Tag: <span>Souls</span>

May 21, 2021May 10, 2021

Reasonable Chaps

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

In the first reading, we see an interesting depiction of something we in the western world rarely encounter today: A person who has never heard of Jesus Christ, or of Christianity, with its key tenets of sacrificial redemption and selfless love.

The key figure in the reading, the Roman procurator Porcius Festus, though He had never been introduced to the grace of the one true God, seems to have been a reasonable enough chap. He thinks through St. Paul’s case logically, and even with a certain appropriate respect. He is not a demon drooling blood or spitting fire. He’s an ordinary guy in a position of government.

This brings to mind a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas that bears repeating in its entirety:

“The good that is proportionate to the common state of nature is to be found in the majority; and is wanting in the minority. The good that exceeds the common state of nature is to be found in the minority, and is wanting in the majority. Thus it is clear that the majority of men have a sufficient knowledge for the guidance of life; and those who have not this knowledge are said to be half-witted or foolish; but they who attain to a profound knowledge of things intelligible are a very small minority in respect to the rest. Since their eternal happiness, consisting in the vision of God, exceeds the common state of nature, and especially in so far as this is deprived of grace through the corruption of original sin, those who are saved are in the minority. In this especially, however, appears the mercy of God, that He has chosen some for that salvation, from which very many in accordance with the common course and tendency of nature fall short.” (Summa Theologia, I. 23. Art 7. Ad 3)

As Thomas effectively states, being a reasonable chap–enough to get along with others and make one’s way through life–is the normal state of affairs. That said, he articulates something that we may often forget: That eternal salvation is a miracle that lies high above the capacity of human nature, and despite Jesus’ infinite merits and readiness to give it, it is difficult to attain.

It is well to remember then, by an inevitable conclusion of this passage from St. Thomas (as well as numerous passages of the Gospel, e.g. Mt. 7:13-14), not all “reasonable chaps” attain salvation. It is a central part of our Christian duty to pray, sacrifice, and work that more come to know and embrace Jesus Christ.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: It is our principle task as Christians in this life to introduce others to Christ through our words, our prayers, and our sacrifices offered for them. Ask Jesus to give you a Heart like His, which yearns for the eternal welfare of each person. Ask Him to give you and show you the effective means by which you are called to aid Him in the work of salvation.

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January 2, 2021December 28, 2020

Opening Doors

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

As we approach the celebration of the Epiphany, which in addition to the arrival of the Magi, also commemorates the revelation of the Incarnate Word to all nations, we see in our readings references to that revelation–and also, even its earliest manifestations, resistance to it on the part of the world. As we heard in the Gospel at Christmas Midnight Mass, “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.”

Even before Jesus Christ was on their radar, the Pharisees were already questioning and doubting His great herald, John the Baptist, as we see in today’s gospel.

And in today’s first reading from the First Letter of John, we hear the apostle speak of those who reject Christ, and He admonishes them: “Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father.”

Many of the people we deal with day to day are pleasant and friendly, and our superficial dealings with them are agreeable and uneventful. So, sometimes we forget that this drama is the one that plays out in every human heart: Jesus Christ reveals Himself, sometimes clearly, sometimes in a manner that is blurred by human sin, and each person decides to accept or reject Him. And many, even many persons we might consider otherwise pleasant, choose to reject Him. To the extent that this choice becomes permanent, they reject their eternal happiness. For, “Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father.”

Thankfully, in the midst of this often tragic dichotomy wherein Jesus comes “to what is His own, but His own people do not accept Him,” we have a role to play, to help make things better.

When we sincerely and consistently offer ourselves to Jesus every day in our time of prayer and through the fulfillment of our daily duty, and ask Him to leverage that offering for the welfare of those who do not know Him or reject Him, it gives Him “license” to push into hearts a little harder without transgressing human freedom. The gift of our freedom to Him opens doors to hearts whose freedom alone may be too weak to open those doors. Thus, we are cooperators in salvation, and every day of our lives has profound meaning.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Consider with Jesus the example of Mary, whose gift of self at the Annunciation, at the Cross, and every day in between augmented the reach of His infinite merits by standing in for weak human freedom. Ask Jesus to make you “part of Mary’s team” in assisting Him, through your gift of self each day.

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December 12, 2020November 25, 2020

Woman Clothed with the Sun

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

We see a stark contrast between today’s first reading from Revelation, and today’s gospel.

In the first reading, we see the Queen of Heaven as a portentous, apocalyptic figure, chosen by God as mother to Him who would restore all mankind, and definitively defeat the dragon.

In the Gospel passage, we see her as a simple girl, receiving a heavenly message in very earthy circumstances, with very earthly concerns. We see her, not fully understanding, but obeying.

Yet, the two passages could not be more inextricably linked. The exaltation Mary receives from God as Queen of Heaven flows directly from that moment when, for all time, she expresses her obedience to God, defining herself as His handmaiden.

In fact, we actually can sometimes sense of seed of future glory when we submit ourselves fully in obedience to God. We sense that it is right; that this is what we were made for; that we are giving Him permission to do something amazing and unexpected with us, both for our own lives and for others.

On this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we recall how in her queenship, Mary had the power to pay a visit here on earth to the humble native peasant St. Juan Diego, in Mexico. And how she has come very powerfully to the aid of the Mexican people great and small for hundreds of years, bringing them over and over again to the grace of her Son.

When we abandon ourselves in the simplest way to trust in Divine Providence and obedience to God, we proportionately acquire the same power for good for souls that Mary has–even if we do not sense it during this pilgrimage in exile in a broken world.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Mary that you would like to be part of her team, in bringing the world back to her Son. Ask her for the faith to understand that the simplest faithful living of your vocation, in self-sacrificing love for others, will work this miracle–not because if your own power, but because of Jesus’ acceptance of your gift as a catalyst for His infinite grace to extend farther. Ask her to protect your “membership” on her team, and to help you to grow in holiness for the sake of others.

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December 3, 2020November 17, 2020

Joy in the Heavenly City

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

How can our joy be complete in Heaven, when there will be many who are not saved?

When, as foreseen in the first reading, the gates are opened, and a nation that is just is let in, He simultaneously brings down the lofty city, the city of the proud and arrogant. As glory as our heavenly destiny is, how can we truly rejoice when these are lost to eternal suffering?

When contemplating the most dramatic element of the human reality, this eternal division between the just and the condemned, we must remember that the latter choose their fate. It is true that (generally speaking) they do not see Heaven and Hell set before them, and choose Hell, but they firmly choose not to undergo the radical transformation God asks of them in this life, whatever the consequences.

There is perhaps no more eloquent metaphor for this choice in the Gospel than today’s parable of the house built on sand. Those who build on sand make a choice. They may want the sand for its location and the associated ease, pleasures, gratifications, but they know it is not destined to last. “And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

We may rejoice wholeheartedly, because we have a God who is so merciful and so humble that He chooses to respect absolutely the freedom of His creatures, who would rather suffer in the long run than accept His challenges. It is safe to say that people are not as naïve as we think; we are not as special as we sometimes think in understanding life as a grand choice. People know this. But many simply choose the broad, easy path.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: In this Advent time, contemplate the world in its darkness ahead of Jesus’ coming at Christmas. See yourself as His hope for getting an opportunity to infuse a disproportionate amount of the grace He brings at the Incarnation into others, to help them convert to Him, and give yourself to Him for this purpose. But do so serenely, understanding that it is His will to leave the final choice up to them.

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November 23, 2020November 9, 2020

Lifeboat

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

In the first reading from Revelation, John describes those in Heaven as numbering one hundred and forty-four thousand. Whether or not that is the exact number to be saved, the fact that he cites a concrete number can make us pause and reflect: When all is said and done, the number of the saved will be a concrete number. Maybe it will be 127,239,151. Whatever it will be, it will be concrete, never to be changed–the most important number in the history of humanity. And we have the power to influence this number, to augment it, simply through our prayer, sacrifice, and daily self-offering to the Lord for others. And our works of evangelization and works of charity.

John uses a curious word when he talks about those who have followed the Lamb, and who are present in heaven: They have been “ransomed from the world.” This conjures an image of a world that holds prisoners captive, from which they must be rescued.

And so it is. The world holds so many captive with its shackles of pride, lust for power, greed, longing for sensual pleasures and comfort. Every day we decide anew to step onto the lifeboat of grace with which Jesus rescues us from these shackles. And every day we have the opportunity to help others onto that lifeboat.

Jesus marvels in today’s gospel at the woman who gives everything that she has, in contrast to those who give their surplus. She defies the captivity of the world and its allurements, making her life instead into a gift. Gift of self to God each day in prayer, gift of self to God each day in service to others–making a gift of our lives is the way not only to step onto the lifeboat ourselves, but to bring others aboard as well, and swell the numbers of those saved. 706 were saved from the sinking of the Titanic–once you have lived your life as a gift, how many will be added to the one important human number that will last forever: the number of those who have attained Heaven for eternity?

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Only God knows the number of those who will inhabit Heaven for eternity–but it is a concrete number, one which will be smaller or larger, depending on the way we live our lives. Ask Jesus His ideal for your life. How does He call you and hope for you to help Him “draw all people to Himself” (cf. Jn. 12:32)?

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November 2, 2020October 17, 2020

The Day of the Dead

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

All Souls Day. On this day we commemorate specifically, as can be seen from our readings, all those Christian souls who have passed on from this life, who have gone before us. We think of and pray for the dead.

The readings are not all about Purgatory. They are about the dead, and how their hope in God is not in vain. The readings are all about hope.

The readings are not all about Purgatory, but this day is. If it were not so, there would be no All Souls Day–only yesterday’s feast, All Saints Day. The definition of a saint is one who is in Heaven. If all faithful Christians who passed were in Heaven, All Saints Day and All Souls Day would be the same thing.

Yet, this is not “Purgatory Day,” but rather, “All Souls Day.” The focus is not on the difficult purification that souls must undergo after death prior to reaching Heaven but rather, appropriately, on the value of the faithful Christian soul itself, how God cherishes it, and how He holds it in His hand.

As such, we could thing that Purgatory is something of an eccentric, even embarrassing doctrine, one that no one really understands and no one knows what to do with.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. The first reading underscores the meaning of Purgatory perfectly: “As gold in the furnace, He proved them.”

Purgatory is actually critical and central to what is essential to Christian doctrine: Namely, the process of salvation and sanctification.

Jesus came to shed His blood for us. This was a big deal. He wasn’t going to do that and leave us in a state of half-baked mediocrity.

No, Jesus came for the big prize. He came for our complete purification and sanctification in order to realize–as the object of the game–our complete exaltation. He wanted nothing less for us than a true and transforming participation in the divine nature. You don’t get that unless your free will is completely and totally centered on Him, purified from any other attachments. The big prize.

To insist, however, that this purification come to complete fulfillment in this broken world, full of the fruits of sin and constant temptation, would be harsh. Most of us who are striving to choose God consistently, and keep away from the complete rejection of His path for us that is serious sin, will, however, die with some attachment to creatures and some habits of lesser sin that we have not shaken. These habits constitute weaknesses and impurities that would cause undo suffering in the presence of God.

“As gold in the furnace, He proved them.” There are some who posit that the purifying fire of Purgatory is the presence of the fullness of God’s love itself, which causes suffering in our souls due to their unworthy attachments. That this love itself is what burns away the impurities in the gold.

Whatever the case, Purgatory–purification after death–is a mercy, both because God does not allow us to be condemned due to our minor attachments, and because He allows us a finite period after death by which our souls reach the fully sanctified state for which He created us. It is a mercy because, despite minor faults with which we may die, we still come to reach the fullness of the elevated destiny won for us in Christ–the glory of which we cannot even begin to fathom here on earth.

There is a further mercy about Purgatory: The Church teaches us that we can lighten/shorten the time of souls’ purification through our prayers for them. One can infer here that our prayers bring special grace to fortify these souls, as protein does a body builder, as they go through their spiritual “workout” after death. Prayers for the dead are our way of participating in mercy of God by which He prepares them for profound eternal union with Himself.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Think of persons you have loved, who have passed. Speak to Jesus about them, about the reasons He loves them so much, what He loves about them. Ask Him to speed their period of purification, if it is still ongoing (and if not, to apply your prayers to another soul in need). Consider visiting a cemetery today or in the next couple of days. If you do and you pray for your special departed friend there, fulfilling some basic requirements you will find here, you can win for them immediate culmination of their purification and entry into Heaven. Also: Read through the readings for today again, and praise God for the hope He gives to us for eternal salvation and sanctification.

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