The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, remind us of the Grace and Goodness of God through which we called to full and eternal life.
Recalling Lives
The readings chosen by the CCCB differ from the USCCB readings today. In the Book of Job, he replies: “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.” Psalm 103 is Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness. The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians declares “ all will be made alive in Christ.” In the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain.”
Beth Samson invites us to begin today with a litany, spending time saying aloud or naming within our heart, all those who have passed from this earthly life.
Don Schwager quotes “Whoever sees and believes,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"He has said two things: 'This is the work of God that you should believe in the one whom he has sent,' while here he added, 'whoever sees and believes.' The Jews saw but did not believe; they had the one condition, lacked the other. How could they attain to eternal life without the other? The reason those who saw did not attain eternal life was because they did not also believe. If so, what about us who have believed but have not seen? If it is those two things that earn eternal life, seeing and believing - and whoever is lacking one of them cannot attain to the reward of eternal life - what are we to do? The Jews [who saw him] lacked the one; we the other. They had seeing but lacked believing. We have believing but lack seeing. Well, as regards our having believing and lacking seeing, we have prophetically been declared blessed by the Lord himself just as Thomas, one of the Twelve, was blessed when he felt [Jesus'] scars by touching them." (excerpt from HOLY VIRGINITY 3.1)2
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 6:37-40 comments that Jesus makes a remarkable promise: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me” (John 6:37). His mercy is so great that if we come to him with humble faith and sincere repentance, he will cleanse us and heal us, no matter what we have done. How comforting! In this promise, we find the courage to pray that our loved ones will experience this healing, even after death. Not only that, but we find the courage to trust that the Lord who welcomes them will also heal and welcome us when we see him face-to-face.
Today, we pray for all who have died, that God’s holy and perfect love will continue to purify them so that they can be fully united with the Lord. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote, may they “become fully open to receiving God and able to take [their] place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast” (Spe Salvi, 46). May nothing hinder them: no sin, no fear or shame, no wounds from the sins of others. Let nothing keep them from Jesus and his healing love. “Lord Jesus, have mercy on us sinners.”3
Friar Jude Wisdom reflects on the texts chosen by the USCCB including the DeuteroCanonical Book of Wisdom. We will participate in heaven in the sense of being divinized as expressed in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Friar Jude reminds us that God’s mercy is greater than our sins. We have the freedom to choose the Love with which God created us.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that a robust commitment to the common good dates to the very beginnings of our faith and is rooted in both the Old and New Testaments. The Hebrew scriptures call readers to look beyond their own self interest to create a just and healthy community; and the Gospels teach us to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The so-called vertical line toward God must be embodied by a horizontal line toward everything else. The Catholic vision of the common good is as clear as it is challenging. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which the Vatican released in 2004, notes that the specific “demands” of the common good are deeply connected to the fundamental dignity and rights of the human person.
These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom. [1]4
As we bring to mind our deceased friends and family we meditate on the eternal nature of the Love that gives us Life.
References
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