November 2 2014 (A) Commemoration ofallthe Faithful Departed
A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)
B. Dialogue with Questions of the Day: Victory over death. The Souls in Purgatory in God’s Presence
A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)
First Reading (Isaiah 25:6-9). The Lord will de troy Death for ever. In the biblical work we know as the Book of Isaiah there are prophecies and various collections of prophecies. One of these is the collection in chapters 24-27 which is now generally referred to as “The Apocalypse of Isaiah” because it passes beyond current questions to events of the end time and the final victory and judgment of God. In between the description of these final events there are psalms of supplication and thanksgiving. The designation of the collection as Apocalypse is not altogether exact, but it does contain aspects of this literary genre that will occur later in the Book of Daniel, Zechariah 9-14, the apocryphal Book of Enoch and in the New Testament Apocalypse (Revelation) of John. It is believed that the Apocalypse of Isaiah cannot be earlier than the fifth century B.C. No doubt, the word of God as presented in the various pieces of this collection gave direction and encouragement to the people of Israel in the post-exilic period.
The sections immediately preceding today’s reading, in rather apocalyptic language, speak of God’s impending judgment of the world. He will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earth on earth. And then the Lord of hosts will reign (as king) on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders he will manifest his glory. This is followed by a hymn praising God for the wonderful things he has done. He is said to have destroyed an unnamed fortified enemy city, while he himself has been a refuge for the poor and needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
Next follows our present reading, still in somewhat apocalyptic language. God is to introduce a new world order, symbolized by the rich banquet of food and wine he is to prepare for all peoples, with rich and juicy food and fine strained wines. Still in apocalyptic imagery, all the people are represented as being dead, covered by a mourning veil and the death shroud. God will remove this veil and shroud. Death (personified) is represented as the enemy of God. God will be victorious over this enemy; he will destroy Death, swallow it up, and remove the tears of mourning from all affected by it. He is also to remove the shame, the disgrace, of his people everywhere on earth, although we are not told what this shame or disgrace is; possibly death itself. This is all presented as God’s word: “For the Lord has said so”.
The people are represented as responding to this great vision of the future: it is the advent of their God, the salvation for which they had hoped for so long. It is a call for rejoicing, that the hand of the |ord rests on Mount Zion, “on this mountain”, on Jerusalem.
There is no mention of a Messiah in this text, and one would not expect this in such an early passage. But it does speak of the kingdom of God, of God reigning in Zion. And later Jewish reflection will connect this text with the Messiah, giving rise to the rich belief in the Messianic banquet, which explains its choice as a background for today’s Gospel reading.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 26 [27]). The Lord is my light and my help.
Second Reading (Romans 5:5-11). Having died to make us righteous, is it likely that he would now fail to save us from God’s anger? In the chapter immediately preceding this one Paul stresses the fundamental truth that we are justified, made friends of God, not by external works but by belief in Christ, by divine grace. On this follows a statement of the access believers have obtained to the grace in which they stand, the hope of sharing the glory of God. The trials experienced in this life help in strengthening this hope: suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope. Today’s reading follows on this, with the reminder that hope is not deceptive, and this for a number of reasons. It is based on the love of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the death of Christ for sin and sinners, and the reconciliation, friendship, that has been established between believers and God through the death of Christ. Paul criticized severely any human boasting that would speak of salvation through human means. He here speaks of another boasting, that of salvation through Christ. We can even boast in God through Christ (NRSV), rendered by other texts as having joyful, or exultant, trust in God.
The Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30). You have hidden these things from the learned and have revealed them to mere children. Today’s Gospel reading gives us a clear presentation of the mystery that is Christ, and this in Jesus’ own words. The contents of this reading, found also in the Gospel of Luke, are very close and very similar to what we read in the Fourth Gospel. The text speaks of the revelation of the mystery of Christ, and the mutual relationship between Jesus and the Father, and while unique as a text, it seems best understand it in the immediate context of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus in his life and actions was something of a mystery, which even John the Baptist found somewhat difficult to accept. John preached a baptism of repentance, and proclaimed the wrath to come, and spoke of the one who was to come, who would burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Jesus was doing the direct opposite, and was regarded as the friend of sinners. From his prison John sent word by his disciples to ask Jesus whether he really was the one who was to come. By reference to appropriate prophecies, Jesus gives the reply to be given to John, ending with the words: “Blessed is anyone who takes no offence in me”, a message for John who was declared by Jesus as greater than anyone born of women. The reply would have strengthened John’s faith in the mystery of Jesus as he awaited execution. Matthew’s text goes on to tell us that the cities in which Jesus had worked most of his miracles – Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum – did not repent and believe in him, a text that takes us immediately to today’s reading on Jesus’ self-revelation of the mystery of his person.
The revelation of a mystery reminds us that we are in an apocalyptic context. Jesus begins this revelation by expression of thanks to the Father that he has hidden the mystery (these things) from the learned and the intelligent and revealed it to mere children (infants). We should not press the exact terms used. The phrase “learned and intelligent” stands for those wise in their own eyes, not open to God’s ways. The “wisdom of this age, the rulers of this age” of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 expresses the same idea. And there can be other like expressions. Likewise the term “infants” or “mere children”, contrasted with the “learned and intelligent” does not denote infants or mere children, as we use the term. There were no infants or children among Christ’s listeners or followers. Here the term would designate the apostles and disciples, as “these little ones” in Matthew 10:42 does.
As an ending to what Jesus said on the revelation of the mystery of his person, the Gospel of Matthew adds his invitation to come to him to find rest. One comes to Jesus, in this context, by faith and with awareness of the mystery of his person, and of the mutual relationship between him and the Father, a relationship which he freely shares with believers. In Jewish tradition the Law of Moses was regarded as a yoke, not in any negative sense, but in the broader sense of the Law as the revelation of God’s will giving direction in life. Jesus in a sense speaks of his own person and of his teaching as a yoke, and of himself as a teacher, but a teacher who is gentle and humble in heart. His gentleness and humility are clearly evidenced from his public life and his association with sinners and with the marginalized. He says that his yoke is easy and his burden light. All this is to be understood against the background of faith in Jesus and of the mystery of his person. If we take the yoke and the burden mentioned as being the person of Christ and his teaching, for unbelievers without a personal relationship with Christ and his Church, these claims will be regarded as heavy and unbearable, not as easy and light. The text presents ample material for reflection.
B. Dialogue with Questions of the Day: Victory over death. The Souls in Purgatory in God’s Presence.
Today’s celebration, and in particular the liturgical readings, present material for reflection on definite truths: Christ’s victory over death and devotion to the souls in Purgatory.
Christ’s Victory over Death. Death is always a matter for mourning, death of the individual, death without a capital D and Death in itself, with a capital letter, Death as a personified power. God hates Death. The Book of Wisdom tells us that God did not create Death. God created us for incorruption, but through the devil’s envy Death entered the world. The first reading today looks forward to the time in which God will destroy Death for ever, and to a new era of friendship between God and the human race.
Purgatory in the Church’s teaching. It is the Church’s belief and teaching that Purgatory exists, that is an intermediate state between the death of a believer dying in God’s grace and that person’s entry into heaven and the Beatific Vision. There are two fundamental principle in this article of Catholic belief: that this intermediate state exists and that believers on earth can help the souls of the departed there through prayers, almsgiving and other ways. There have been, and there continue to be, many descriptions of this intermediate state, of Purgatory, but prudence would indicate restraint on the imagination in this matter.
The souls in Purgatory are God’s beloved friends. Very often there have been, and are, vivid descriptions of the pains of the souls in Purgatory. One of their pains would be their new awareness the reality of their sinful state, of the lack of that holiness required for entry into God’s presence in heaven and the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision.
A mystery hidden from the wise and the learned. These were words used by Christ to describe people and towns that refused to accept his person and his message. Paul used similar language with regard to the refusal to accept the Gospel message. The same can be said of the Church today, and over the centuries. The same, in its own manner, holds with regard to truths on the afterlife and otherworld, such as the Beatific Vision and Purgatory as an intermediate state. It took the Church a very long time to come to the formulation of the doctrine on Purgatory as we have it today, and not all Christians, East or West, would agree with it. Catholics, however, accept it and pray regularly, and in every Mass, for the souls of the faithful departed, and do so in a very special way today, in this Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed.