alleviating suffering

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Sunday, 2 November 2014 : Feast of All Souls, 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Black

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls, which means that we celebrate the memory of all those who have departed this life before us into the afterlife. The souls of the dead are separated from their bodies, and while their bodies sleep, their souls await the resurrection of the dead at the end of time, during the Last Judgment, when Jesus the King will come again and judge all the living and the dead, and this is part of our faith.

We believe that all the souls of the righteous will be judged by God to belong to Him, and as the Last Judgment shows, they will be counted among the saved ones, and be granted the eternal life and happiness which God had promised all of us. Meanwhile, the souls of the wicked and all those who had done evil in life, and never repented from those evils, will be cast into the eternal damnation and punishment in hell, with Satan and his angels.

Why do we then celebrate today, as the day of commemoration of all the souls who have departed this life? That is because, our Faith believes that, while the righteous ones and those who have done justly in life, will enter heaven directly, being found worthy of it, who are the saints, whose feast day we just celebrated yesterday, the solemnity and feast of All Saints. And those who are wicked and evil in life, they would be condemned to a state of eternal death and suffering, cast into hell and the lake of fire.

But how about those who were with sin, but yet also were righteous? Many of us are in this state, as we commit venial sins and sometimes even mortal sins, and yet in our lives we also commit things that are good and righteous in the sight of God? God is loving and merciful to us, brothers and sisters in Christ, and therefore, if we had been faithful and righteous in life, despite of our sins, we will not be cast into hell and suffer for eternity without hope.

That is because hell is reserved only for those who constantly refused to listen to the Lord and commit mortal sins, and other form of sins, one after another and failing to seek the Lord’s mercy. Hell is however, not exactly a place, but a state, in which we are separated from God and His love for eternity, without hope of redemption and salvation, as we ourselves have rejected the salvation in Jesus in the first place, through our actions.

The suffering is because of the unimaginable nature of losing God’s love and presence in our lives, which brought despair and sorrow so great that it is painful. This is certainly not the fate which God intended for all those who remain faithful to Him. But at the same time, for many of us, we are still not yet worthy of heaven, for the glory of heaven is reserved for those who are truly just alone, and sin has no place in the presence of God. Remember that God is just and His hatred against sin is as great as His mercy and love for us all.

Therefore, our Faith has the concept of what is called purgatory and limbo, in which the souls of the dead and all the souls of those who have not been baptised and yet are righteous among the nations, remain during their sojourn before they are worthy of heaven, suffering temporarily for the consequences of their sins. In the purgatory and limbo, the souls who are there are not without hope, unlike those who are in hell, but they also long for the happiness and joy of heaven which the saints enjoy, and that temporal separation from God, even though not permanent like those souls in hell, bring them great longing and great suffering.

Therefore, on this commemoration of the All Souls’ Day, we commemorate those souls of our brethren, who had departed before us, and we pray for them, asking also the intercession of the saints and imploring the Lord for His generous mercy, to be given to those souls who now suffer in purgatory, for the venial sins and other impurities which prevent them from truly being with God.

But at the same time, this occasion should also be a reminder for us who are still alive, that we should take heed of this fate of the souls suffering in purgatory, and even more so, that we take heed of what is going to happen to the wicked and those who embrace evil, who will be cast down into hell. We have to be vigilant in our own lives, and guard our actions, that evil will not have its way into us, and cause us to commit sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Church in fact consist not just all of us who believe in Christ in this world today, as this is just one component of the Church of God. We are the Church Militant, who are still living and walking on this world, fighting constantly and regularly in a spiritual battle against the forces of evil, and resisting all forms of sin, we ought to lead a righteous life, to guard against Satan and to be justified in our faith that we merit salvation.

But our Church also consists of the Church Triumphant, which consists of the holy saints, men and women who had been found worthy to merit the glory of heaven, and yet, as I have mentioned yesterday, and as we celebrated the feast of All Saints yesterday, they are still very much together with us, and they constantly pray for our sake, and being close to the throne of God, they are our intercessors, asking for God to show us His mercy and love.

And lastly, our Church also consists of the Church Suffering, namely the souls of the dead who are still in purgatory, suffering for their sins, on their path to heaven, and yet at the same time, they are again also very much still with us, as even death does not part them from us. They are all aware of their sins and how these sins had prevented them from directly enjoying the fullness of God’s promise and how they had suffered because of that.

Thus, they too are praying for our sake, imploring the Lord to send us reminders and strength, to overcome our evils and wickedness, while we still have time, and not to wait until it is too late for us. As at best, our sins will prevent us from being found worthy of heaven directly, and we will end up in purgatory just as they are now in purgatory, or even at worst, that we may end up falling into the endless pit of hell, without any way or hope of escaping it.

Therefore, on this day, we really should use the opportunity, to pray for our beloved ones, and also for every other souls who have departed this life, that the Lord will show mercy on them. We should ask the saints for their intercession, that they will also pray for the sake of the souls in purgatory, as well as pray for us too, so that all of us may be eventually found worthy by the Lord and escape suffering towards eternal life and salvation, together with them the saints, in the glory of heaven.

Let us commit all of us to prayer, that we pray for all the members of the Church, particularly all of us the Church Militant, fighting constantly against evil of this world, and those in purgatory, the Church Suffering. We should pray for one another and help one another to guard ourselves from wickedness, that God’s promised salvation will bear fruit in us, through our faith, our repentance and our devotion to Him.

Nevertheless, this day of All Souls remind us yet again, and the Scriptures also affirmed that we should have no reason to fear death, or fear the condemnation and suffering of hell at all. That is because, even though because of sin, our disobedience against God, we will die, but we will not die forever. Jesus our Lord Himself had made the ultimate proof, when He died on the cross for us, and then rose in glory and majesty, showing that He had conquered death.

Therefore, even as we remember the dead today, and even as we reflect on the nature and inevitability of death to all of us, we have to always remember and put our complete hope and trust in our Lord Jesus, our Risen Lord and Saviour. Through His death we have also died to our sins and to our past lives, and through His Resurrection we have been brought into a new life, a life that is justified by faith and by our love for God.

That is why the sacrament of Baptism is so important, just as the Scriptures mentioned, that through the waters of baptism, when we are immersed in it, we have been ‘drowned’ unto death, the death from our old lives, filled with sin, impurities and wickedness of our heart and soul, and we have been remade into a clean, pure slate, which the Lord transformed into a new life through His resurrection. We did not remain in death, but we rise with Him in glory, if we choose to follow Him faithfully and devotedly.

Death and sin has no say over us, brothers and sisters in Christ, if we remain faithful to the Lord, and if we put our trust solely in Him alone. The belief in the resurrection is central to our faith, and as long as we believe in this, we shall have the eternal assurance of life and salvation, which our loving God had made through Jesus His Son. The souls in purgatory and limbo also knows this, and they prayed ceaselessly for the end of their suffering, when their sins are made clean, and they once again reunite with their Lord. The Lord had indeed won the final victory over death.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this occasion today, let us first be reminded that the consequences of sin is death, and death is fatal for us, if we do not make the conscious effort to detach us from those sins, then we are in great danger of falling into eternal damnation. Let us not be deceived by our own glory and achievements, for remember that we are all mortals, and eventually whatever we have in this world, will mean nothing if we have not done them in the Name of God.

Let us instead, look upon the examples of the holy saints, who have put their trust in God, and walked in His path. They have abandoned their wicked past, and cast away their old lives of sin, and in return they received the glory of God, and the fullness of divine promise made through Jesus, our Lord. Following the examples of the saints is a foolproof and guaranteed path for us, that we may also become justified in our faith, and therefore be assured in our own salvation.

And lastly, let us never forget those who have gone before us, and those whom we have loved, who have predeceased us, and now who may be in purgatory, seeking to be united in complete fullness with God. We pray for them, and ask the saints for their intercession for the sake of these souls in purgatory and limbo as well, that they may be delivered from the suffering which they now endure for their sins.

May after their sufferings, their sins are cleansed and they may be brought into full and glorious unity with God, and may we one day also be with them, in the glory of heaven. Let us put our trust and faith ever in God, who is Lord of the living and the Judge of all, knowing that if we do so, death will not have its final say on us, and we will receive the fullness of our Lord’s promise of eternal life and happiness.

May all the souls of those departed in the Lord, receive the grace and love of God, rest in peace, the peace of Christ our Lord. And may we all who still walk in this world continue to walk faithfully in the way of our Lord, emulating the examples of the saints, that we all, together as one Church, Church Militant, Church Triumphant, and Church Suffering be one day be reunited fully in God’s glory when He comes again, and may we praise Him for eternity thereafter. Amen.

 

First Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/31/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-first-reading/

Psalm :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/31/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-psalm/

Second Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/10/31/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-second-reading/

Gospel Reading :
https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2014/11/01/sunday-2-november-2014-feast-of-all-souls-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-gospel-reading/

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Monday, 6 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bruno, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings from the Holy Scripture and the Gospel, we heard about how the Lord through His servant Paul the Apostle wanted to remind us to remain true to our faith, and that we should keep strongly to the faith which we have received through the Church, that is the true and orthodox faith, and reject all forms of heresies and heterodoxies that is present in our society and all around us, the falsehoods and lies which Satan spread to try to divide the Church of God.

For there exists in our society, false prophets and false teachers trying to proclaim the word of God in a twisted manner, to serve their own purposes, and also to serve the purposes of Satan, the evil one, for these false prophets and teachers indeed belong to Satan and his allies, as the ones who tried so desperately to wrench control over us from the Lord and to themselves.

And the sad fact is that many mankind, our own brothers and sisters willingly heard their words and went over to their side, and therefore becoming corrupted and unworthy, many were lost to us and to the Lord, condemned for eternity together with the false prophets, with Satan and his fellow fallen angels, the demons. Some did repent and return to the faith, but the damage had indeed been done to the unity of the Church.

Over the centuries, numerous false prophets and teachers of the faith sprung up, causing various heresies and divisions in the Body of the Church of God, and while some of these were healed and brought back into the truth of the Holy Mother Church, many remained lost to us, and in turn, they led even more people to be lost from the salvation which God had promised through His Church.

And to those who believe in ‘new’ revelations supposedly proclaimed and brought through the means of angels, and in one, even claiming that the Archangel Gabriel himself brought the ‘new’ revelation, they have to all beware, that unless it affirms the faith in the Lord, and in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us, and who has risen in glory and majesty, then it is no angel, but Satan and his evil spirits that came to deceive mankind with their lies.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should rebuke Satan and reject all of his empty and false promises. We should also ignore and not heed the false teachings and the lies of the false prophets who taught falsehood instead of the truth of the Lord. Instead, we should follow the true way of the Lord, as Jesus His own Son, who came into the world, had revealed to us.

If the false prophets often appealed to our sense of self-preservation and satisfaction of our self, and our needs and wants, then the Lord showed that the true way to the Lord is through love, and this is none other than through loving God and loving one another, to think less of the self and the ego, and grow deeper and stronger in the love that is in our heart.

We cannot truly love God without having love for our brethren and all those around us who are always in need of our love. Similarly, we cannot truly love one another with full sincerity and genuine nature, without love for God. Love without either or both of the love we ought to have for God and others is imperfect love, and it may lead to harm rather than good.

And Jesus showed that it is important for us to take heed on how to love. He showed it through the story we all know, on the actions of the Good Samaritan, who went all the way to tend to the robbed and wounded man, taking care of him with genuine love and care, as an example of what love is, and what love should be. The Good Samaritan, as compared to the supposedly pious and respected Levite and the priest, is the one who had gotten the essence of love.

Samaritans as we all know, were highly discriminated against at the time of Jesus, in the territory of Judea in particular, where the robbing incident took place between Jerusalem and Jericho. They were seen as pagans and barbarians who did not follow the way of the Jews and did not worship and believe in the one true God. Yet, when Jesus came into the world, they were among the first to believe Him while the Jews doubted and rejected Him.

The actions and the deeds of the Jews did not represent what they professed to believe in. Their actions, as represented by the priests and the Levites were not representative of what they said they have faith in. All said, it is not all of the Jews that were in the wrong, as there were also many among them who followed Christ, such as His family and His disciples, but the problem truly lay with the prejudice with which the Jews in general held against the Samaritans.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, all of us should learn from the readings of the Holy Scripture and the Gospel today, from the actions of the Good Samaritan, who went the extra mile to help the unfortunate man. We should also therefore do the same, not just to those whom we loved, but also to everybody, including to those who are even against us and those who are not among those who we normally care for.

And we do not have to accomplish big and extensive things in order to do this. Even in simple things, like helping anyone, even strangers around us who are in need of even simple help, will do it just nicely. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves to a new life filled with love, both for God and for our fellow brothers and sisters, in real action, that in everything we do, we may show love, and through that love we may find justification for our faith.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Bruno, a priest and a contemporary of many other saints of the tenth and eleventh century Middle Ages Europe. He was the founder of the Carthusian religious order, and he was a great intellectual and a great educator. Many of those whom he had educated and influenced in life eventually became great saints themselves, as well as great and influential leaders of the Church, including even Pope Urban II, who initiated the First holy Crusade against the infidels.

St. Bruno, even though he was influential and well-respected, he remained humble and dedicated to his works, to advance the cause of the Faith in the world and to save souls. He refused the opportunity to be appointed and made a bishop, and he rather renounced himself from all worldliness, that he might focus much more of his abilities and time to help those who need his help, just as the Good Samaritan had once done.

May Almighty God put in us the spirit of love, that we may be more like the Good Samaritan, who devoted himself in love to his suffering brethren in need, and that we may also follow in the footsteps of St. Bruno of Cologne. May we grow less dependent and free from our ego, our desire and our selfishness, that we may truly be found righteous and just in the sight of our Lord and our God. God be with us always, and may His blessings and graces always be abundant in our lives. Amen.