Homily
for November 2, 2017.
Yesterday
was All Saints day and as a follow up to that celebration, today we remember
all who once lived on earth but are no more. Today we pray for all souls especially
those who never had the chance of having people pray for them. We pray not only
for departed Christians, but even Muslims, Buddhists, Traditional Worshippers
and so on. No single souls is left out of our prayers today.
Today we
remember victims of natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes, typhoon,
and so on. We also remember millions of people who have died as a result of
man’s inhumanity to man; children whose life were cut short by abortion,
euthanasia, sales of expired drugs, holocausts, war and so on. We pray for them
because we have Faith; we know that God our Redeemer lives and with God, all
things are possible.
Our
Prayers are beneficial to them in reducing the time they spend in purgatory and
also beneficial to us in that by praying for the dead we too are reminded that someday
we shall depart from this earth whether we like it or not.
In the
end, what we actually celebrate today is HOPE. Hope that as we pray for the
dead, they will enter heaven, hope that if they are in heaven, they will pray
for us. Hope that one day, when we too depart, there would be people around
here praying for us.
St. Paul
tells us in our second reading today that Hope does not disappoint us. “While
we were helpless, Christ came to die for us…” it follows that with our prayers,
the helpless souls who have died, even though they did not know God will also
benefit from Christ’s intervention. This is why we pray for the dead.
As we pray
for the dead, even the mere mention of their names evokes in us memories of
their life. That is why today happens to be very sober. A lot of things they
said and did which we have forgotten will now be remembered. Let those good
things we remember about their lives become beautiful homilies for us today.
It is quite
amazing that our Gospel passage today is exactly the same as yesterday. Do I see
this coincidence as God sending me a message? How often do I live by the
beatitudes?
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, help me to make it to heaven and my very life be an
inspiration to others after me. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (The Commemoration
of All Souls. Bible Study: Job 19:1.23-27, Romans 5:5-11 and
Matthew 5:1-12).
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