LET US SING THE SONG OF VICTORY WITH ALL THE SAINTS

THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS - Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-14

We start the month of November with two great feasts, remembering and celebrating those who have gone before us. On the first of November, we give thanks and praise to God, for all who already share in his glory. On the second, praying for All Souls, we are made aware that salvation is always a gift of God’s mercy and love. By ourselves, we are sinful people, and can never achieve total holiness, ready to enter God’s kingdom. That’s why we entrust our dead to the mercy of God. 

Throughout the year, we dedicate a special day to special saints, who are presented to us by the Church as role models in the discipleship of Jesus Christ. They were sinners like all of us, but by God’s grace they lived their lives guided by the Spirit, thus being transformed in the image of Jesus Christ.

All of us are called to be saints. This call was already presented to the people of Israel:  

“You shall be holy, 

for I the Lord your God am holy.” (Lev 19:2)

The same call was repeated by Jesus:

“Be perfect, therefore, 

as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)

This call is like a commandment, and we may say that it is an impossible commandment, because it is one which we will never be able to fulfil on our own. And that is so because to be perfect like the Father is far beyond our power, no matter how much we try. But the command stands, to remind us that, in the end, that perfection will be bestowed on us, as we will be made a new creation in the image of Jesus Christ. For that perfection, Jesus is the way, the only way that will take us to the Father. We must become disciples of Jesus Christ, learning from him and following in his footsteps. To be saints, each one of us has to make a daily effort to be more like Jesus, knowing that he is the one taking us by the hand and opening the gates of heaven for us.

We may ask: Who are those saints we are celebrating today? They are all those whose names we don’t know, the myriads upon myriads that have been forgotten, but are in the presence of God, rejoicing in his love and his glory. According to the parable of the last judgement, Jesus will use only one rule to judge humanity, the rule of mercy and compassion, that is we will be judged by the care and concern for the ones we meet in our daily lives (Mt 25:31ff). All those who have shown care and concern for the others will be welcome in his kingdom. The gates of heaven will be open to those who opened their hearts to others.

The book of Revelation describes the great gathering of all those who are saved for the song of victory:

“I saw a huge number, 

impossible to count, 

of people from every nation, 

race, tribe and language; 

they were standing in front of the throne 

and in front of the Lamb, 

dressed in white robes 

and holding palms in their hands.

They shouted aloud, 

“Victory to our God, 

who sits on the throne, 

and to the Lamb!” 

And all the angels who were standing 

in a circle round the throne, 

surrounding the elders 

and the four animals, 

prostrated themselves before the throne, 

and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God with these words, 

“Amen. Praise and glory 

and wisdom and thanksgiving 

and honour and power 

and strength to our God 

for ever and ever. Amen.” (Rev 7:9-12)

In our liturgy, we join this immense crowd and sing together with them the praises of God. We are part of that crowd, still walking here on earth until we will join them in heaven. With All the Saints we sing the song of victory: Amen! Alleluia!

A MESSAGE OF HOPE

XXX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Jeremiah 31:7-9

Zambia is celebrating her independence under a very cloudy climate, going through a big economic crisis that forces her people to question themselves about the future of the Nation.The celebration of the independence must be an occasion for Zambia to affirm herself and for her people to prepare the future, while remembering the past. A Nation is never truly independent, and so the struggle for independence must be an ongoing struggle, in which people fight for and affirm their autonomy, knowing that the future of the country is in their hands.

It is easy to despair in difficult times, as it is easy as well to become totally dependent, crying to God and expecting him to solve all our problems. Prayer and fasting will not solve any of our economic problems. Certainly we should cry out to God, as the people of Israel did, when oppressed by the Egyptians. But the true aim of our prayer and our fasting is to establish a deep relationship with God, in which we listen to his word and open our hearts to his Spirit; and that relationship will lead us to commit ourselves to concerted and responsible action for the good of the country. Prayer and fasting, if they are true, exclude attitudes of selfishness and bring attitudes of service. Once we open our hearts to God, he will send us back to the reality of our daily lives and his Spirit will lead us in a careful  examination of the causes of the crisis and of our failures.  Without doing that, we cannot find solutions, and the situation will deteriorate even further, leading people to loose all confidence in the ones they chose to guide them.

Throughout history, the people of Israel passed through big crises that endangered the very existence of their nation. It was during such a crisis that Jeremiah was called to be a prophet. During most of his prophetic ministry, Jeremiah was a prophet of doom, announcing the destruction of the Temple and of the Nation, unless the people repented and turned back to God. Jeremiah himself resented this role entrusted to him by the Lord and he complained to God:

“I have become a laughingstock all day long;

everyone mocks me.

For whenever I speak, I must cry out,

I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”

For the word of the Lord has become for me

a reproach and derision all day long.

If I say, “I will not mention him,

or speak any more in his name,”

then within me there is something like a burning fire

shut up in my bones;

I am weary with holding it in,

and I cannot.” (Jer 20:7-9).

However, as the Babylonian army approached, his message became a message of hope. The Lord promises to bring back his people scattered through the nations:

“With weeping they shall come,

and with consolations I will lead them back,

I will let them walk by brooks of water,

in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;

for I have become a father to Israel” (Jer 31:9).

The experience the people of Israel went through repeats itself in the life of the Church as the people of God in pilgrimage to the promised land. Like them, we have been unfaithful to the Lord, as we transform passing vanities into the values that guide ours lives. The reproach that Jeremiah pronounced against the people of Israel can be applied to us:

“for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living water,

and dug out cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns

that can hold no water (Jer 2:13).

The Europeans nations, in spite of all their wealth, leave a feeling of emptiness. It is a doomed society that rejects life and walks at a fast pace towards self-destruction. Here, in Zambia, with a deep economic crisis, people are uncertain about the future and don’t know where to turn to. It is in a situation like this that we need a message of hope. If we are open to the Lord and allow ourselves to be challenge by him, new horizons will open for us and we will realise that the Lord protects and defends us. He welcomes us with open arms, because he is our Father, who has never stopped loving us.

JESUS IS THE HIGH PRIEST

XXIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Hebrews 4:14-16

In the letter to the Hebrews, Jesus is called “the supreme High Priest who has gone through to the highest heaven” (Heb 4:14). The High Priest of Old could not approach or enter anyhow the Most Holy Place. It was the role of the High Priest to offer sacrifice and to ask for atonement for the whole community. He was supposed to be a bridge between God and his people. Jesus Christ as the High Priest supersedes in all ways the priesthood of the Old Testament.

Some people may think that priesthood has to do with magic, but far from it. The priest establishes the link with God, offering worship and sacrifice in the name of the people and kneeling or bowing before God with confidence in his mercy and atoning for the sins of the community. As the High Priest, Jesus entered once for all into the most holy place, opening the gates of heaven for us, and offering himself in sacrifice, a sacrifice of reconciliation and peace, of thanksgiving and praise.

In the first reading of this Sunday’s liturgy, the prophet Isaiah tells us that “he offers his life in atonement”, and “By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself. (Is 53:10-11). Jesus’ priesthood is one of service. Indeed, “the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45).

In the Old Testament, the position of High Priest became very powerful, with a big influence in political matters. In Jesus’ condemnation to death, the High Priest Caiaphas played a leading role. However, the gospel comes to put it very clear that Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, and he offered his life in sacrifice for his people. Jesus is at the same time the priest who offers the perfect sacrifice, and that perfect sacrifice. Jesus offered his life in sacrifice once for all, so that there is no need of other sacrifices. All sacrifices that we may offer are only possible when offered in communion with the sacrifice of Christ. We do not offer other sacrifice to God, but His sacrifice, the only sacrifice that his pleasing to God.

GOD’S WORD IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE

XXVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Hebrews 4:12-13

In just two verses, the letter to the Hebrews gives us a summary of the greatness and the role of the Word of God. 

The Word of God is “alive and active”. When we speak of the Word of God, we do not speak of dry, empty and meaningless words; it is not empty talk, full of words that have nothing to do with us. The Word of God is always alive and active, and therefore it is always challenging, forcing us to choose in which way we are going to move and what meaning we are going to give to our lives.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the eternal word of God who reveals himself and shares our human life.

In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God. 

He was in the beginning with God. 

All things came into being through him, 

and without him not one thing came into being. (Jn 1:1-3).

Jesus Christ is the Word who assumed a human body and came to live among us, becoming one like us, so that he stands out as the true Son of man and the role model for all of us to follow. Faced with Jesus Christ, we are forced to choose; and that choice will have profound consequences for our lives and for the future of humanity. With Christ, we will carry the cross and pass through death to resurrection. Without Christ, we reject the cross and remain closed in ourselves, ending in despair and death.

The Word of God “cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts.” (Hb 4:12).

The encounter with Jesus Christ, the Word, makes possible to know the Father, because to know Jesus is to know the Father (Jn 14:9); and at the same time brings into the light our inner self. Nothing can remain hidden from this light that is Christ. We are challenged and judged in the saving love and mercy of God.

With the wave of refugees coming into Europe, with the war in Syria and Iraq, with the crimes of the Islamic State and their persecution of the Christians, we are forced to read about Islam and to get acquainted with the Koran and with the Muslim fundamental beliefs. In an effort to understand, we may make comparisons to see the similarities and the differences between Christianity and Islam. We can compare the Bible and the Koran. Both of them are accepted as Holy Scriptures, but that is where the comparison ends. The way we understand the Bible as the word of God is very different from the Muslim understanding of the Koran as the Word of God. While the Bible is made up of many different books written by many different people at very different times, the Koran is seen as the perfect copy of what is written in heaven, which was revealed to Muhammad. In the Bible, we find human history, which is pervaded with God’s presence, as he acts and reveals himself through that history. In the Koran, there is no history, only the eternal and unchangeable word of God. If we can make a comparison, it should be between Jesus Christ, the Word, and the Koran, as the eternal word of God. But in Jesus Christ, the Word took flesh and lived among us; the Word became involved in human history and acquired an historical dimension. In Jesus Christ, the Word entered into dialogue with us, and in this dialogue, the word challenges us and the cultural, social, economical, political and religious setting in which we live.

The Allah of Islam is very different from the Yahweh of the Bible. He is a distant god, who doesn’t enter into a personal relationship with us. Yahweh is a God who who reveals himself through his interventions in human history and he has a plan of salvation for us. In Jesus Christ, he calls us to be his adopted children and to have a share in his life and in his divinity. With the Allah of Islam we are called to total submission and we will always be his slaves. Yahweh always chose to be with people and to become their companion in the journey of life. He is the God who set us free, so that we may live with the dignity of children, created in his image.

WHAT ABOUT DIVORCE?

XXVII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 10:2-16

In order to put Jesus to the test, the Pharisees came to him with a very clear question about divorce: Is it allowed? (Mk 10:2) 

The phrasing of the question and their reference to Moses’ permission of divorce, implies a stricter attitude on Jesus’ side towards divorce, and Jesus answer confirms that.

Justifying his attitude, Jesus contrasts Moses’ teaching with God’s plan and God’s will, and Moses’ teaching does not keep God’s plan for marriage. In his answer, Jesus quoted from the book of Genesis (Gn 2:24), making it clear that neither polygamy nor divorce respect God’s will for marriage. Jesus invited the Pharisees and he invites us as well to go back to the origins and to listen to God’s word and live by his commandment: 

“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Mk 2:8-9).

God’s plan and will for marriage are reaffirmed by Jesus and proposed as the ideal to all those who must struggle to be perfect as the Father is perfect (Mt 5:48). 

It is interesting that both twin churches - the Catholic and the Orthodox Church - present this ideal to the disciples of Jesus, and consider marriage as a sacrament, knowing that such an ideal is impossible to follow, but for the grace of God. When God is not part of the relationship between a man and a woman in marriage, and they remain alone in their daily struggle to be one, they are prone to failure.

Nowadays, divorce became a common feature of married life, because many are not ready to commit themselves or to make the effort to stay together. They enter the relationship in an attitude of self-centredness, caring only about their own well-being. It is not surprising that they cannot live together and that they end up in a divorce. And we are faced with the reality of many divorcees who come to Church and expect to receive and experience God’s mercy and compassion.

So far, the Catholic Church has been very legalistic in her approach to marriage, seeing the sacrament of marriage as a legal contract that cannot be broken. The ones who break it, are considered to remain in a state of sin and are permanently excluded from communion. All other sins can be forgiven, except this one. In the eyes of the Church, the only way to mend the situation and be allowed to communion is to go back to the first marriage, which in most cases is impossible. I had some people asking me: “There is no way out for us! We are going to hell! We can never repent and be reconciled with God!” My only answer was: God has his own ways! Put your trust in him, and he will find a way out. But the fact is that, in the community, they are excluded from many things, and they are always made aware of their sinfulness, no matter how committed they try to be.

With her legalistic approach, the Catholic Church has lost the dimension of mercy and forgiveness. The tradition followed in the Orthodox Church presents a different approach. While upholding the ideal of marriage, they remember Moses’ reason for divorce: “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.” (Mk 10:5). Divorce is always a sign of being unfaithful and sinful. And so they allow a second (even a third) remarriage, after a time of repentance, offering a marriage service that has a penitential character. “Second or third marriages are performed by “economy”—that is, out of concern for the spiritual well being of the parties involved and as an exception to the rule, so to speak.” (https://oca.org/questions/sacramentmarriage/divorce-and-remarriage1).

The coming Synod on the Family will discuss these issues and we should pray that, guided by the Holy Spirit, they Church may find ways of revealing God’s mercy, while keeping faithful to his word and his will.