Tag: All Souls’ Day

“All Souls” Day

Post author By Santuario de San Antonio Parish
Post date October 31, 2014

Readings:Is 25:6-9; Rom 5:5-11 (or Rom 5.17-21); Luke 7:11-17
The Lord of the Living
Or, the triumph of life over death
(the resurrection of the son of the widow)

1. This gospel passage – the resurrection of the dead son of a widow – would be better understood and appre-ciated if taken together with preceding story – the heal-ing of the servant of the Roman centurion. Both stories constitute an instructive response to the question posed by John the Baptist in Lk 7:19: “Are the One who is to come, or are to wait for another?” (Are you the Messiah?). These stories reveal to us who Jesus is, and therefore, also his mission.

2. The healing of the centurion’s servant informs us of the universal scope of the mission of Jesus – he offers sal-vation not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles, meaning to all humankind. The true miracle in the story is the faith of the centurion. He understood and accepted that Jesus comes from God, offering healing and salvation to the world, symbolized by the cure of the pagan servant. The fullness of our humanity begins with good works and ends with openness to the saving mystery of God’s love, as it happened to the Roman centurion.

3. On the other hand, the resurrection of the son of the widow reveals Jesus Christ as the Lord of the living. He brings to us the ultimate triumph of life over death.

4. Let us try to deepen our reflection. We believe as Church, as the gathering of believers that the miracles of Jesus, considered in their totality, reflect and antic-ipate the truth of God’s reign, notwithstanding the fact that no one can guarantee the historical basis of each and every miracle. And among those miracles, or signs that best express the identity of Jesus is the resurrec-tion of the widow’s son.

5. Let us look at some of significant elements. The first is that there is a revelation from God. The people cried out: “A great prophet has risen among us. God has visited his people” (7:16). Here we are told something tremendously important: Jesus is the ultimate prophet and he transcends the primitive meaning of the word prophecy. Jesus is not simply one who transmit the word of God, he is the Word of God; Jesus does not only announce the Kingdom of God, he fulfills it by his resurrection and of those who believe in him. Secondly, the young man’s resurrection unveilsthe true meaning of earthly life, namely the beginning of eternal life in God’s kingdom. Heaven begins on earth. And thirdly, the resurrection of the widow’s son gives testimony that Jesus is the Messiah who will guarantee life’s triumph over death.

6. It is life guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, that we celebrated yesterday with all the saints in heaven and that we celebrate today with all the faithful departed, as the community that he has gathered in faith. We remember, we believe.

[2013]

Tags All Souls' Day, feast of All Souls, Jesus Christ, resurrection, Roman centurion

Reflections

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) – A

Post author By Santuario de San Antonio Parish
Post date October 31, 2014

Job 19:1, 23-27 1 Cor 15:20-23 Jn 12:23-26
Saved, But As Through Fire

Native American tribes are known for their elaborate and colorful quilts. Often the memories of the tribes are woven into large quilts used in religious ceremonies. Native American peoples are believed to be among the best quilt makers in the world. What many people do not know is that they have an unwritten law governing the art of quilting: every quilt must have some flaw. Even when they could easily produce the perfect quilt, they go out of their way to introduce a flaw into it. Since the quilt for them is basically a representation of human life and the human condition, the symbolism is clear: no human life is perfect. In a way, the feast of All Souls which we celebrate today echoes the same message: no human life is perfect, not even the Christian life. The Good News we celebrate today is that God loves us even when we are not perfect, and that the love of God does not abandon the souls of our departed brothers and sisters in the faith even when they did not measure up to the ideals of Christian perfection.

In the feast of All Saints which we had yesterday, we, the saints who are still struggling on earth (the church militant), celebrate fellowship with the saints who have already arrived in heavenly glory (the church triumphant). Today we celebrate our fellowship with the saints in purgatory, a state of temporary suffering for departed souls who are not yet fully ready for full fellowship with God in the glory of heaven (the church suffering).

All Christians believe in the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. Purgatory is not mentioned as one of the “last things” because, strictly speaking, purgatory is a part of heaven.

Purgatory is the remedial class for heaven-bound souls. Souls who go to purgatory are those who have been judged worthy of heaven, but not straightaway. They still need some purification (purgation) before they are ready for heaven because, according to Revelation 21:27, “nothing unclean shall enter it.”

Some Christians have a problem with the teaching on purgatory because purgatory is not mentioned by name in the Bible. Yet the same Christians believe in the Trinity even though the “Trinity” is not mentioned by name in the Bible. We arrive at the doctrine on purgatory the same way we arrive at the doctrine on the Trinity, by making a logical inference from what God has explicitly revealed. We shall take three examples:
(1) The Parable of the Unfaithful Servant, which teaches the need for disciples to be faithful to their tasks till the coming of Christ on judgment day, concludes with these words: “That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating” (Luke 12:47-48). This shows that in the last judgment, even though the results will basically be either pass or fail, go to heaven or go to hell, there may be those who are not bad enough to be thrown into hell and not good enough to be admitted right away to heaven. These then will receive some remedial purification to make up for what is lacking in their faith and good works before being admitted to heavenly bliss. That period of interim punishment before being admitted to eternity with God is what we call purgatory.

(2) Paul compares the different ways in which Christians live their lives to different builders all building on the one foundation which is Christ. They build with different materials: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw. On judgment day what each person has built will be tested with fire. “If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15). How can the soul after judgment “suffer loss” and still get saved “but only as through fire?” The answer is what we call purgatory.

(3) The Apostle John reminds us that a Christian can commit two types of sin: mortal sin which kills one’s relationship with God and venial sins which does not. “If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one – to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal” (1 John 5:16-17). Believers who die without sin go to heaven. Believers who die in mortal sin go to hell. Where do believers who die in a state of venial sin go? The answer is purgatory, where they can make up for their imperfection before being admitted to the company of the saints in heaven.

Even though officially Catholics believe in purgatory and Protestants do not, unofficially almost everyone seems to believe in an interim state of purification before heaven. When we lose loved ones, Catholics and Protestants alike pray for the dead. We all say, “May their souls rest in peace.” Wait a minute. If the souls of are in hell, why pray for them? Our prayers cannot help souls in hell. And if they are in heaven, why pray for them? Our prayers cannot help those in heaven either. They are already in heaven. Any sort of prayer for the dead has meaning insofar as the souls of the dead are in an interim state where they have not yet reached perfect union and peace with God, and where our prayers can help them get there. That is purgatory.

In the feast of All Souls we pray for the souls of the faithful departed who are being purified in purgatory. In this we pro-fess our belief that, just as God has not stopped loving these poor souls because of their imperfections, neither have we. For us the belief in purgatory is Good News: even though we may not in this life be perfect as our heaven father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) we can still hold fast to the hope that there are mansions for us in the kingdom of heaven.

Fr Munachi Ezeogu, cssp

Tags All Souls' Day, Fr. Cielo

Letty Jacinto-Lopez

Soul and Sacrifice By Letty Jacinto-Lopez (Originally published by Lifestyle Philippine Star)

Post author By Santuario de San Antonio Parish
Post date October 31, 2014

All her life, my friend competed to prove to her father that she was her father’s daughter. When her father died, she still felt that she didn’t do enough to make her father take pride in her.

She asked me once, “Do you think my father loved me?”
I replied, “Of course! He just didn’t know how to express it.”

One day, I got up at the usual hour to bring my grandson to school. Returning to the house, I felt unusually sluggish and drowsy so I decided to go back to bed and take a catnap.

There before me stood the father of my friend dressed in an intricately embroidered barong tagalog talking on the phone to my friend. At that moment, I caught a whiff of fresh cologne, his favorite scent. The eerie part was that I saw my friend holding the phone while she carried on a conversation with her father. It was like watching a movie. She asked, “Daddy, did I make you proud? I always felt that you never loved me as much as my other siblings.” Her father laughed and replied, “You made my heart swell with pride. You always did the right thing and made decisions that I would have chosen myself. Stop worrying. You will be fine, you will do well.”

I got up from bed and dialed my friend’s number. When I heard her speak, I exclaimed, “Don’t say anything. I need to tell you something before my memory escapes me.” I related my dream to her and she was dumbfounded. “What time did this happen?” she asked. “Must have been about 15 minutes ago,” I replied. “Oh, my goodness!” she screamed. “I was just praying to my father, feeling very insecure about whether I was a good daughter and he gave me his answer through you!”

Oh, well. I was glad there was a reason for my sluggishness.

Our dearly departed have a way of staying close to us. My friend’s father did not ask for prayers but that didn’t stop her from continuing to pray for him. Once, I received an article about a privileged person, Maria Simma, who had a personal encounter with several souls in purgatory (check the website http://www.michaeljournal.org/simma.htm for the complete article with photos of Maria Simma).

Purgatory is similar to the last leg of a journey with Heaven as the final destination. Although the souls in Purgatory experience pain, it is more a pain of longing. But take note: the pain is real and can get very intense although there is this assurance, a certainty, that someday, these souls will finally reach Heaven. The soul in this article asked for prayers (the Rosary, and the Stations of the Cross) with the Holy Mass as the most effective offerings. The souls in Purgatory are totally helpless and can no longer do anything for themselves. If the living do not attend Masses or pray or offer sacrifices for them, they are totally abandoned.

This soul spoke about the opportunity that is given to each of us here on earth. “For as long as we are living on earth, we can repair the evil we have done…” We can earn merits. But this stops the moment we die.

The soul spoke further.

“We must not judge on appearances. Sins against charity, against the love of one’s neighbor, hardness of heart, all these will bring us to purgatory.” (Other sins against charity are our rejection of certain people we do not like, our refusal to make peace, to forgive, and the bitterness we store inside).

When I shared this article with some more friends, they all had the same reaction.

Bitterness can take a lot of forms (resentment, bad temper, irritability, tantrums, sullenness, anger, and hostility). It is a heavy burden that wears down the soul and eventually breaks the spirit.

What’s the greatest weapon against evil? Humility. Those who have a good heart towards everyone drives the evil away. Another interesting point was that a soul in Purgatory sees very clearly on the day of his funeral if we really prayed for him, or if we simply went there to see and be seen. Tears and flowers won’t do any good for them, only holy mass, rosary and daily prayers.

The article also mentioned that our Lady comes often to console the souls and to tell them they have done many good things. She encourages them. On particular days – Christmas Day, All Saints Day, Good Friday, the Feast of the Assumption, and the Ascension of Jesus – our Lady comes to deliver the souls from Purgatory.

All Saints Day? Christmas Day? Those dates are marked on our calendar as occasions still to come. Let’s get down on our knees and PUSH (pray until something happens) for our dearly departed. When our time comes, we know that a great army of prayer warriors will do the same on our behalf.

About Letty and her other articles…

Tags All Souls' Day