Gospel & Reflection for Mass of Remembrance 2025
Luke 23:35-43
At that time: The rulers scoffed at Jesus, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
One of the criminals who were hanged there railed at Jesus, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’
Reflection
Friends, I watched on television recently a film that I had not seen for a few years, and as I rewatched it, I was reminded of just how powerful and beautiful a film it is. It was a film titled ‘Of God’s and Men’ and it told the true story of a group of Cistercian Monks and the tragic events that unfolded for them during the Algerian Civil war of 1996.
The Monks had lived a very peaceful existence with their Muslim neighbours, and their Monastery was not just their place of peace and prayer, but also of welcomed medical assistance and other means of charity to the local poor Muslim community. But the peaceful and harmonious relationship between the Monks and the people comes under frightening pressure as national conflict takes hold, law and order breaks down, and bands of terrorists begin marauding without mercy.
The Monks realised that their lives were in danger, but despite their personal fears they came to a consensus on the moral importance of maintaining their ministry and assistance to the local people. Just days after deciding to stay, seven of the nine Monks were seized by Islamic terrorists and after being held captive for two months, were murdered.
However, the Abbot of the Monastery, and one of those captured and martyred, was a Priest called Christian de Chergé. Throughout his time in charge and especially as events grew frightening, he wrote a testament about the Monks thinking and discerning regarding all that they were facing. This testimony was later found, and it offers a stunning reflection on hope even in the face of death.
De Chergé knew death was a possibility. But he said that for them all death would not be an end but a “supreme moment of love”. He even wrote words of forgiveness for his potential assassin saying, ‘And you too, my last-minute friend, who would not have known what you were doing, I commend you to God in whose face I see yours. And may we find each other, happy ‘good thieves’ in Paradise, if it pleases God, the Father of us both. Amen.’
So, their story is not a tale of tragedy, but of immense hope and love. In the face of fear, they chose faith. In the shadow of death, they radiated trust in God. It reminds us that all our lives are sacred journeys, journeys to God; and how every moment of our life is an opportunity to love and trust God by loving and serving each other. This is our call today, as we remember our deceased loved ones, and as we think of our own life’s journey.
With their life’s journey over, we remember their “supreme moment of love” where they met the Lord face to face and were welcomed by Him. While an occasion of pain and sadness for us who loved them, our faith fills us with the promise that in one instant, they were here with us, but in the next, they were in the forever with God. In the forever they still live, living within the mystery that is God’s eternal love and presence.
This hope we have for them and their new existence, it should strengthen our own faith and consolation, building our resolve to continue life’s journey, living and loving as they did, and as God wants us to. We all try to live in such a way, that just like the repentant thief, we shall experience, as our loved ones already have, the truth and the reality of the words, “I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
And so, remembering our loved ones, and thinking also of ourselves, we pray in the words of John Henry Newman, Saint and newly declared Doctor of the Church:
May the Lord support us all the day long,
till the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then in His love and mercy, may He give us a safe lodging, a holy rest and peace at last.
Amen.
Fr. Richard
