Sunday Reflections
31st Sunday of Year C
(All Souls liturgy)
Praying for the dead is a noble act
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel, according to Mark 15:33-39 16:1-6
At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.”
One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome
bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.
Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week,
they came to the tomb.
They were saying to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
When they looked up,
they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed.
He said to them,
“Do not be amazed!
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him.
1. In the Catholic Church, the month of November is normally reserved as a month of prayer for the dead. The second day of the month, being today, is celebrated as All Souls Day. Incidentally, this year, it is coming up on a Sunday. Even though it is not solemnity, because of its importance, the Church allows us to celebrate it on a Sunday. The Catholic Church believes and teaches that nothing impure can see God (Rev.21:27). The only soul that can be admitted into the presence of God at death is one without any stain. If a soul dies in mortal sin, it goes to hell while one who dies in sin that is not mortal (1Jn 5: 16-17) goes to a place of purification called purgatory. Purgatory is a place that shows the mercy of God for those who, in spite their love for God, fell short of the desired level of goodness. The most ancient text for speaking about purgatory is 2 Maccabees 12:40-45. The text speaks of Judas Maccabeus, who collected a huge amount of money and sent it to Jerusalem for prayers and sacrifices to be offered for the forgiveness of the sins of fallen soldiers who were guilty of idolatry. The text added that it would have been stupid to make such offerings if death were to be the end of life. Today’s first reading (Wis 3) maintains that the soul of the righteous is in the hand of God. No torment can touch them. But we know that it is pretentious to presume that any mortal can be righteous before God. It is for this reason that the church invites us to pray for the dead. Jesus himself implied in his teaching that certain sins could be forgiven hereafter when he said that anyone who sins against the Holy Spirit would neither be forgiven in this life nor in the life to come (Mt 12:32).
2. Today’s gospel says less about the feast. It presents the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In a way, it shows that even the Son of God died and indirectly affirms the inevitability of death for all. We pray for a long life, but we cannot live on earth indefinitely. One day, life must end, and we have to join the dead. We will be forgotten within a short time just as we have forgotten others. The Holy Women in today’s gospel did not forget Jesus. They are put forward for our imitation, challenging us not to forget the dead.
3. Most of the teachings of the Church on purgatory came from private revelations to some saints. The most renowned of these was St. Bridget. Most of the revelations to her are documented in a book titled: “purgatory illustrated by lives and legends of the saints” by Francis Xavier Schouppe. One of the memorable stories in the book was about a richman and an old widow. A widow had a habit of offering a holy mass every month for the souls in purgatory. In a particular month, she had no money to request the mass. She waited and hoped to get money but without success. Finally, she took her last money and offered a mass for the dead. While coming out from the mass, she met a well-dressed and joyful man who begged her to deliver a letter to another man at a particular address. She accepted and took the letter to the address. The man, on seeing the letter, recognized the handwriting on the envelope as that of his father, who died many years ago. Trembling, he opened the envelope and read: “My son, this woman set me free from purgatory with a mass that she offered today. Please take care of her from the immense riches that I left behind.
4. From the revelations, we learn a number of things about purgatory: it is a place of suffering, one can stay there for minutes or for centuries, our prayers are helpful for those in purgatory, those in purgatory can help us with their intercession before God and their interventions before the living.
5. The Church attaches great importance to what we celebrate today that she accordes plenary and partial indulgences to the faithful who pray for the dead during this month. An indulgence is the remission of the debt due to God through sin. This is based on the teaching that every forgiven sin retains debt even when the guilt has been removed. This debt must be paid through penance, prayers, and good deeds. Specifically, a plenary indulgence, which is the total remission of the debt from sin, is accorded to all who, from 1 to 8 November, visit devoutly a cemetery or who simply prays mentally for the dead. This indulgence is to be applied by the receiver to a particular dead person or to the dead in general. We are truly privileged to have the great opportunity of receiving and applying the indulgence to our dead. Make a good use of this opportunity to offer a fitting help to your dead friends and relatives, especially those that you may have forgotten. Remember that the measure you give will be the measure that you will receive.
@Vitalis Anaehobi
02/11/25
