Daily gospel

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel….Thursday 2 November 2017 All Souls Day.

On All Souls Day , holding Jesus’ hand lets look death in the face and let’s look at what our Master is saying about the final matters of human life ? 

1. Jesus took death very seriously ! Not only did He forbid , murder, extinguishing someone else’s life but He Himself is overcome by grief at the tomb of Lazarus , even when He knows that soon He will resurrect His friend ! Jesus is serious about life and death ! We should not dismiss this question by the shrugging of our shoulder, pass it off with a stale joke ! Our children like most boys like “war-games “, to conquer the enemy by the use of guns, swords to kill them ! At the start of our child-protection service there was a lot of who-dunit taking place in the  home , the children brought a lot of aggression , roughness with themselves . In the beginning I tried to convince them that they should not kill anybody either by words nor by  “play”! Of course this “make-believe" killing returned again and again ! I was trying to work out how could I make them understand that one should not wish the suffering , death of anybody . I confiscated the guns , swords and I made them do pushups even when I caught someone just using verbal aggression but I never really achieved a breakthrough . Finally on one occasion as a parish priest I had to attend a funeral I gathered the most aggressive sons of the home to come as altar-servers ! In Transylvania burials are carried out with the coffins opened , the elderly woman was languishing under the shroud , the relatives were crying and we carried out the burial ceremony . I got the older tough guys to do the reading and the general entreaties , then we accompanied the body to the grave, that we consecrated, and on our way home I asked the boys :” what do you think, is it proper to joke , play with death ? They snuggled up to me and they told me they never even thought about what a funeral, what death is like ! Ever since then , thank God, the children from Déva don’t play war-games anymore , somehow the generations tell each other in this house we don’t “murder “ even out of fun, or as a joke , so like this there is no halloween , there are no skulls on T-shirts nor on posters stuck on walls ! Life is sacred , and not only the precious gift of our Creator but God Himself as our Lord Jesus Christ said : I AM the way, the truth the justice and the LIFE !

2. Jesus teaches us that there is worse than the death of the body "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body ……. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10, 26 Yes Jesus Christ on Good Friday can give His life for something bigger, more valuable He accepts death what is more death on the cross ! The body can be resurrected by God, but the one in eternal damnation cannot be saved by God as the door handles of hell are on the inside and the one , who sunk into hatred, self-destroying sin is unable to accept God’s mercy , unable to be resurrected to love , to life ! Yes the one sinking into sin creates hell for himself , with his deeds, life and thrusts himself into damnation . Jesus protects us from this final death, and so that we can see for ourselves the power of hatred, animosity , the sin in our life He accepts the agony of Golgotha, accepts physical annihilation ! Because no-one has a greater love than the One who gives His life for His own !

3. Jesus’ teaching is very clear about the resurrection and  the eternal life . Our Master not only talks about these very important truths , determining our whole earthly life , but with His own death, resurrection as the first fruit of the resurrected proves it to His disciples , to all of us that resurrection really exists ! I truly believe that on the dawn of Easter Jesus did not show us a cheap trick but in reality showed , what awaits all of us after our death and that is the glorious resurrection ! That is why He appears again and again to His disciples , asks to eat something and calls on them to feel the wound in His side , so that they can see and accept it with faith that there really is resurrection, eternal life ! Even though we can feel the fallibility of our earthly life , the limitations of our existence of a fistful of dust , yet in the bottom of our heart we all have the desire for eternal life , and even though we are wicked , yet for our dearly departed without giving it a second thought we would grant the chance, possibility  of resurrection if we could! Would God be worse than us ? He certainly is not !God loves us with an everlasting love, and if the whole world awaits longingly the fulfilment of their being, existence as God’s children then it is quite certain that our Creator will grant this to His children , creations with great-great love ! As to what will this be like ? We do not know only that what our Master has revealed to us :"“What no eye has seen,

    what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived—

    the things God has prepared for those who love him!”I Cor.2,7….

Yes the love, the goodness, the wisdom , the virtuous pure life and our God’s immeasurable mercy will be capable to conquer death , and joyfully step over the threshold of eternal life where our loved ones are already awaiting us  !

My brethren this consoling faith should fill our hearts as we stand by the grave of our loved ones , let’s up hope that our Lord Jesus Christ is great enough that if He promised us eternal life then He will also grant it to us !

With love,

Father Csaba 

translated by dr k.e.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

John 5, 24-29