✝️ REFLECTION CAPSULE FOR THE DAY – November 20, 2021: Saturday
“Growing in our faith in the Resurrection and living in holiness and sanctity in a way to boldly proclaim this belief to all!”
(Based on 1 Macc 6:1-13 and Lk 20:27-40 – Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time)
There is a story of a man who had been afflicted with a terminal disease.
With much fear of death, he sought counselling and help from one of his Christian doctors.
The doctor, was initially lost for words.
>> He did not know how to console the dying man.
As he was fumbling for an answer, he heard the noise of scratching on his door.
>> He got the answer of consolation.
“Do you hear that?” he asked his patient, calling his attention to the scratching noise on the door.
“Well!” continued the doctor, “that’s my dog!
I left him downstairs.
>> But he has become very impatient and has come up, hearing my voice.
He doesn’t have much idea, of what’s happening in here- beyond the door…
… but he knows one thing: ‘That I am here!’
>> And so, if I open the door now, he would just jump over me, into this room!”
The doctor continued, looking into the eyes of the patients, “Isn’t it the same with our lives?
We don’t have much idea of what lies beyond the Door, but we know that the Master is there!”
This is the Christian Faith: that beyond the Door of this Life, is the Master!
>> This is the hope of Resurrection!
The Gospel of the Day is an invitation to reinforce our faith and hope in the Resurrection.
The Sadducees who did not believe in the Resurrection, put forth a question of “after-life” to Jesus. (Lk 20: 27-33)
Jesus, Who knows the intentions of all hearts and the craftiness of every mind, spoke…
… of the difference in the nature of life – in this world and in the next
… of His sovereignty over those who have died and those who are alive
Referring to the passage of the Burning Jesus, Jesus proclaims, “… He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him, all are alive!” (Lk 20: 38)
This verse of the Lord is one of the direct and easy-to-understand basis…
…for the Catholic teaching and practice of “praying for the dead”.
Many are the times when this noble piety of the Catholics is put into question…
>> “It is unbiblical to pray for the dead”
>> “Our prayers have no effect on those who are dead, since it is not our works, but their faith, which saves”
… These are some of the statements said against the Catholic practice of “praying for the dead”
But the Lord very clearly shows, through today’s Gospel…
… that God is the God of all – the living and the dead
… that all are living for Him – even though for us, apparently those who are gone from us, are dead
It is our human experience, that while living on this earth…
… we do seek the help of one another – especially through prayers
>> We ask one another’s help and prayers…
… when we are going through a crisis or problem
… when we are struggling through sufferings
>> Then can’t the same logic be applied to those who have died (who are actually alive in the eyes of God!)
>> Can’t those who are away from this world – the faithful departed – seek for our help and assistance, in their moments of suffering and struggles?
(For those of us… who may have doubts as to “what kind of suffering do the dead have…”
>> The Church teaches us …
…. Nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27)
>> While we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us…
….especially venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.
Therefore, it is needed to have “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven… “
>> This is called as “purgatory”.
This purification causes suffering… as a purification that takes place in fire!
>> The dead – the faithful departed – seek our prayers, for a deliverance from this struggle of sufferings!)
November is a month especially dedicated to pray for the Faithful Departed.
The Church invites her children in this world…
>> To remember and pray
>> To offer sacrifices and penances
>> To lead a life away from sin, in holiness
… for the faithful departed!
Yes, it is our faith and hope in the Resurrection, that spurs us…
… to live a life of holiness
… to be zealous in reaching out the message of salvation to all
… to be fervent in our prayers for the suffering who have passed away from us
Let us cease to be a “practical Sadducee”: professing belief in the Resurrection only in lips but failing to display this belief by a life of holiness!
It is true that we don’t have much awareness of how the “next life” would be…
… We do fall short of words to explain the nature of the life-to-come or rationally describing “how heaven would be!”
… We may even have our own fears and anxieties in thinking of death or in the parting moments of our loved ones!
But we do know for certain one thing: that we would be one with our Lord- the lover of our soul…
… the fullness of joy
… the supremacy of holiness
… the culmination of every desire
Yes, we don’t have much idea of what lies beyond the Door, but we know that the Master is there!
Let us grow in our faith in the Resurrection…
… and let us live a life of holiness and sanctity – that would boldly proclaim this belief to all!
God Bless! Live Jesus!
– Fr Jijo Jose Manjackal MSFS
📧 Email ID: _reflectioncapsules@gmail.com
Bengaluru, India
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📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
EACH PARTICULAR CHURCH IS “CATHOLIC”
>> “The Church of Christ is really present in all legitimately organized local groups of the faithful, which, in so far as they are united to their pastors, are also quite appropriately called Churches in the New Testament
>> In them, the faithful are gathered together through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, and the mystery of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated
>> In these communities, though they may often be small and poor, or existing in the diaspora, Christ is present, through whose power and influence the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is constituted (CCC # 832)
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Nelson MCBS 