show our love and union with the souls of our departed loved ones than
to pray for them and with them. We can no longer see our loved ones
physically but we can still join them in spirit through our prayers. It
is not enough simply to remember them in our thoughts but more importantly, we
need to remember them in our prayers. By praying for them, that gives
them courage and strength to overcome their weaknesses and imperfections.
Which one of us does not need encouragement in life? In the same way too,
by showing our love for them in prayer, that will certainly give them the
capacity and strength to purify themselves in love.
And
what should we pray for them? We should pray as St Paul tells us, for the
love of God to be poured generously into their hearts so that they become so
overwhelmed with God’s love and be able to transform themselves in love.
It is only their realization and experience of God’s total love that they will
be able to surrender themselves totally in love to God and for others.
When they realize how much God loves them in spite of their sinfulness,
then they will be able to forgive themselves and those who have hurt them.
They will also have the courage to let go of everything and let God take over
their lives. And when they are liberated from their unforgiveness,
bitterness and all forms of attachment, they become free to love God and their
fellow human beings totally.
Yes, we
are thankful for God and for the Church for this celebration today. This
is a celebration that helps us to be in union with our loved ones; a
celebration that gives us great joy that our loved ones will be in full union
with God, sharing in His life forever, if they are still in the state of
purification. And for ourselves, this celebration gives us the motivation
to prepare and purify ourselves well so that when that day comes, we too will
join them in heaven and all will be reunited as one big family again. On
that day, the prophecy of Isaiah would be fulfilled, “The Lord will wipe away
the tears from every cheek … that day, it will be said: “See this is our
God in whom we hoped for salvation; the Lord is the one in whom we hoped.
We exult and we rejoice that he has saved us”.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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