All Souls - Second of November 2024 -
https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/IFj7NWFTHY9i9Z4cxSAY?ru=Paul-Evangelion
Homily ALL souls DAY. 2nd NOVEMBER. – Year B
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm: Ps 26: 1-4,7-9, 13-14. "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living."
Second Reading: Romans 5:5-11
Gospel Acclamation: Matthew 11:28 "This is the will of my father says the Lord, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, and that I should raise it up on the last day."
Gospel: Mark 15:33-39; 16:1-6 (Year B)
Image Credit: https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/IFj7NWFTHY9i9Z4cxSAY?ru=Paul-Evangelion
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Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for All Souls - Second November 2024 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-weekday/s-r4f8NNvyWNO
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Jesus himself experienced suffering and death, the most terrible of deaths, in union with all who suffer and die, especially those who suffer terribly or unjustly or cruelly, and those who have died unknown, voiceless, and denied the basic human dignity and respect that all God's children without reserve inherently deserve, that is, all people, everyone. Jesus himself experienced bereavement often in his life. His heart was and is all-loving.
He reached out to all who are in pain and still does so to this day. Close to home, his foster father, Saint Joseph, who cared so wonderfully for him on this earth and taught him so many things in his life. Saint Joseph himself died fairly early in our Lord's short earthly life.
And also, Jesus' close friend Lazarus passed away after a brief illness. And Jesus himself witnessed suffering, death, and bereavement daily, many times at proximity. Jairus' daughter, the widow of Nain's only son and protector.
Although Jesus is indeed the Lord of Life and the Lord of the Resurrection, he keenly and compassionately saw and felt the absolute grief of losing a loved one. He felt this himself and he felt it for those around him. In Jesus' own life, he raised only a very few people from the dead, but he raised those few as a sign and foretaste of the hope of the resurrection that awaits absolutely everyone who trusts in his promises.
These rare but powerful signs of resurrection were done with compassion and also to assure us that Jesus is with us in everything and knows all too well the pain and loss. Think of those whom Jesus loved deeply but did not raise from the dead. A prime and glaring example, Jesus did not raise even his foster father Joseph from death, even though he loved and obeyed his earthly foster father in all things.
I suspect that Jesus knew that to raise his stepfather Joseph was not the heavenly Father's will. And Jesus would also not spare himself what others are not spared. Even the loss of a close family member and loved one, but those he did raise from the dead, is a promise to us all and a reminder of the power of Christ's resurrection and faithfulness.
Even Jesus did not avoid suffering and death but faced it with love and graciousness and a saving intention for all. Today reveals God's faithfulness, the eternal nature of love and the fact that our souls are truly eternal and destined for God and to be reunited with all our loved ones who've gone before us. Today we remember all the faithful departed and we also remember today all humans who have lived particularly tragic lives, with lives punctuated by grave difficulties, mistakes, sins and heartbreaking life paths.
For all whose life story did not end well on this side of heaven, we pray for their souls, knowing the infinite hope, mercy and love at the heart of God, who knows and loves every one of us better than we can even realize ourselves. We commend these people and rightly do it with confidence and hope into the God who reminds us that some situations in life seem quite impossible. To humans it might be impossible, but not to God.
As Jesus said himself, to God all things are possible and in this we hope. This day becomes a sign, an enormous sign of hope and promise, even in the face of death. Today's feast reminds us that each human being is precious, so infinitely precious in God's eyes, that Christ died so that everyone should live fully and that no one should be treated as disposable, as not valuable.
"When people die, they are not precious because they are remembered, they are remembered because they are infinitely precious and unique." This is the God who told that wonderful parable of the hundred sheep, one is lost, ninety-nine are safe, but God is not happy with just ninety-nine. God wants the whole one hundred. God keeps searching and looking and longing for that one lost soul. Even though he has ninety-nine percent retention, that's not enough for God. God wants all of his precious ones, safe where they belong.
We indeed praise God for the Lord's wondrous and astounding, unconditional love for us and we trust that this love will be more powerful than the sinfulness of those who die. Christ's love and mercy will be victorious over even the worst that the world can do and the individuals affected within it. We focus most of all on this day, on the gift that their life has been and on God's gift of life after death.
All Souls Day is an occasion to pray with those we love who have died, as well as to pray for them. It is a day to recognize that we belong to a Christian community, a family of God, in which those who have died are united with those who live. The remembrance of All Souls Day, keeping in mind the terrible suffering and death in times of war, flood, earthquake and the like throughout the world, these terrible and frightening events that still go on to this day and show no sign of abating, invite us Christians to reflect deeply upon the destructive power of sin in human lives and also to keep in mind the absolute breadth of God's love for us shown in Jesus's death.
All Souls Day is a day to thank God for those whom we have loved and join with them in prayer. It's also a day to reflect with sorrow and penitence on the power of human greed and sinfulness and hatred, violence and disrespect. This is a day for our hearts to lift up in compassion for the victims of these terrible occurrences in our world and to be utterly amazed by the truth that Christ's love by far outpaces the death-killing ways of this world, which causes so much misery and loss.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
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References:
Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ writes for Jesuit Communications and Jesuit Social Services. https://catholicoutlook.org/a-reflection-for-all-souls-day-2/
Fr Paul W. Kelly
Image Credit: https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/IFj7NWFTHY9i9Z4cxSAY?ru=Paul-Evangelion
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All souls DAY - 2nd NOVEMBER.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,
and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault,* through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Lord have Mercy
Christ Have Mercy
Lord Have Mercy
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Memorial Acclamation
We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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Preface of the Dead I - PREFACE
Eucharistic prayer TWO
(theme variation: 1 )
(pre+post variation: 3)
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Go in peace. (glorifying the Lord by your life)
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)
"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.
Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993). (Sydney Australia).
Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria, Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.
- "Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - in memory of William John Kelly - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
"Quiet Time." Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.
- "Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly. Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
[ Production - KER - 2024]
May God bless and keep you.
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