Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
(II Kings 2:1.6-14; Matthew 6:1-6.16-18)
Students at a Catholic high school would piously enter chapel during the lunch break for mass when their priest-teacher was observing, grade book in hand. Once the teacher left his post, however, the adolescents would sneak out thinking that they put something over him. But the teacher -- no one’s fool -- likely gave no real credit for mass attendance. He probably was well aware of what his students were up to and just hoped that the chicanery would result in their saying a few prayers.
In today’s gospel Jesus warns about performing acts of piety so that others may see them. He says that such hypocrisy finds no favor with the Father. He does not say, but we can presume, that such behavior has a net negative effect as one of its purposes is deception. We know eternal life or heaven to be reserved for the righteous with no wicked or faulty admitted. This means that when we are called, all deceit, hatred, and base desires will have to be seared from our souls. This purgation is often pictured as taking place on the outskirts of hell with all its blazing heat. Of course, we really don’t know what purgatory is like. Still we can say from our experience in trying to undo harmful habits that it is likely to be an unpleasant process we would do well to avoid. It would be much easier for us if we make transparency our way of life now.
Showing posts with label purgatory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purgatory. Show all posts
Homilette for Monday, November 2, 2009
The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day)
(Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 5:5-11; John 6:37-40)
Mark Twain once said about the Bible, “Most people are bothered about the verses that they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.” He meant that the word of God challenges us to assist others more and please ourselves less than we likely do. The consequences for not meeting those challenges, the Bible warns, are not at all reassuring.
And so we have All Souls Day to pray for the many people who had difficulty getting beyond pleasing themselves. They were not necessarily big sinners but people like most of us here, I am afraid, who could not pass up the opportunity to share a bit of gossip or to watch television rather than visit the lonely. Catholics have long placed these souls in Purgatory, a state not described in the Bible but logically deduced from squaring the prevalence of sin with belief in a merciful God.
We may have grown up thinking that Purgatory is punishment for venial sins. As far as one is prevented from enjoying what she comes to want more than anything else, there may be frustration to the point of pain involved in Purgatory. But the Eastern Church, what Pope John Paul II was fond of calling Christianity’s other lung, probably is closer to the mark when it sees Purgatory as a time of purification. In Purgatory we will work out our selfishness like a mother living in misery picks lice out of her children’s hair so that we might enter the presence of God without a blush of embarrassment. Our prayers today beseech God to expedite the process.
(Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 5:5-11; John 6:37-40)
Mark Twain once said about the Bible, “Most people are bothered about the verses that they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.” He meant that the word of God challenges us to assist others more and please ourselves less than we likely do. The consequences for not meeting those challenges, the Bible warns, are not at all reassuring.
And so we have All Souls Day to pray for the many people who had difficulty getting beyond pleasing themselves. They were not necessarily big sinners but people like most of us here, I am afraid, who could not pass up the opportunity to share a bit of gossip or to watch television rather than visit the lonely. Catholics have long placed these souls in Purgatory, a state not described in the Bible but logically deduced from squaring the prevalence of sin with belief in a merciful God.
We may have grown up thinking that Purgatory is punishment for venial sins. As far as one is prevented from enjoying what she comes to want more than anything else, there may be frustration to the point of pain involved in Purgatory. But the Eastern Church, what Pope John Paul II was fond of calling Christianity’s other lung, probably is closer to the mark when it sees Purgatory as a time of purification. In Purgatory we will work out our selfishness like a mother living in misery picks lice out of her children’s hair so that we might enter the presence of God without a blush of embarrassment. Our prayers today beseech God to expedite the process.
Homilette for Friday, November 2, 2007
You will find homilettes for all weekdays since October 29 below.
The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day)
(John 6:3-9)
Today we pray for those whom we traditionally call “the souls in purgatory.” With scientific terms such as DNA becoming part of household conversations, the word “soul” sounds passé. “Purgatory” also may seem out-of-date in these ecumenical times. It is not found in the Bible, and many Protestants may not appreciate its significance.
Yet are there any better terms to convey our hope for eternal life? The human being is certainly more than a complex of atoms. Our experiences, attitudes, and desires must register somehow to make us the persons we are. It may be ridiculous to say the soul weighs so many grams as some self-styled theologians claim. But it is as good a term as any to describe what makes us who we are beyond the raw components (which, it has been said, are worth only a little change money).
The more we know about ourselves and others, the more we realize that our hearts are not pure enough to look at God at death. For some the fault lines are long and deep. They may not have been fully responsible, but they made some poor choices. For others there may be no more than slight fissures on their souls, i.e., oversights or mistakes that need reckoning. We know ourselves as not ready for heaven yet believe ourselves too close to Christ to be damned to hell. “Purgatory” expresses our predicament as well as any term. It is not so much a place of punishment as of purgation. There we have the possibility to reconsider the ways in which we lived so that we might become loving like Christ. Our prayers for those already in this intermittent realm catalyzes the process of their perfection.
The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day)
(John 6:3-9)
Today we pray for those whom we traditionally call “the souls in purgatory.” With scientific terms such as DNA becoming part of household conversations, the word “soul” sounds passé. “Purgatory” also may seem out-of-date in these ecumenical times. It is not found in the Bible, and many Protestants may not appreciate its significance.
Yet are there any better terms to convey our hope for eternal life? The human being is certainly more than a complex of atoms. Our experiences, attitudes, and desires must register somehow to make us the persons we are. It may be ridiculous to say the soul weighs so many grams as some self-styled theologians claim. But it is as good a term as any to describe what makes us who we are beyond the raw components (which, it has been said, are worth only a little change money).
The more we know about ourselves and others, the more we realize that our hearts are not pure enough to look at God at death. For some the fault lines are long and deep. They may not have been fully responsible, but they made some poor choices. For others there may be no more than slight fissures on their souls, i.e., oversights or mistakes that need reckoning. We know ourselves as not ready for heaven yet believe ourselves too close to Christ to be damned to hell. “Purgatory” expresses our predicament as well as any term. It is not so much a place of punishment as of purgation. There we have the possibility to reconsider the ways in which we lived so that we might become loving like Christ. Our prayers for those already in this intermittent realm catalyzes the process of their perfection.
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