Thursday, November 2, 2023

†.. The One Who Sent Me

†Quote of the Day
"Persevere in labors that lead to salvation. Always be busy in spiritual actions. In this way, no matter how often the enemy of our souls approaches, no matter how many times he may try to come near us, he'll find our hearts closed and armed against him." St Cyprian

†Today's Meditation
"Many are heading straight on for purgatory. They live until their last hour, even though they are seriously ill, even on their deathbed, as if everything is all right. Exclusively directed to the earthly, they don't think at all about calling upon the mercy of God. Although by doing so they would be spared at least a severe purgatory. For God is infinitely merciful for all who call upon Him and trust Him."
—Hungry Souls, p. 120

†Daily Verse
"I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins." Isaiah 43:25

All Souls Day

November 2nd is All Souls Day, sometimes called the Day of the Dead. On this day, and during the month of November, the Church prays in a special way for the souls of the faithful departed, and individuals pray especially for those whom they have known and loved. The Holy Souls in purgatory died in the mercy of God, thus they are called "holy." However, because they still had attachment to sin at the time of their death, they must undergo the spiritual purification of their souls before they are able to fully love God with their whole heart, mind, and soul for all eternity. As they are nevertheless part of the communion of saints, they depend upon us to help ease their suffering and quickly advance them through their purification so that they can join the saints in heaven. Those in purgatory cannot pray for themselves, this is why they are also called "poor." They can no longer merit anything for themselves and rely entirely on living souls to pray and make sacrifices on their behalf.

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Blessed John Bodey

Blessed John Bodey (1549-1583) was born in Wells, England, the son of a wealthy merchant and former mayor. He studied at Oxford and became an Oxford Fellow in 1568 at the age of 19. Later he, along with seven others, was deprived of his fellowship for being a Roman Catholic by the Anglican Bishop of Winchester. Bodey, a married layman and schoolmaster, was arrested in 1580 for continuing to practice the Catholic religion and rejecting England's newly-established heretical Church of England. He was kept in iron shackles for three years, which he called his "school of patience." In 1583 he was tried for treason, both for being a faithful Roman Catholic and for repudiating King Henry VIII's claim of supremacy of the Church in England over against the Holy Father. Bodey wrote that his iron chains were earning him glory in heaven, even kissing the chain halter around his neck. He was executed under Queen Elizabeth on November 2, 1583 by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Andover. He died with the name of Jesus on his lips. His mother rejoiced that her son persevered to the end and won the crown of martyrdom; she gave a feast in honor of him being numbered among the saints in heaven. John Bodey was beatified in 1929 and is one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day is November 2nd.

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

(All Souls)

Lectionary: 668

The following are a selection of the readings that may be chosen for this day.
Reading I

Wis 3:1-9

The souls of the just are in the hand of God,

and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,

yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,

because God tried them

and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,

and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,

and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,

and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,

and his care is with his elect.

Responsorial Psalm

23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;

he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
He guides me in right paths

for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley

I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff

that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
You spread the table before me

in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
Only goodness and kindness follow me

all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.

Reading II

Rom 6:3-9

Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.

Alleluia

Mt 25:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 6:37-40

Jesus said to the crowds:
"Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day."

Daily Meditation: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14

. . . a great multitude, which no one could count. (Revelation 7:9)

Just think about all the saints who are in heaven right now, worshipping God as part of that great multitude described in the Book of Revelation! Of course, that group includes our "favorite" saints, whose names we took at Confirmation, whose writings and lives have inspired us, or to whom we turn with a particular need. But it also includes everyone who has entered eternal life with God, whether or not they have been canonized. It's mind-boggling to consider just how many people that might be. After all, it's been more than two thousand years since Jesus opened heaven's gates!

On today's feast of All Saints, we shouldn't forget that we, too, were created to be part of that uncountable number. God has offered salvation to people from every nationality, race, and background. Together, that great multitude proclaims, "Salvation comes from our God" (Revelation 7:10).

Responding to that gift of salvation, day in and day out, is what made the saints holy. And it's what prepares us to join the heavenly host. But it's not easy. The saints in our first reading were faithful to Christ to the point of martyrdom, washing their robes in the "Blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14). For our part, our response to God might be to turn from a deeply-rooted pattern of sin, to stay faithful when we're tempted, or to give more of ourselves than we might think we can.

As St. Teresa of Calcutta said, "Holiness is not the luxury of a few, but a simple duty for you and me." Let's set our sights on that great multitude that cannot be counted. Let's do everything we can to be faithful so that, with God's grace, we can become saints!

"Almighty God, you have invited me to be part of the heavenly host. Help me respond to your invitation today and every day."

Psalm 24:1-6
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

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Reflections with Brother Adrian:Audio Link

From today's 1st Holy Scripture:
"For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself..........."
. . .

This weekend, me and my wife went with my sister and husband to see the new movie "After Death" by Angel Studios. It is a collection of near death experiences some have had about their visit to the "other side". About halfway through the movie, I turned to my wife and said "I've already seen most of these stories on YouTube on the internet". She and my kids know I've seen many of these on our home tv in the evenings. The movie was an attempt perhaps to put on a big screen something that hasn't been done before, and it was in a sense.
The movie lets those speak first hand of what they saw. But we only get a few stories that were handpicked by the movie makers. Most experienced what they believe is like heaven or the experience of our God Himself. And they showed 1 or two that experienced hellish things of depths and torture that one can only try to imagine.
When we left, everyone asked each other what they thought. When it came time for my turn to speak, I had lots to say! Of course, LOL. First of all, I noticed the story line can be stitched together and skewed to have a protestant sense of salvation. We did not get to see a large chunk of stories that are of purgatory. I've read books about souls in purgatory. These are just as viable stories as they showed in the movie, but just as the Book of Wisdom was thrown out by the Protestants, they threw out the stories of purgatory. And the lost ones now say "it was you who ADDED the books to the bible!". Oh boy, now the confused or uncertain begin to call others liars.
I digress. Back to life...after death.

Today we pray for those who are not in Heaven...yet. It is a day for all...souls.

We pray today:
" Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul........"

We live in a world in which we must deal with the "accidents of life". What does this mean? My understanding is that these are the incidentals that happen just because we live in the world, the points we face because of the place and time we are at, in the moment. It could be what causes you to think and behave, like biology, or sociology, and the ecology. All these things come together in your environment and make a circumstance in your world. Take for instance, the innocence of eating something that had a malady or even deadly that you did not intend to eat. Or all of a sudden your body does something unexpected and has permanent effects on you. These are examples of the physical, and I mention them because just the same, in the spiritual life, we can take in something deadly without wanting, or inherit something deadly too. The physical my friend, I would say can be harder to fix than the spiritual. This sounds counterintuitive, but now I'm diving into God's arms, where the material is not as important as the spiritual, although for now we are intimately united.

In the Gospel today we heard our Lord:
"And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day."......." end of Gospel verse.

From Bishop Barron Today:
"Friends, in today's Gospel, Jesus says that the Father promises eternal life for everyone who believes in the Son. Every human being is a subject of inestimable value, because he or she has been created by God and destined by God for eternal life.
When Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well and promises her "water gushing up to eternal life," it is evocative of what Aquinas means by creation: the presence of God always at work at the very roots of our being. Creation is not a once-and-for-all act of the essentially transcendent God but rather the ever-present and ever-new gift of being poured out from the divine source. What Aquinas implies is that the creature is a relationship to the energy of God, which is continually drawing it from nonbeing to being, making it new.
Once the soul has been transfigured, the only path that seems appealing is the one walked by Christ—that is to say, the path of radical self-offering, self-surrender. Fired by the God-consciousness, in touch with the divine source within us, drinking from the well of eternal life, we are inspired simply to pour ourselves out in love......." end quote Bishop Barron.

"... this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day..."
I am going to attempt to sing these words in a song today in Holy Mass for the faithfully departed called "I Am The Bread of Life" by Susan Toolan, in spanish.

It is a song then, of God's faithfulness. And this is good news indeed.

And let's emphasize the whole purgatory thing, because even one of the most holiest men on earth, Saint Padre Pio, was said to have had spend a few days in purgatory! And this man was known for countless miracles, he had the Stigmata, and spoke with our Lord and would get physically beat up by the devil for all he did. And this man suffered purgatory!? Why?

Because, God sees that it is good. Allbeit, I think they said he only suffered 3 days. But Padre Pio once ran into a wondering soul in a church, literally a dead brother of the monastery. He said the brother was suffering because he did not bow or genuflect correctly in the church, the reverence was not there. WOW. Really? Such small sins must be accounted for?
Well, who said it is a small sin? Right? Small sins count! Small things become big things! For good or for worse!
Didn't smile at someone the other day? That only made their day worse! Did you do something for someone the other day that made their day? Jesus loves it!
This is the time to make offerings for both the living and the dead. Never mind what the confused protestants are saying. We don't communicate with the dead, unless a ghost appears like to Padre Pio. Because if we attempt to talk with dead people using "mediums" you are actually tapping into demonic affairs of faithlessness. No. But we should be praying for our loved ones, for any little thing they may have missed in life, that we may help atone with our offerings and prayers to enter Heaven much sooner.
Now we can do acts of love beyond measure!
Because our prayers go a very long ways in the next realm, super powerful.
This is also an amazing gift from above, thank you Lord.
........
Let us pray:
Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, for those in my own home and in my family. Amen.