There is no Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary
Time this year. When All Souls Day falls
on a Sunday, the current rule—it has not always been this way—is to drop the
Sunday in Ordinary Time and switch to a feast day. The readings of Year C that would have been
scheduled will have to come up another year.
There are special readings for All Souls Day.
Readings for All Souls Day vary. There are options pastors may choose from. I was to lector today and I studied what I thought were the readings. When I got to Mass early to practice, I realized I had studied in vein. Luckily I managed it.
For the Gospel reading, we shift over to John’s Gospel, chapter six.
Here is the Gospel passage.
Jesus said to the
crowds:
“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.
For this is the will
of my Father,
that everyone who sees
the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him
on the last day.”
~Jn 6:37-40
Fr. Terence Chartier
gives the theological homily, and he really explains it all.
Praying for the dead is a spiritual work of mercy, so that it benefits the deceased and the one praying!
Here is a new homilist
to my blog for the pastoral homily, Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport
Connecticut. He came recommended. He has a podcast called “Let’s Be Frank.” His Wikipedia entry say he grew up in Brooklyn from the neighborhood one over from where I grew up. He was a pastor at St. Athanasius parish, and
that’s about half mile from where I lived growing up. He’s only two years older than me, so it’s
possible we crossed paths as youths. His
accent is pure Brooklyn Italian-American.
This is a wonderful homily he delivered celebrating Mass at a cemetery.
How appropriate he quotes
Frank Sinatra! So this is not just an
exercise in remembrance but a prayer in hope of a future reunion.
All Saints Day Meditation: "I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”
Instead of a hymn
today, I wish to give another homily, but this one is transcendent. It comes from Fr. Brice Higginbotham. He is from the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in
south Louisiana. I have never seen or
heard him before but this sermon he delivers while walking through a graveyard is
as pious as any hymn.
“Because it is a holy
and pious thing to pray for the dead.” That
was poetic!
