THE TRUTH CONCERNING THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY

In November we think about, and pray for, the Holy Souls. Let us today prayerfully reflect on the truth concerning the Holy Souls contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

‘The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.’ Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.’ (section 362)

‘In Sacred Scripture the term ‘soul’ often refers to human life or the entire human person. But ‘soul’ also refers to the inner-most aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: ‘soul’ signifies the spiritual principal in man.’ (section 363)

‘The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God – it is not ‘produced’ by the parents – and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.’ (section 366)

‘All who died in God’s grace and friendship, but still
imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.’ (section 1030)

‘The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final
purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.’ (section 1031)

‘From the beginning the Church has honoured the
memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God,’ (section 1032)

(From: Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris)

 

TODAY’S CONSUMERISM: ENTRAPMENT IN TOO MANY ‘CHOICES’ IS ACTUALLY A FORM OF SLAVERY

“We are more than just consumers

In an inspired remark at the Mass for All Souls Day, our parish priest Fr Paul Redmond at Christ the King, Bramley, invited us to reflect on the fact that when we die and meet God ‘face to face, the full purpose and meaning of our own mysterious lives will be revealed to us’.

When we die and meet God face-to-face, the full purpose and meaning of our lives will be revealed to us

Meanwhile, we struggle on, trying to relate to others and manage our human desires for basic material goods, for other human beings and for God.

The difficulty seems to be that we are now living in times of such ferocious reductionism that our abilities to manage our desires are constantly being diminished. No need to worry about God in our secular world, only our abuse of others is a serious problem (especially in war and sexual abuse), though we can scarcely agree on what are the basic human needs of shelter, food and clothing for each and every person.

And yet, as St Augustine spelled out, our insatiable desires have the power to burn us up if not managed properly.

Our insatiable desires have the power to burn us up if not managed properly

An editorial in the recent Concilium theology magazine asked: ‘How can we humans order our desires rightly when we are bombarded with advertising that constantly tells us that we need more of everything all the time?’

Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded

We are all increasingly reduced to being regarded as consumers today. All values are reduced to monetary measures as the ‘economy now rules all’. Parents are even being urged by government to ask first and foremost ‘can they afford to have another child’? Students, patients and passengers are all called ‘consumers’. Personal contribitions, even of charitable volunteers, are now measured in quantitative cash values. As Pope Francis spells out in Evangelii Gaudium : ‘human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a throwaway culture which is now spreading’.

Everything human is being given a price tag

Not only are humans being regarded as literally ‘disposable’, increased consumerism is being driven by economic globalism, which is leading to a widening divide between those getting richer and those becoming poorer. Trade and commerce are driven by a continuing commodification of human life where nearly everything that human beings can be or do is increasingly a marketable product. Everything human is being given a price tag. This is far from the mysterious meaning and purpose of the human vocation, that personal ‘calling by God’ of each and every person whose human dignity is sacred from the outset.

Resisting the tyranny of market domination

Resisting this ‘tyranny’ of market domination, as Pope Francis labels it, is a huge challenge. Notably, the new supermarkets of Aldi and Lidl are overtaking the ‘big four’. In Leeds, Morrisons in Kirkstall offers 28,000 choices of goods on the shelves; the new Aldi store in Bramley only 8,000. St Augustine warned that entrapment in too many ‘choices’ is actually a form of slavery which diminishes our capacity to make really important choices.

I find myself hard to grasp (St Augustine)

When he wrote ‘I find myself hard to grasp’ he was challenging that  reduction of our lives to the economy of ever-expanding choices and inviting us to open up to God’s mysterious purposes.”

– This article by John Battle was published in the Catholic Universe newspaper, issue 7th November, 2014. (Bold and headings added afterwards.) For subscriptions to the Catholic Universe newspaper please contact http://www.thecatholicuniverse.com (external link)

 

“THE GIFT OF A LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH”

“Everything begins, one might say, from the heart of Christ who, at the Lest Supper, on the eve of His passion, thanked and praised God and by so doing, with the power of His love, transformed the meaning of death which He was on His way to encounter.

The fact that the Sacrament of the Altar acquired the name ‘Eucharist’ – ‘thanksgiving’ – expresses precisely this: that changing the substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the fruit of the gift that Christ made of Himself, the gift of a Love stronger than death, divine Love which raised Him from the dead. This is why the Eucharist is the food of eternal life, the Bread of Life.”
– Pope Benedict XVI

 

2nd APRIL, GOSPEL READING (JOHN 5:17-30)

AS THE FATHER RAISES THE DEAD AND GIVES THEM LIFE, SO THE SON GIVES LIFE TO ANYONE HE CHOOSES.

Jesus answered the Jews: “My Father goes on working, and so do I.” But that made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God’s equal.
To this accusation Jesus replied:

“I tell you most solemnly,
the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees the Father doing:
and whatever the Father does the Son does too.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything he does himself,
and he will show him even greater things than these,
works that will astonish you.
Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
so the Son gives to anyone he chooses;
for the Father judges no one;
he has entrusted all judgement to the Son,
so that all may honour the Son
as they honour the Father.

“Whoever refuses honour to the Son
refuses honour to the Father who sent him.
I tell you most solemnly,
whoever listens to my words,
and believes in the one who sent me,
has eternal life;
without being brought to judgement
he has passed from death to life.
I tell you most solemnly,
the hour will come – in fact it is here already –
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and all who hear it will live.
For the Father, who is the source of life,
has made the Son the source of life;
and, because he is the Son of man,
has appointed him supreme judge.
Do not be surprised at this,
for the hour is coming
when the dead will leave their graves
at the sound of his voice:
those who did good
will rise again to life;
and those who did evil, to condemnation.
I can do nothing by myself;
I can only judge as I am told to judge,
and my judging is just,
because my aim is to do not my own will,
but the will of him who sent me.”

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“WHY DOES GOD NOT SIMPLY ANNIHILATE PEOPLE INSTEAD OF CONDEMNING THEM TO HELL?”

“QUESTION: Why does God not simply annihilate people instead of condemning them to eternal punishment in hell?

ANSWER: Annihilationism is, in fact, a doctrine held by some Christians who argue that the ‘death’ of the sinner, spoken of by the scripture, means the end of any life, and that immortality, or eternal life is a gift conditional on a person being just and worthy of eternal life.

But the scriptures do not allow us to take this view. For example, the Book of Revelation speaks of how ‘The smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever’ (14:11) and Our Lord himself quotes the prophet Isaiah (66:24) when speaking of hell, ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched’ (Mk 9:48).

Everything that God creates is good, including every human person; God does not ‘reverse’ the good of creation by annihilating it. Although we are affected by Original Sin, God sent His Son to redeem us. He makes His grace available to us through baptism in the Church, and gives us His grace when we pray for it. By these means, He makes it possible to overcome sin and, even if we do sin, He makes His forgiveness available to us when we repent, even if we have sinned grievously. Even for those who have not effectively heard the Gospel, and only implicitly desire eternal life, God is so merciful that He will save them through His Son’s redeeming death.

For those who deliberately sin, annihilation would be both a contradiction to the good of creation and an injustice. Evil has real effects, as we see every day, and God has promised that justice will be done. [For instance] Those who commit genocide or violate children, and are unrepentant, cannot do so in the hope that they will simply vanish at the end of their lives without any consequences attaching to their evil.

The doctrine of hell remains part of orthodox [i.e. conventional biblical] Christian teaching despite our cultural resistance to punishment for evil. If we choose to do so, as human beings created with free will, we can reject God through sin with eternal consequences.”
– This article by Fr Tim Finigan was published in “The Catholic Herald” issue November 15 2013. (The text in brackets [] was added afterwards for this blog.) For subscriptions please visit http://www.catholicherald.co.uk (external link).

 

LORD JESUS, LET MY PROBLEMS MAKE ME PATIENT, NOT IRRITABLE

Teach me, Lord,
to be mild and gentle in all the events of life –
in disappointments,
in the thoughtlessness of others,
in the insincerity of those I trusted,
in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.

Let me put myself aside,
to think of the happiness of others,
to hide my little pains and heartaches,
so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.

Teach me to profit by the suffering
that comes across my path.
Let me so use it that it may mellow me,
not harden or embitter me;
that it may make me patient, not irritable;
that it may make me broad in my forgiveness,
not narrow, haughty, and overbearing.

May no one be less good
for having come within my influence;
no one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble
for having been a fellow-pilgrim
on our journey toward eternal life.

May my life be lived in the supernatural,
full of power for good,
and strong in its purpose of sanctity.
Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING (ACTS 13:44-52)

WE MUST TURN TO THE PAGANS

The next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God. When they saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. “We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, we must turn to the pagans. For this is what the Lord commanded us to do when he said:

“I have made you a light for the nations, so that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”

It made the pagans very happy to hear this and they thanked the Lord for his message; all who were destined for eternal life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord spread through the whole countryside.

But the Jews worked upon some of the devout women of the upper classes and the leading men of the city and persuaded them to turn against Paul and Barnabas and expel them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in defiance and went off to Iconium; but the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

PRAYER FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

Father,
in your mysterious providence,
your Church is called to share
in the sufferings of Christ, your Son.
Give the spirit of endurance and love
to those who are persecuted
for their faith in you.
May they always be true and faithful witnesses
to your promise of eternal life.
Amen.

 

TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (JOHN 12:44-50)

I, THE LIGHT, HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD.

Jesus declared publicly:
“Whoever believes in me
believes not in me
but in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me,
sees the one who sent me.
I, the light, have come into the world,
so that whoever believes in me
need not stay in the dark any more.

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully,
it is not I who shall condemn him,
since I have come not to condemn the world,
but to save the world:
he who rejects me and refuses my words
has his judge already:
the word itself that I have spoken
will be his judge on the last day.

For what I have spoken does not come from myself;
no, what I was to say, what I had to speak,
was commanded by the Father who sent me,
and I know that his commands mean eternal life.
And therefore what the Father has told me
is what I speak.”

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (JOHN 6:60-69)

WHO SHALL WE GO TO? YOU HAVE THE MESSAGE OF ETERNAL LIFE.

After hearing his doctrine, many of the followers of Jesus said, “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, “Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?
“It is the spirit that gives life,
the flesh has nothing to offer.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit
and they are life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.”

For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. He went on, “This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him.” After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.

Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “What about you, do you want to go away too?” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.”

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.