Breaking the Word

30^th Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 3^rd November 2023 – Romans 9,1-5; Lk 14,1-6

Painful Rejection

In the first reading, Paul finds it hard to believe that many Jews have not accepted Jesus as the Messiah after being familiar with all the Hebrew scriptures which pointed to Jesus as the Christ. He wonders how it is possible that those who had been chosen as God’s people from early in their history could not accept Jesus as the fulfillment of all their prophets. He also remembers that he did not originally accept Jesus. Emanating from the ancestors’ Patriarchal link, Paul lists all the privileges that came with it: their adoption as God’s children, the glory of God among his people, the covenants with Abraham, with Jacob-Israel, with Moses, the worship of the one true God, the Law which expresses God’s will, the messianic promises, and finally, their physical relationship with Christ, as son of David. Indeed, they have a very special place in God’s plan. From among them, Jesus physically descended in his humanity, born of a Jewish mother. All his family were Jews and he spent his whole life immersed in Jewish society. He went to the Temple and attended the synagogue. At the same, Paul highlights that Christ above all shares God’s divine nature. The majority did not accept Jesus as the expected Messiah and it is because of which Paul grieves over their rejection of Jesus.

All Souls’ Day, Thursday – 02^nd November 2023 — Gospel: Jn 6,37-40

Hope-filled Promises

Today, November 2, occupies a unique place in the Catholic calendar because we remember all those who have died in Christ – it is a day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed. Remembering the deceased faithful provides us opportunity to reflect on our mortality, and more importantly, to realize that death is only a transition from this life to a fullness of life.  The passing over from life to death frightens us. In death, all that is familiar is stripped from us – except our belief in Christ. For Christ has promised us, “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” The fear of death is the fear of an ultimate rejection – that we’ll all be rejected by life itself. Since Christ, our Redeemer, has conquered death, we are relatively comfortable. He welcomes us into new life, and death has no more power of ultimate rejection. At the same time, we should realize that nothing will ever separate us from the love of Christ, and death is only a transition from on earth to the fullness of life with the Lord Jesus. Christ, the Messiah, has also promised us, “I shall raise him up on the last day.” This instills hope in the Christian that we shall be raised and exalted on high on the last day, the great day of redemption.