HOMILY FOR FEAST OF ALL SOULS On the feast of All Souls, we proclaim at Mass the raising of the son of the widow of Nain by Jesus (Luke 7:11-17) in year C. Praying or offering Holy Mass for the dead who may not have reached their eternal fulfillment and therefore in purgatory has a place in the New Testament. In the New Testament, St. Paul in First Corinthians 3:12-13 makes it clear that some people are saved through a purging fire, named by the church therefore as purgatory. The text reads, “ Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is. The one whose work stands up to it will be given his wages; the one whose work is burnt down will suffer the loss of it, though he himself will be saved; he will be saved as someone might expect to be saved from a fire”. In this text, there is a foundation, Jesus Christ, on which some build with gold, silver and precious stones, and others with wood, hay and straw. What each one has in fact built will be brought to light by the Day of the Lord. The “purging fire” that saves after death as stated by St. Paul is not an ordinary fire. The “purging fire” is symbolic. The “purging fire” is nothing other than the “blood of Jesus”. The “blood of Jesus” is the “fire” of purgatory. The “blood of Jesus” is that which effects the purification of souls. What actually saves is the blood of Jesus. This is the reason for the Holy Mass for the dead and the souls in purgatory. The Holy Mass makes present in a spiritual way the sacrifice of Calvary. The blood of Jesus is shed again in an unbloody way on the altar for the souls of Christian faithful to attain their eternal destiny based on the Jesus’ injunction during the institution of the Eucharist that “do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19 & 1 Cor. 11.17–34 ). This is the reason why we cannot stop offering the Holy Mass for the salvation of the dead and souls in purgatory; because through the Holy Mass the blood of Jesus, the purging fire, will bring about their salvation. The blood of Jesus is capable of effecting salvation even after the death of a person. Scripture attests to the saving effects of the blood of Jesus after death by stating that “Jesus descended into hell” after His demise in order to open the gates of eternity to them (Ephesians 4:9). The gates of death are closed, no one can return from there. There is no key for those iron doors. But Christ has the key. His Cross opens wide the gates of death. His Cross, His blood, His radical love, is the key that opens them. This blood of Jesus is still at work in the faithful departed. Now, the Gospel passage about the raising of the widow’s son of Nain recalls the raising of the son of the widow of Zarephath by Elijah in First Kings 17: 17-24. The raising of the child is described by Luke in the following details. Jesus commanded the dead boy to arise in the full view of the crowds in contrast to Elijah who cried out to God, stretched himself out over the young man three times, and then cried out to God again. Jesus’ first reaction to the widowed mother is empathy. The Gospel captures it as when the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, Dont cry (7:13). The Greek for “heart” is “splagchnizomai”, which means empathy. Thus, the clause “His heart went out to her” reveals that Jesus saw His own mother in that widow in the likely event of His demise- indeed, a true empathy. Now, although, to touch a dead body makes a person ritually unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11, 16), Jesus came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still (v. 14). In effect, Jesus took the initiative of raising the dead boy in response to the unspoken grief and need of the widow, not in response to a request or even to a demonstration of faith. His compassion moved him to do what was necessary without any concern for Him-self as He would become ritually unclean for seven (7) days. Thus, Jesus’ raising of the young man by the spoken word alone without any dramatic ritual or even prayer, overshadows the actions of Elijah and Elisha and portrays Him as superior. Thus, unlike Elijah’s mouth-to-mouth resuscitation at Zarephath accompanied with prayer, Jesus raised the boy at Nain with the simple spoken word and command Young man, I tell you, arise (v. 14). This miracle with a spoken word thus manifests the life-giving power of the Lord’s word to defeat the powers of death. Jesus is therefore capable of overturning any situation including the situations of our state after death. Nevertheless, the miracle elicits responses from the multitude that accompanied the body, for, accompanying a dead body to its burial place was considered a good work that any believing Jew could not neglect. They recognize that Jesus is a great prophet and that through him God has come to help His people. May we therefore accompany the dead with the offering of the Holy Mass aware that in Christ God will come to the help of His people, alive or dead, with the blood of Jesus! Truly, “it is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Maccabees 12:46). May you always have your hope (Rm. 5:5-11-second reading) in the blood of Jesus to get you to the banquet of the Lord (Is. 25:6-9 – first reading) and see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living (Ps.26)! Shalom and a happy feast!
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 18:39:46 +0000
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