Mass was offered this morning at the high altar for the repose of the soul of Barlen Curpen (+), and for the family and friends of the deceased. One of the key texts in the Masses of the Dead is from the book of Job and speaks of God as Avenger:
"This at least I know, that One lives on Who will vindicate me, rising up from the dust when the last day comes. Once more my skin shall clothe me, and in my flesh I shall have sight of God. I myself, with my own eyes; it will not be something other than myself that sees him. Deep in my heart is this hope reposed." - Job 19: 25-27
God will be our Avenger indeed, for He gave death a trouncing on the Cross, and promised us new life after that cruel gateway is passed. Let us pray everyday for our Faithful Departed, that they may be greeted with this sight of God, on the eternal shores of Paradise, which we shall all hopefully reach one day.
Our Gospel reading at Mass is the continuation and termination of the eighth chapter of the Gospel of S. John, where Christ declares that before Abraham every existed He was God. This to confound the Jews, who could not accept that there was One in their presence who was greater even than the patriarch Abraham. The parallel First reading given to us today is the story of the Covenant and Blessing of Abraham, who was promised that he would be made a great father of many nations, and this in his old age and before his only legitimate son Isaac was even conceived. Here is the quotation:
"At this, Abram fell prostrate before him. And God said to him, 'I AM, and here is the covenant I make with thee, thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall thy name be Abram, thou shalt be called Abraham, the father of a throng, such is the multitude of nations I will give thee for thy children. I will make thee fruitful beyond all measure, so that thou shalt count among the nations; from thy issue, kings shall rise. I will honour this covenant of mine with thyself and with the race that shall follow thee, generation after generation; an eternal covenant that pledges me to be thy God, and the God of the race which follows thee.'" - Genesis 17: 3-7
And now, we could perhaps see the link with the Gospel story, and how Christ took the Jews who were listening to Him back to this very story of Abraham. Christ was put to death for nothing other than that He had dared to say that He was the same God Who had given Abram the new name Abraham, the same God Who had blessed Abraham with prosperity and Who had given the Hebrew people the cult of divine worship. The charge they made against him was the charge of blasphemy. This is the bottom end of the eight chapter of the Gospel of S. John, our reading for today:
"Then the Jews asked Him, 'Hast thou seen Abraham, thou, who art not yet fifty years old?' And Jesus said to them, 'Believe me, before ever Abraham came to be, I AM.' Whereupon they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple." Gospel of John, chapter 8.
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