Readings: Wis. 3-1-9; Rom. 5:5-11; Jn.
6:37-40
All Souls Day
Christ is Our Resurrection
In the Preface for Christian death, we pray: “Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.” Death is a change of life. It is the pathway that leads to our final destination - heaven. Our faith is rooted in the resurrection of Christ, which guarantees that those who died in Christ will be raised on the last day. St. Paul reminds us: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless, and your believing it is useless. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate people.” (1 Cor. 15:14-19).
Christians suffered martyrdom because they hoped to live forever with God. We perceive death as a transition to a life of grace with God. The catechism made this point clear: “All the sacraments, and principally those of Christian initiation, have as their goal the last Passover of the child of God, which, through death, leads him into the life of the Kingdom. Then what he confessed in faith and hope will be fulfilled: ‘I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.’” (CCC.1680). Christ reminds us in today’s gospel, “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. 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.” (Jn. 6:39-40).
Belief in the resurrection from the dead existed long before Christ. The hope of the resurrection is depicted in the Book of Maccabees. During the reign of the Greek king Antiochus IV, a law was enacted that made it a crime, punishable by death, for the Jews to practice their religion. They were compelled to worship and offer sacrifices to the Greek gods and goddesses. This caused great distress and persecution to the Jews. Many relinquished their faith and offered sacrifices to the pagan gods. Those who defied the king and remained faithful to their beliefs were put to death. (cf. 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 7, 9-14).
The
Book of Maccabees chronicles these terrible times and the struggle of the Jews
to remain faithful to God despite egregious persecution and distress. Here we
read of the torture of a heroic woman and her seven sons. They remained
steadfast in their faith and refused to obey the king. Their hope was in the
resurrection of the righteous. The first reading gives credence to the suffering
and death of a Christian: “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 from
us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.” (Wisdom 3:1-3). Judas
Maccabus, on the other hand, “Took a collection amounting to two thousand
silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory
sacrifice. In doing this, he acted in a very excellent and noble way, since he had
the resurrection for the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen
to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in
death. Thus, he made atonement for the dead.” (2 Macc. 13:43-46). St.
Paul reminded us, “And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to
your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (Rom. 8:11).
In Luke’s gospel 20:27-38, the Sadducees questioned Jesus about the resurrection. They confronted Jesus with an argument based on the levirate law, which states that if a man dies childless, his brother must marry the widow and raise children for him (Deut. 25:5). They used this law to illustrate what they believed was the absurdity of the resurrection. They posed a hypothetical scenario in which seven brothers married the same woman and died childless; they asked Jesus, “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” Jesus clarified that life in the resurrection would be different from life on earth; we would be like angels, and there would be no need for procreation. Jesus reminded them of what God said to Moses at the burning bush: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:1-6). God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are no longer living in earthly terms, they are alive with God.
We
believe in the resurrection. And so, we pray for our departed loved ones that they
may live in peace with God. November is the month dedicated to prayer for the
dead. Light a candle, book Masses, and pray for the suffering Church. We will
expect our loved ones to pray for us when we are gone, so pray for those who have
gone before us, marked with the sign of faith. St. Paul’s encourages us: “If then you
were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who
is your life, appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.”
(Col. 3:1-4). May our departed brothers and sisters rest in peace. Amen.
Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP
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