Tuesday October 26th: God’s Spirit will add ‘water’ to our ‘yeast’
October 26, 2021
Appointment at the CREDI
October 26, 2021
The Church celebrates the solemnity of All Saints and the commemoration of all the faithful departed—All Souls—at the beginning of this new week. We are immediately reminded of the words of the Creed: “I look forward to the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
It is one of the paradoxes of our Christian faith that amid the pain of grief and loss that we feel at the death of our loved ones, we are also bid to cultivate in ourselves a spirit of hope and joy.
Death does not mark the finality of life for us. It marks the end of our physical lives but opens the way for our union with Almighty God, from Whom we came and to Whom we return.
Our faith teaches us that we are ‘born anew’ into life with Him at Baptism, that our anointing at the Sacrament of Confirmation helps us to mature in our relationship with Him, and that the blessed mystery of the Holy Eucharist provides for our participation in the feast of the Heavenly Kingdom.
While we are forced to accept the inevitability of death, in the words of the poet Dylan Thomas, we still “rage against the dying of the light”. We do not wish to suffer the sorrow brought about by the scourge of Covid-19, the traumatic consequences of crime and violence in our society, the losses occasioned by lifestyle and other diseases, road accidents and the deterioration of the body in old age.
In the midst of our human suffering, we take comfort from knowing that Christ identifies with us. He, too, knew the pain of the loss of His friend, Lazarus. He knew that His mother, Mary, would have to witness the unjust and brutal death of her Son and to endure the inescapable pain that would result.
He, too, sees the massacre of innocent lives, the inhumanity that Man has shown to his own throughout history. He knows, from His own earthly experience, the despair and sense of helplessness that death can impose upon us.
Despite this, death is not always viewed as a negative experience but as a passage which unites us with Christ and our beloved deceased marked by peace and even joy.
Retired Pope Benedict XVI, now 93 years old, is reported to have written in a recent letter to a German priest, that he hopes to join those who have predeceased him “soon”. He views death as a natural progression from life in his earthly body to eternal life in the risen Lord, promised to those who love and serve the Lord faithfully on Earth.
The gospel today, Mark 12:28–34, bids us love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. Jesus said, “There is no commandment greater than these.”
If we seek to fulfil this mandate of Jesus, trusting that He will give us the strength, wisdom, and love that we are called upon to have as the guiding lights of our earthly journey, surely then death will lose its sting.
Jesus said to the scribe who questioned Him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” We pray that these words will also mark our own lives and death.
