THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28-34

The Book Deuteronomy contains laws and exhortations Moses gave to the Israelites that would guide them when they arrived at the Promised Land. Today’s first reading contains the central statement of belief of the Jewish people known as Shema Israel. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Moses went further to instruct, “Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

The Hebrew word ‘Shema’ means listen or hear or pay attention or focus on or respond to what you hear. You call me ‘Father.’ Yes, I am your spiritual father. You are my spiritual children. Therefore, whether you like it or not, I will not stop repeating to you, continually, the word of God with my whole heart, and my whole being, and my whole strength. I recite it to myself continually; whether I like it or not. So, do the same to yourself and to your children, whether you like it or not and whether they like it or not. That is the command!

At the time of Jesus, some teachers and interpreters of the law emphasized that the more burnt offerings and sacrifices the people offered, and the more tithes the people paid, the closer they were to God. The scribe, an interpreter of the law, most likely wanted to know Jesus’ opinion. Jesus replied by quoting the Shema Israel and added Leviticus 19:19, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The amazed scribe acknowledged that to love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself are “worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” We recall that Jesus, in Luke 11:12, condemned the Pharisees, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and love of God.” Even now, does Jesus not condemn prosperity preachers whose priority is on their congregation’s paying of tithes over and above love of God and love of neighbor?

Love of God and love of neighbor are like the two hinges of a door. One of the hinges is love of God, and the other hinge is love of neighbor. If any of the hinges is absent, the door seizes to function. 1 John 4:19-21 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

At creation, God said, “Let us create man in our image, in the likeness of ourselves…” (Genesis 1:26). We share in God’s divine nature. Therefore, we have done to God what we have done to others since each of us is God’s image. In Matthew 25:40 Jesus teaches, “In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” In Acts 9:4-5, Jesus asked Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul asked Jesus, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Jesus did not ask Saul why he was persecuting the Christians, but “Why are you persecuting me?”

We can see the power of love of neighbor in the following texts: “Above all, let your love for one another be intense (strong), because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “We are aware that we have passed over from death to life because we love our brother. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer…” (1 John 3:14-15). “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).  “And now, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The word ‘love’ is the most used and abused word. All kinds of evil, atrocities, senseless things, and bad decisions are committed in the name of love.  But there is such a thing as genuine love, which is why St. Paul tells us, “Let love be genuine…” (Romans 12:9). Jesus teaches us what genuine love is where he says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John15:13).

The kinds of genuine love we must pursue: (1) Sacrificial love, which is a total self-giving that sometimes culminates to ultimate sacrifice. Doing good to those who hate us is a type of sacrificial love. (2) Unconditional love, which is a selfless act of love that does not require anything in return. (3) Altruistic love is a kind of love that involves taking helpful actions to support and benefit others, often at one’s expense. Whatever anyone calls love or does in the name of love, which does not fall within these three kinds, is counterfeit love! One may ask about reciprocal love. Reciprocal love, which is love in return for love, has a selfish undercurrent.

I would like to conclude with this story: A boy was asked to donate blood to his sister so that his sister would not die. After donating the blood, the boy asked his dad, “When am I going to die.” The boy had thought that for him to donate blood to the sister so that she might not die would result to his own death. Yet, he did not object when the request was made of him. St. Ignatius prayed, “To give without counting the cost.” This boy teaches us the meaning of the prayer.

COMMEMORATION OF ALL SOULS, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 23:1-6; Romans 5:5-11; John 6:37-40

We celebrated the Church Triumphant (All Saints) yesterday. Today, we pray for the Church Suffering, the departed souls in Purgatory. The Catholic Church teaches that we assist the souls of the dead who are in the condition of purification in Purgatory by offering Eucharistic sacrifice for them, and undertake almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance on their behalf (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1032). Today’s celebration enables us to pray for countless departed souls that Masses are not requested or offered for.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “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” (CCC 1030). “The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).

Communion with the departed is a common practice in many cultures. Praying for the departed existed in the Jewish belief far before Christianity. We read in 2 Maccabees 12:43-46, “Judas then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, in as much as he had the resurrection in mind; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. …Thus, he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin.”

Indications of the existence of Purgatory are, also, found in the New Testament. For instance, we read in Revelation 21:22, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb. ... Nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who does abominable things or tells lies. Only those who will enter whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” At our death, none of us is clean and worthy to enter the “City of the Lord God Almighty.” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Each soul, therefore, goes through a purification before entering the glory of God. The location of Purgatory and the duration that souls spend in Purgatory are beyond human knowledge since it is a mystical reality.

The notion of purgatory was not alien to many ancient cultures. I come from Mbaise, the part of Igboland of Nigeria, where before Christianity, the traditional seventh month (Onwa Asaa), which is coincidentally the month of November, was dedicated to celebrating the dead. Throughout the month, certain ceremonies were for releasing souls from whatever might have withheld them from joining the ancestral realm to transmute and join them. When the Catholic missionaries taught the people about purgatory, it was not difficult for many of them to connect and understand.

Originally, Halloween celebration was a feast of holy souls. The word ‘Halloween’ is derived from ‘All Hallowed (Holy) Souls’ Eve.’ Remembrance of the dead was celebrated on the eve of All Saints. Nowadays, Halloween is mostly celebrated in a secularly non-Christian way.

As Christians, we are a people of hope. Therefore, today’s celebration is a celebration of hope; that, indeed, God’s love is everlasting, even, in the afterlife. The first reading guarantees that by God’s grace and mercy, the faithful shall be purified, and they shall abide with God in love (Wisdom 3:9). St. Paul assures us in the second reading that “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).

In our celebration, we believe in the fulfilment of the words of Jesus in today’s gospel, “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” (John 6:37-39).

Let us pray:  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.