33rd Sunday

Hardship and suffering seem to be a part of the readings for this weekend. Perseverance is the virtue required of the followers of Jesus. According to the Catechism: Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith ."To live, grow, and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; it must be "working through charity," abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church.

Perseverance requires other virtues, such as fortitude and courage. Scripture speaks of our struggle as “war”. Preparations for that spiritual warfare include our “basic training.” Know your faith. Renew your faith. Strengthen your faith through Word and Sacrament. Exercise your faith through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.

Read paragraphs 162-165 in the Catechism for thoughts on perseverance, and 2426-2429 for instruction on human work as duty and vocation. Works of Mercy: 1458, 1473, 1815, 1829, 1853, 2044, 2447

32nd Sunday

Life after death is the issue in the first reading and the Gospel for this weekend. A clear belief in the afterlife was a late development in Israel. Today’s reading from the Second Book of Maccabees, written in the second century before Christ, finds this belief placed in strong relief. Jesus’ words to the Sadducees in today’s Gospel points the difficulty involved in imaging our future life on the basis of our present life experience.

We are reminded of the Spiritual Works of Mercy, especially to pray for the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins' she offers her suffrages for them." Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping
them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

Final purification of those who die in God’s friendship but are still imperfect is the basis for our belief in purgatory. All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still
imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."

31st Sunday

Paul's 2nd letter to the Thessalonians is timely today. They were concerned about the parousia and not focused on living their faith. Paul urges a sane approach. We do not know the day of the Lord's coming. We should be prepared each day. With all the Rapture nonsense being advocated by other Christians, we have an obligation to keep people focused. Paul was concerned about some alleged prophetic insight, an oracle or a fraudulent letter attributed to him that was upsetting people. Read the Gospel and pay attention to what Jesus had to say (be ready at all times).