All the Faithful Departed
November 2, 2014
Reflection on Lectoring
“He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.”
God longs for us. Where
did Jesus go immediately after he died on the cross? He first went to find his children who were waiting
for their Savior in darkness.
“He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a
lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit
those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from
sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve.” These
words, taken from an ancient homily on Holy Saturday, tell us why Jesus died on
the cross. He came to save his children.
When we die we are not transported to some alternative
universe where we exist as reincarnated spirits indifferent to God. Rather, as St. Paul says, when we die our
world is radically changed, for we see our heavenly Father directly, “At present we see indistinctly as in a
mirror, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). When we die, we shall clearly see how much
God loves and longs for us.
All of today’s readings are about trusting that our
Father loves us and that he wills “that everyone
who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life” (John 6:40). We believe Jesus has overcome death and will bring
us to a new life where we will experience directly the Father’s presence. That is the comfort and reassurance offered by
today’s liturgy.
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First Reading - Wisdom 3:1-9
Confidence on the Day of Judgement
The verse: “Those
who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him
in love” found from today’s first reading might easily be taken as a
forerunner of the promise found in Chapter Four of 1 John: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in
him. In this is love brought to
perfection among us, that we may have confidence on the day of judgment” (vv.16-17).
Most scholars believe that the Book of Wisdom was written
about 50 years before the birth of Jesus, when there was much uncertainty about
the afterlife. Verse 4 of today’s
reading marks the very first time the Greek expression “immortality” appears in
the Old Testament. Living a just and
honorable life here and now, and not focusing on the promise of immortality, was
the primary concern for the Jews.
Jesus brought a new and more glorious dimension to life
after death. He brought the promise of a
direct experience of the presence of God.
When Jesus tells the apostles at the Last Supper “you are in me and I in you,” he was describing an intimate union
with God that was unknown to Old Testament Jews.
The Old Testament takes us on a journey through the
wilderness. The New Testament tells us
where we and our loved ones are going.
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In
the United States there are options for the second reading. Two options are considered below.
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Second Reading - Romans 5:5-11
The Reason for Hope
“Hope
does not disappoint.”
How can Paul’s declaration about hope be true? People are frequently disappointed no matter
how much they might hope. Nevertheless,
lectors are being asked to tell people at Mass that “hope does not disappoint.”
Lectors have a responsibility to think about what they
are saying. You can’t change the words,
but you can’t say them as if they have no real meaning.
It is important to recognize that hope is different from
desire. A person can desire something
that may not be possible or even probable - like winning the lottery. Genuine hope requires a goal that is possible
- like salvation. Especially since Jesus
Christ came to earth in order that we might be saved.
In his encyclical letter, Spe Salvi Pope Benedict XVI quotes Romans 8:24, “For in hope we were saved.”
He describes it as is an essential hope when he writes, “Redemption is
offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by
virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous,
can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this
goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey.”
God does not disappoint.
That is why he sent his Son. That
is why his Son died on the cross. That
is why we can have hope.
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Second
Reading - Romans 6:3-9
Our
Hope Becomes Reality
Death is the ultimate loss of control.
No matter how hard we try, no matter how much money we
might spend, no matter how much planning we do, we cannot avoid death. The best and most important thing we can do
is surrender our lives to God when he calls.
Death is the point when hope is fulfilled. At death, hope for salvation becomes the
experienced reality of salvation. In
today’s second reading Paul says, “If
then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” When we die, there will no longer be a need
to believe. We shall know.
Perhaps, Jesus lived and died here on earth so that during
our own time on earth hoping and believing would not be so hard. Jesus became for us the very reason that hope
is possible.
We know, however, that Jesus did not take away the pain,
or the fear, or the uncertainty. These
things remain part of living. But as
Paul also says, “just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness
of life.”
© George Fournier, 2014
