October 29（EMC Mass for last week in October 2023 for All Saints Day and All Souls Day）

Father Ken’s Message:

Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the Cathedral Parish Church of Sapporo. This is really an important week in our Catholic culture. Tuesday is the eve of All Saint’s Day, also known as (aka) Halloween, Wednesday is All Saint’s Day, and Thursday is All Souls Day. Each of our countries has different traditions for celebrating each of these inter-related days. The Bible readings for today’s Mass were not intentionally scheduled in time for these two important feast days but by coincidence the content does relate to them. Love of God and love of neighbor is the message of the Bible readings today. And love of God and neighbor is the most important evidence for sainthood. Personally, I also believe that love of God and neighbor is shown in the lives of all our relatives and friends, who we pray for on All Souls Day; they just are not yet considered famous saints. Don’t you agree?

The First Reading and the Gospel talk about what Jewish believers 2000 years were expected to do. While Moses only received 10 Commandments from God, the Jewish religious leaders also imposed another 613 regulations for believers to keep. In today’s Gospel Jesus summarized all the Commandments and regulations into two: love God and love your neighbor. I think today is a good opportunity for us Catholics who are a branch of Judaism and believers in the entire Bible to recall how we show love to our neighbors. We still believe in the 10 Commandments and in Jesus law of love of God and neighbor. The Catholic Church to practically help us love our neighbor made a list of Spiritual works of Mercy and Corporal works of Mercy for us to keep aware of. All of them were either performed by Jesus or talked about in his stories. Only the act of burying the dead is not recorded as performed by him but of course Mary buried her beloved son. I listed them on the front page with illustrations.

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:

1. Do not judge but help others correct mistakes

2. Pray for the dead and the living

3. Share knowledge especially about God

4. Endure bad things done to you with patience

5. Forgive others

6. Counsel, especially those now doubting their faith

7. Comfort people and listen to them

The Corporeal Works of Mercy are:

1. Feed the hungry

2. Give drink to the thirsty

3. Bury the dead

4. Clothe the naked

5. Shelter the homeless

6. Visit prisoners

7. Visit the sick

St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles writes that we were first called “Christians” in Antioch in Syria (11:26). And St. Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch who died around the year 109, records that Christians were also known as “Catholics” because they were everywhere or universal. But Jesus in the Gospel of John said, “people will know us by our love” (13:34). My brother and sister Catholics, love is our vocation and our model is Jesus. Our vocation is to imitate him in our daily life through the Spiritual Works of Mercy and the Corporeal Works of Mercy. Each of them shows love in action. As we approach All Souls Day it is good to recall that Jesus also prayed for the dead. Do you remember in the Gospel of John were Jesus’ good friend Lazarus died? After three days Jesus went to his grave to pray for his friend Lazarus. Jesus’s prayer was so powerful that Lazarus resurrected from the dead in front of him. That story is a model to us all of the power of prayer for our dead family, friends and colleagues on All Souls Day. God hears our prayers in Heaven to help both the living and the dead. Let us never forget that prayer is also a form of loving one another.

Finally, a want to end my homily to pay tribute to the Queen of Saints as we approach All Saints Day. Of course, I am talking about our Blessed Mother Mary who is the first saint in heaven. Coincidently, today is the last Sunday in October, the Month of the Rosary, which is Mary’s gift to us to help to climb up to Heaven on the rope of her rosary beads. Mary is an example of universal unconditional love extraordinaire. She agreed to save all humanity, people she did not even know using her own body. Mary is a model or a template of how saints are made. Saints are not self-made. Saints are made holy through cooperation with God’s grace. But Mary’s story did not end with her Assumption into Heaven. Mary sits at the Heaven-Help-Desk listening to our calls for help and passes the messages onto Jesus and God the Father on our behalf. Mary shows us that saints are not just statues, biographies, movies, paintings, mosaics, or church buildings named in their honor. No, saints are alive, people with God in Heaven to help guide us still on Earth back home to Heaven. Mary’s model of sacrifice and enduring hardship as a mother for Jesus shows us a living example of The Spiritual and Corporeal Works of Mercy lived out in a lifetime.

Mary, our dear mother in Heaven, pray for us children of Eve, who love your son Jesus. Help us to have your kind of universal love and have your courage to help others. Protect us from the devil and lead us home to Heaven to live with you and our dear families and friends. Amen.

THE 7 SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY

The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy and their Holy Scripture references are:

1. Admonish the Sinner: Proverbs 27:17 Luke 15:7; 17:3 2 Timothy 4:2

2. Instruct the Ignorant: Matthew 28:19-20 Mark 16:14-18 Luke 24:47-49 John 20:21 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4:1-5

3. Counsel the Doubtful: Matthew 13:18-23 Mark 4:13-20; 9:14-29 Luke 8:11-15 John 14:27

4. Bear Wrongs Patiently: Matthew 5:38-48 Luke 6:27-36 1 Peter 2:18-19

5. Forgive Offenses Willingly: Matthew 6:14-15; 18:15-35 Mark 11:25 Luke 11:1-4; 17:1-4

6. Comfort the Afflicted: Psalms 9:8-11; 22:23-27, Psalms 27:4-5; 30:2-4, Psalms 46:2; 55:22, Psalms 56; 71:20-22, Psalms 116; 119:49-50 Jeremiah 29:11-14 Lamentations 3:21-24, 31-33 Nahum 1:7-8 Matthew 11:28-30 John 14:15-18, 27; 16:22-23 2 Corinthians 5:17 1 Peter 5:5-11 Revelation 21:4

7. Pray for the Living and the Dead: 2 Maccabees 38-46

THE 7 CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY

The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy and their Holy Scripture references are:

1. Feed the Hungry Proverbs: 22:9 Isaiah 58:10 2 Kings 4:42-44 Matthew 14:15-21; 25:35 Luke 3:11; 9:12-17 John 6:35

2. Give Drink to the Thirsty: Isaiah 55:1 Matthew 25:35 John 6:35 John 7:37-39 Revelation 21:6; 22:17

3. Clothe the Naked: Matthew 25:36

4. Shelter the Homeless: Matthew 25:35

5. Visit the Sick: Matthew 25:36

6. Visit the Imprisoned: Matthew 25:36

7. Bury the Dead: Tobit 1:17-19; Matthew 27:5