Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Các Linh Hồn Ngày 2 tháng 11

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Các Linh Hồn Ngày 2 tháng 11

Chắc chắn ai trong chúng ta cũng có một người thân trong gia đình đã được Chúa “cất” đi. Và lúc đó là một trong những lúc đau đớn và khó khăn nhất của chúng ta. Tuy nhiên, vào ngay ngày hôm đó, người thân yêu của chúng ta đã được tỉnh thức ở phía bên kia của sự chết. Họ tỉnh dậy trong ngày vui mừng hoan hỉ. Người thân yêu của chúng ta đã vui mừng trong sự hân hoan vui sướng, mà tiên tri Isaiah đã hát lên trong bài đọc I: Thiên Chúa đã dỡ bỏ tất cả những tấm màn sô, hay nhữngn khăn tang trong khắp các nước, tất cả các dân tộc; Ngài đã hủy diệt sự chết và lau đi những giọt nước mắt. Ngài là Thiên Chúa, Đấng mà tình yêu tìm cách để cứu chúng ta.

    Cuộc sống của những người mà chúng ta yêu thương đã không kết thúc và mạng sống đó đã không mất đi trong sự chết của họ nhưng họ đã được thay đổi trong sự sống của Thiên Chúa. Chúng ta đã không thực sự mất đi những người chúng ta yêu thương vì họ đã đến với sự chết, nhưng chúng ta đã đặt họ trong sự yêu thương, trong lòng thương xót của Chúa, nơi đó, họ sẽ nghỉ ngơi trong niềm vui cho đến khi chúng ta cũng sẽ chết đi ngay trong thế giới này được đánh thức trong niềm vui cùng với họ. Đối với chúng ta cũng thế, cuộc sống này sẽ không bao giờ kết thúc, nhưng đó chỉ là một sự thay đổi.

    Khi chúng ta suy niệm về bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta hãy tự hỏi: Đã có bao giờ chúng ta đã cảm thấy chán nản, buồn bã và cô đơn chúng ta đã mất đi một người thân? Hay chúng ta đã tìm thấy sự an ủi, sự bình thản hơn trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay? Qua bài Tin Mừng này, Xn Chúa giúp chúng ta biết yêu thương và tin tưởng nơi Chúa Giêsu là Chúa của chúng ta nhiều hơn.

REFLECTION

The day a loved one dies is among the most difficult and painful times we will ever experience. On that day, however, the loved one awakens on the other side of death. He awakens to a day of exultant joy. The loved one celebrates the joy of which Isaiah sings in the first reading: God has lifted all mourning veils from all peoples; he has destroyed death and wiped away all tears. He is the God whose love seeks to save us.

    Life has not ended for those whom we have loved and have lost to death; their lives have changed. We have not really lost these people we love to death. We have placed them in the loving, merciful hands of God where they will rest in joy until we too die to death in this world only to awaken to the same joy that sustains them. For us too, life will not end, it will be changed.

    After reflecting on today's Gospel, let us ask ourselves: have we ever lost a loved one that made us feel depressed, sad and lonely, but found comfort in today's Gospel? Did the Gospel help us love and trust Jesus' more?

All Souls Day, November 2

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, you invite me to discover my identity as beloved, protected, and called to eternal life by the Father. Help me to live according to that call.

Encountering Christ:

Given by the Father: Today, we pray for those who still await eternal glory in perfect unity with the Holy Trinity. In this Gospel, Jesus shares with his listeners the Father’s ultimate desire for each and every one of us. Jesus speaks these words in the synagogue at Capernaum to a multitude of people. He had performed a great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves the day before, attracting more attention. He set off for Capernaum by boat and the people followed in search of him. There Jesus offered the famous Bread of Life discourse, challenging his listeners to believe that he is the Bread of Life given by the Father. But Jesus also told them that they too were given to him by the Father. Thus, those whom the Father has given to Jesus also receive Jesus so that he may give them life through the Eucharist.

    The Will of the Father: Jesus revealed the heart of the Father. He desires that not one of those given by the Father be lost. The heart of the Father is magnanimous. His love is bountiful. He not only sends his Son to gather together a people to call his own, but also provides them with manna from Heaven. Thirteen hundred years before Jesus was incarnate, the Father called and sent Moses to his people caught in literal slavery and in danger of eternal slavery because of idol worship in their culture. He led them out of slavery into the desert, providing them with their daily bread, the manna that came down from Heaven. Today, Jesus, who is one with the Father, offers his own Body and Blood to become the manna from Heaven for those the Father wills to gather together in Christ’s mystical body, the Church. He gave his life so that not one of us would be lost. And he continues to give us his life through his Body and Blood so that we might not be lost as sojourners towards our heavenly home.

    Look to the Son: During the long trek through the desert, the chosen people faced many trials. The greatest trial was trust in God’s providence. Numbers 21 recounts the story of their complaint. They had no bread or water, and they complained that they would die. According to the account, the Lord sent venomous snakes; many were bitten and died. The people cried out to God in repentance, and Moses interceded for them. The Lord commanded a bronze snake to be placed on a pole for the people to look at and be cured. They looked to the very thing that bit them to find their cure. So it is with Jesus, raised upon the cross. The Father will raise up to eternal life all those who look upon the Son, the Son who took upon himself the sins of the world. He “becomes sin” so we may receive the everlasting cure in salvation. Let us not take our eyes off of Jesus, for this is the gift and the will of the Father.

    Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, grant me trust and faith in the goodness of the Father. I praise and thank you for taking on the sins of the world so that we might have eternal life. Grant that I may be a messenger of this Good News so that others will fix their gaze on you.

    Resolution: Lord, today I will examine the underlying motives of my actions to see if I am motivated by fear of eternal damnation or gratitude for the gift of salvation, and to see if I operate from a paradigm of secular values or from a Christian worldview. By your grace I will trust in providence to provide for the one most important goal in life—union with you in eternity.

All Souls Day), November 2 - The Holy Souls in Purgatory

    Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day), November 2

As we celebrate the Commemoration of All Souls, let’s reflect upon our Church teaching on Purgatory. The following excerpt is from Chapter 8 of My Catholic Faith!:

    The Church Suffering: Purgatory is an often misunderstood doctrine of our Church. What is Purgatory? Is it the place we have to go to be punished for our sins? Is it God’s way of getting us back for the wrong we’ve done? Is it the result of God’s anger? None of these questions really answer the question of Purgatory. Purgatory is nothing other than the burning and purifying love of our God in our lives!

    When someone dies in God’s grace they are most likely not 100% converted and perfect in every way. Even the greatest of saints most often would have some imperfection left in their lives. Purgatory is nothing other than that final purification of all remaining attachment to sin in our lives. By analogy, imagine that you had a cup of 100% pure water, pure H2O. This cup will represent Heaven. Now imagine that you want to add to that cup of water but all you have is water that is 99% pure. This will represent the holy person who dies with just some slight attachments to sin. If you add that water to your cup then the cup will now have at least some impurities in the water as it mixes together. The problem is that Heaven (the original cup of 100% H2O) cannot contain any impurities. Heaven, in this case, cannot have even the slightest attachment to sin in it. Therefore, if this new water (the 99% pure water) is to be added to the cup it must first be purified even of that last 1% of impurities (attachments to sin). This is ideally done while we are on Earth. This is the process of getting holy. But if we die with any attachment, then we simply say that the process of entering into the final and full vision of God in Heaven will purify us of any remaining attachment to sin. All may already be forgiven, but we may not have detached from those things forgiven. Purgatory is the process, after death, of burning out the last of our attachments so that we can enter Heaven 100% freed of everything to do with sin. If, for example, we still have a bad habit of being rude, or sarcastic, even those tendencies and habits must be purged.

    How does this happen? We do not know. We only know it does. But we also know it’s the result of God’s infinite love that frees us of these attachments. Is it painful? Most likely. But it’s painful in the sense that letting go of any disordered attachment is painful. It’s hard to break a bad habit. It’s even painful in the process. But the end result of true freedom is worth any pain we may have experienced. So, yes, Purgatory is painful. But it’s a sort of sweet pain that we need and it produces the end result of a person 100% in union with God.

    Now since we are talking about the Communion of Saints, we also want to make sure to understand that those going through this final purification are still in communion with God, with those members of the Church on Earth, and with those in Heaven. For example, we are called to pray for those in Purgatory. Our prayers are effective. God uses those prayers, which are acts of our love, as instruments of His grace of purification. He allows us and invites us to participate in their final purification by our prayers and sacrifices. This forges a bond of union with them. And no doubt the saints in Heaven especially offer prayers for those in this final purification as they await full communion with them in Heaven. It’s a glorious thought and a joy to see how God has orchestrated this entire process for the ultimate purpose of the holy communion to which we are called!

    Lord, I pray for those souls going through their final purification in Purgatory. Please pour forth Your mercy upon them so that they may be freed of all attachment to sin and, thus, be prepared to see You face to face. Jesus, I trust in You.