Pastor's Message

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

“I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”    John 11:25-26

         Today the Church invites us to commemorate all the faithful departed, to turn our eyes to the many faces who have gone before us and who have ended their earthly journey. Many mark this day, by first going for Mass and then visiting cemeteries, where their loved ones are resting. It is a day when we express our Faith in the Resurrection and Life through Christ Jesus. It is a day of prayer trusting in God’s Love and Mercy.

           Human Beings have always cared for their dead and in some cultures, sought to give the deceased a sort of second life with tremendous attention, care and affection. In a way, they wanted to preserve their experience of life; and, paradoxically, by looking at their graves, before which countless memories returns, they re-discover how they lived; an almost flash-up of their earthly life. Why is this? Because despite the fact that death in many cultures is an almost a forbidden subject, death touches each one of us, it touches humankind of every place and time. And before this Mystery, we all, even unconsciously, search for something to give us hope and bring us consolation of the there-after.

           This hope and consolation come through Christ who in the Gospel of St John, proclaims; “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

           St. Paul in the opening antiphon of today’s Mass explains; “Just as Jesus died and has risen again, so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep; and as Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be brought to Life.” ( Cf. 1 Th 4: 14: 1 Cor 15:22)

           We are also again consoled by the Words of Jesus in the Gospel of John; “For this is the Will of the Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal Life and I myself will raise him up on the last Day.” (John 4:5)

           Faced by the mystery of death, human beings need God; the source and destiny of all. Human beings need eternity, for every other pursuit is too brief, too limited for them. Yet, Man thirsts for the earthly and desires to be absolute, possibly unto death.

           God, leaves his glory to rescue and makes himself close to us. He enters into our history and became one with us. In the Gospel reading today, he is physically in the town Nain accompanied by his disciples and a great crowd of people. We hear Jesus, console the widow; “Do not cry.” He then raises her son; “Young Man, I tell you to get up.” The young man got up and Jesus gave him to his mother.

           “Let your hearts not be troubled,” Jesus tells every disciple; for in the supreme act of love on the cross, immersing himself in the abyss of death, he conquered it, and rose and opened the doors of eternity for us. Christ sustains us through the night of death which he himself overcame; he is the Good Shepherd, on whose guidance one can rely without fear, for he knows the way well, even through the darkness of life.

          “O death, where is your victory?” “O death where is your sting?” … “Thanks to God who give us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Cor.15: 55, 57)

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