NOVEMBER 02, 2015 : THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED (ALL SOULS)

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
(All Souls)
Lectionary: 668

The following are a selection of the readings that may be chosen for this day.

Reading 1WIS 3:1-9

The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the LORD shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.

Responsorial PsalmPS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6

R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.

Reading 2ROM 5:5-11

Brothers and sisters:
Hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his Blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.

OrROM 6:3-9

Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus 
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, 
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead 
by the glory of the Father, 
we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, 
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him, 
so that our sinful body might be done away with, 
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.

AlleluiaMT 25:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelJN 6:37-40

Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "Every one who believes in him will be raised up at the last day"

Is your hope in this present life only? What about the life to come after our physical death? God puts in the heart of every living person the desire for unending life and happiness. While physical death claims each of us at the appointed time, God gives us something which death cannot touch - his own divine life and sustaining power. 

God does not abandon us to the realm of the dead
One of the greatest examples of faith and hope in everlasting life with God is the testimony of Job in the Old Testament. God allowed Job to be tested through great trial and suffering. In the midst of his sufferings Job did not waver in his trust of God. In chapter 19 of the Book of Job, he exclaims: 

"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:25-27). 

King David also expressed his hope in the promise of everlasting life with God. In Psalm 16 David prays, 

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand (Psalm 16:9-11 NIV translation). 

We wait with hope for the Lord to raise us up to everlasting life
Jesus made an incredible promise to his disciples and a claim which only God can make and deliver: Whoever sees and believes in Jesus, the Son of God, shall have everlasting life and be raised up at the last day (John 6:40)! How can we see Jesus? The Lord makes his presence known to us in the reading of his word (John 14:23), in the breaking of the bread, and in his church, the body of Christ. 

The Lord Jesus reveals himself in many countless ways to those who seek him with eyes of faith (Hebrews 12:2, 11:27). When we read the word of God in the Bible Jesus speaks to us and he reveals to us the mind and heart of our heavenly Father. When we approach the table of the Lord, Jesus offers himself as spiritual food which produces the very life of God within us (I am the bread of life, John 6:35). He promises unbroken fellowship and freedom from the fear of being forsaken or cut off from everlasting life with God. And he offers us the hope of sharing in his resurrection - abundant life without end. Do you recognize the Lord's presence in your life and do you long for the day when you will see him face to face?

The Holy Spirit is the key to growth in faith
What is faith and how do we grow in it? Faith is an entirely free gift which God offers us through his Son Jesus Christ. We could not approach God if he did not first approach us and draw us to himself. The Lord Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit who works in us to open our ears to hear God's word and to respond to it with trust and submission. The Holy Spirit is the key to our growing in faith. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide who makes our faith come alive as we cooperate with his help and instruction. 

To live, grow, and persevere in faith to the end we must nourish it with the word of God. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) said: I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe.Jesus promises that those who accept him as their Lord and Savior and submit to his word will be raised up to immortal life with him when he comes again at the close of this age. Is your life securely anchored to the promises of Christ and his everlasting kingdom of heaven?

"Lord Jesus Christ, your death and resurrection brought life and hope where there was once only despair and defeat. Give me unwavering faith, unshakeable hope, and the fire of your unquenchable love that I may serve you joyfully now and for ever in your everlasting kingdom."

www.dailyscripture.net

THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED 
(ALL SOULS)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, JOHN 6:37-40
(Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 25; Romans 5:5-11; or any readings taken from the Masses for the Dead)

KEY VERSE: "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me" (v 37).
TO KNOW: Jesus came into the world to reveal God's reign, yet some refused to believe in him. They did not understand that he was the fullness of God's revelation and the source of eternal salvation. They failed to comprehend the meaning of the miraculous sign of the bread that Jesus gave the people in the wilderness (v 30-31). He was the life-giving "bread" sent by God who would satisfy the people's hunger and thirst forever. Jesus did not reject anyone who came to him in faith. Just as he was careful not to lose a single fragment of the miraculous loaves, none of the souls God entrusted to him would perish; they would share in his resurrection. For believers, life was changed at death, not ended. The souls of the just who lived the Paschal mystery of Christ's dying and rising share in his eternal life. All the faithful live in hope of enjoying the fullness of life with Jesus. Today, we join with our departed loved ones in their celebration of victory over death.
TO LOVE: Do I pray for the souls of my deceased loved ones?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, reveal your glory to all who are alive in you.

NOTE: Historically, the custom of praying for the dead dates as far back as 2 Maccabees 12:42-46. The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession on November 2 for the faithful departed was first established by the abbey of St. Odilo of Cluny in 998, and soon spread throughout the Western Church. It was accepted in Rome only in the fourteenth century. While November 2 remained the liturgical celebration, in time the entire month of November became associated in the Western Catholic tradition with prayer for the departed. Lists of names of those to be remembered are often placed in the proximity of the altar on which the sacrifice of the mass is offered.

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake. However, the Spaniards considered the ritual to be sacrilegious. They perceived the indigenous people to be barbaric and pagan. To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it so it coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today. The ritual is known as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. 

The ritual is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States. Today, people don wooden skull masks and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate grave sites with marigold flowers and candles. In the United States and in Mexico's larger cities, families build altars in their homes, dedicating them to the dead. They surround these altars with candles, flowers, food and pictures of the deceased.

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Monday 2 November, 2015

MON 2ND. All the Faithful Departed. Job 19:1, 23-27 (alt). The Lord is my light and my salvation—Ps 26(27):1-4, 7-9, 13-14. Mark 15:33-39; 16:1-6.

Readings

Our journey from birth

Our earliest experience of life in-utero will always be a forgotten period of intimacy, of utter dependency, and a time and place to which we can never return. Birth brings us painfully and inexorably towards light and living. Ideally, it brings us to a mother and father who have awaited our arrival, and long to know and to hold us. As the baby is born to meet the parents whose voice she has known in utero, so might we in death meet our beloved Father whose voice we have heard and known in our hearts. Lord God, welcome into your gentle embrace those who have died loving and knowing you. May they find eternal rest.

www.pray.com.au

MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Pleasing God

Your mere desire to follow God, to know Him and love Him better, gives Him immense pleasure. Every time you turn back to Him after a fall or a failure, you fill His heart with joy. He longs not for our self-perfection, but for our presence, our friendship, our desire to walk with him. This is what pleases Him.

— from Answers 

November 2
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. "If we had no care for the dead," Augustine noted, "we would not be in the habit of praying for them." Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased retained such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members.

In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, France, decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church.

The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.

Superstition easily clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead.

Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions or private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervor in Mexico.

Comment:

Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God's presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death.

Quote:

“We must not make purgatory into a flaming concentration camp on the brink of hell—or even a ‘hell for a short time.’ It is blasphemous to think of it as a place where a petty God exacts the last pound—or ounce—of flesh...." St. Catherine of Genoa, a mystic of the 15th century, wrote that the ‘fire’ of purgatory is God’s love ‘burning’ the soul so that, at last, the soul is wholly aflame. It is the pain of wanting to be made totally worthy of One who is seen as infinitely lovable, the pain of desire for union that is now absolutely assured, but not yet fully tasted” (Leonard Foley, O.F.M., Believing in Jesus).

www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO DIVINA: ALL SOULS - JOHN 6,37-40

Lectio: 

 Monday, November 2, 2015

All Souls Day

The bread of life
John 6: 37-40

1. LECTIO

a) Opening prayer

Spirit of God, come from the four corners of the earth and breathe on these dead persons so that they may rise again (Ez 37: 9). Come Holy Spirit, breathe on our minds, hearts and souls so that we may become a new creation in Christ, firstborn into life eternal. Amen.

b) Gospel reading

Jesus said to them, "All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

c) Prayerful silent time

hat the Word of God may enter into our hearts and enlighten our life.

2. MEDITATIO

a) A key to the reading

In John’s Gospel, the basic perspective concerning Jesus and his mission is that the Word made flesh is sent by the Father in to the world to give us life and to save that which was lost. The world, however, rejects the Word incarnate. The prologue of the Gospel presents us with this thought (Jn 1: 1-18), which the Evangelist will gradually elaborate in the Gospel story. The synoptic Gospels also, in their own way, proclaim the same news. One need only think of the parables of the lost sheep and the lost drachma (Lk 15: 1-10); or the declaration: I did not come to call the just, but sinners (Mk 2: 17).

This thought is also found in this passage: I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent (Jn 6: 38). This is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life (Jn 6: 40). The key words in John’s Gospel are: see and believe. To see, implies and automatically means to believe in the Son sent by the Father. This attitude of faith brings the believer to possess eternal life. In John’s Gospel, the salvation of the world is already fulfilled by the first coming of Christ through the incarnation and the resurrection of the one who allows himself to be lifted up on the cross. The second coming of Christ on the last day will be a completion of this mystery of salvation.

Today’s Gospel is taken from the section that speaks of the mystery of Jesus (Jn 1-12). The text takes us, for the second time in John’s Gospel, to Galilee, at the time of the Passover: After this, Jesus went across the sea of Galilee... it was near the Passover, the feast of the Jews (Jn 6: 1, 4). A great crowd followed him, (Jn 6: 2) and Jesus seeing the crowd that followed him, multiplies the loaves. The crowd want to proclaim him king, but Jesus disappears and goes up to the mountain alone (Jn 6: 15). After a brief pause that allows us to contemplate the Lord walking on the waters (Jn 6: 16-21), the story continues the next day (Jn 6: 22), and the crowd goes on waiting for and seeking out Jesus. Then comes the discourse on the bread of life and Jesus’ warning to obtain the food that will last forever (Jn 6: 27). Jesus defines himself as the bread of life and makes reference to the manna given to the people of God through Moses, as a figure of the true bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (Jn 6:, 30-36). This is the context within which the words of Jesus are pronounced and that we are using for our Lectio (Jn 6: 37-40). In this context, too, we come across a new kind of opposition and a new rejection of the revelation of the Christ as the bread of life (Jn 6: 41-66).

Jesus’ words concerning everyone who goes to him, echo God’s invitation to take part in the benefits of the banquet of the covenant (Is 55: 1-3). Jesus does not reject those who come to him, rather he gives them eternal life. In fact, his mission is to seek and save the lost ones (Lk 19: 27). We are reminded of this in the story of the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well (Jn 4: 1-42). Jesus does not reject the Samaritan woman, but begins a ‘pastoral’ dialogue with the woman who comes to the well to draw material water and there finds the man, the prophet and the Messiah who promises to give her the water of eternal life (Jn 4: 13-15). In our passage we find the same structure: on the one hand the people seek material bread and on the other Jesus gives them a long spiritual discourse on the bread of life. The witness of Jesus who eats the bread of God’s will (Jn 4: 34) echoes the teaching of the Master in this Gospel passage (Jn 6: 38).

At the last supper, Jesus takes up this discourse again in chapter 17. It is he who gives eternal life (Jn 17: 2), preserves and watches over all those whom the Father has given to him. Of these none is lost except the son of perdition (Jn 17: 12-13).

b) A few questions

to guide our meditation and practice.

* The Word made flesh is sent into the world by the Father to give us life, but the world rejects the incarnate Word. Do I welcome into my life the Divine Word who gives eternal life? How?

* I came down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me (Jn 6: 38). In Jesus we see obedience to the will of the Father. Do I internalise this virtue in my life and live it out daily?

* Anyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life (Jn 6: 40). Who is Jesus for me? Do I try to see him with the eyes of faith, listen to his words, contemplate his way of being? What does eternal life mean for me?

3. ORATIO

a) Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want;
he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

b) Closing prayer

O God, who at the table of your word and of the bread of life nourish us so that we may grow in love, grant that we may welcome your message into our heart so that we may become yeast and instruments of salvation in the world. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

4. CONTEMPLATIO

Contemplation is knowing how to adhere with one’s mind and heart to the Lord who by his Word transforms us into new beings who always do his will. “Knowing these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (Jn 13: 17)

www.ocarm.org