Episode 154: 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
In today’s episode, we focus on several details from the first, second, and Gospel readings for this upcoming 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C. The first reading, taken from Wisdom 3:1-9, is given to us by the Church to prompt us to think about the topic of Purgatory, given that this Sunday is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. The details present do not prove purgatory, but they do involve concepts and principles that relate to the doctrine. The detail in the second reading, taken from Romans 5:5-11, relates to the topic of justification, and in particular the nature of justification. Finally, the Gospel reading, taken from John 6:37-40, gives us details that relate to the topics of God’s infallible will and our freedom, along with the so-called doctrine of “eternal security.”
Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Dr. Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In today’s episode, we’re going to focus on several details from the first, second, and Gospel readings for this upcoming 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C. The first reading, taken from Wisdom 3:1-9, is given to us by the Church to prompt us to think about the topic of Purgatory, given that this Sunday is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. The details present do not prove purgatory, but they do involve concepts and principles that relate to the doctrine. The detail in the second reading, taken from Romans 5:5-11, relates to the topic of justification, and in particular the nature of justification. Finally, the Gospel reading, taken from John 6:37-40, gives us details that relate to the topics of God’s infallible will and our freedom, along with the so-called doctrine of “eternal security.”
Let’s begin with the first reading, again, taken from Wisdom 3:1-9. Here’s what we read:
The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.
As I mentioned in the introduction, there are a few details here that relate to the topic of Purgatory. However, they don’t relate to the doctrine apologetically—that’s to say, they don’t help prove the doctrine nor are they appealed to refute the doctrine. Nevertheless, the Church gives us this reading because these details do involve concepts and principles that relate to purgatory.
Notice, the author says, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them……. And his care is with his elect.” The key words to highlight are “the just,” “his elect,” and the idea of no torment touching them. Even though this doesn’t refer to the souls in purgatory, the Church gives us this reading to highlight for us the belief that all souls in purgatory are among “the just,” “his elect,” and thereby are protected from the eternal torments of hell—that’s to say, the souls in purgatory are guaranteed heaven. As the Catechism states in paragraph 1030, purgatory is for those who die in “God’s grace and friendship,” but have not attained the perfect holiness yet for immediate entrance into heaven.
This idea of purgatory being only for the saved is also highlighted by the Church in the optional second reading for this Sunday, Romans 6:3-9. In verse 8, Paul writes,
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
Here, the Church is drawing our attention, again, to the idea that the souls in purgatory are those who have “died with Christ,” and thus are guaranteed to live with him in heaven after they are finally purified.
The next detail that is worthy of highlight is the statement, “As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.” You probably can guess how this relates to purgatory: the motif of purification. The idea here is that just as gold is purified in a furnace, so too souls are purified in purgatory.
This motif of purification for the “the just” is affirmed by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, where he describes a Christian standing before Christ in judgment and being purified by “fire.” For more details on this passage, check out my book Purgatory is For Real: Good News About the Afterlife for Those Who Aren’t Perfect Yet.
So, although the first reading doesn’t relate to apologetical discussions in a direct way, it does so indirectly insofar as it provides us with the concepts needed to have a proper understanding of the doctrine: it’s for “the just”/ “the elect,” and thereby is not a second chance.
Okay, let’s now turn to the second reading, again, taken from Romans 5:5-11. Paul writes,
Hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his Blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
There is not necessarily a single detail here that has apologetical value. Rather, it’s the flow of Paul’s teaching—namely, the contrast between the state of justification and a Christian’s former state of ungodliness. And I argue that this teaching gives us at least some biblical justification for the Catholic belief that justification is rooted in our interior state of righteousness. I’m not claiming that this text provides us a full-blown defense for the Council of Trent’s teaching on justification. However, it does show that at least our interior state of righteousness, or holiness, serves as a ground for our justification. More work would have to be done to show that it is the sole ground.
So why do I think this?
Consider that Paul clearly has justification in mind, writing, “[S]ince we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God” (v.1). Our question is how does Paul conceive of “justification” within his mind?
Well, let’s start with Paul’s juxtaposition of what he calls the “ungodly” state (v.6), or being “sinners” (v.8), and the state of having God’s love poured into our hearts (v.5). Paul describes the former state of both he and the Christians in Rome as being in an “ungodly” state, which, according to verse 8, involved a state of sin whereby they were interiorly defiled. This would have been a state of sin where the soul is void of sanctifying grace due to what we call in the Catholic Tradition mortal sin.
But the good news is that both Paul and the Roman Christians were taken out of that state of defilement due to, as Paul writes, “[T]he love of God [that] has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (v.5).
Now, the “heart” in the Bible signifies the interior core of the person. So for Paul the state opposite of being in an “ungodly” state is one of interiority—it’s something within us. And that interior state is having the love of God within us, which makes us interiorly holy.
What’s interesting is that Paul also identifies the state opposite of an “ungodly state” as the state of being justified. Again, he acknowledges that he and the Christians in Rome have been justified in verse 1. But he juxtaposes that state of justification with their former state of being “ungodly” (v.6).
He writes in verses 7-8,
“7 Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (vv.7-8).
Notice the juxtaposition between being “sinners” and the “just person.” Paul is saying that when they were in the ungodly state, which is a sinful state, they were not just. The implication here is that since they’re no longer in an ungodly state, they are now just.
So, for Paul the state opposite of being in a state of ungodliness is a state of being justified.
But he describes that same single state as having the love of God within our hearts, thereby indicating that he conceives our state of justification as being constituted by God’s love within our hearts. Since having God’s love in our hearts constitutes an interior holiness, it follows that Paul conceives of justification as involving a state of interior holiness.
This at least proves false the idea that justification does not involve an interior state of holiness. And concerning the Church’s teaching on this, it at least shows that our interior state of holiness—having sanctifying grace in our souls—is a ground for our justification. Again, more work would be need to be done to show that it is the only ground. But that’s for another time.
Let’s now turn to the Gospel reading, taken from John 6:37-40. We read,
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.”
There are two details that I want to briefly comment on. The first is Jesus’ statement, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”
One might ask, “How can Jesus say that whoever the Father gives to him that person will come to him and at the same time say that he will not reject whoever comes to him? The first part of the statement seems to negate any sense of the person freely coming to Jesus?”
This is great question and gets to the heart of the mystery of God’s will and human freedom. One thing we can say is that Jesus reveals two things that seem to be in contradiction: 1) Whatever God wills will be accomplished (what philosophers call God’s infallible will) and 2) that we truly come to Jesus in virtue of our own free will. Thus, given this revelation of Jesus we couldn’t deny the infallible will of God, nor could we deny freedom.
But are they irreconcilable? I don’t think so. To state it differently, I do think they can be reconciled, though it requires some deep philosophy, which I’m going to spare you the headache here. But suffice to say that God is the Creator of the very being of our free choices, which means he can move us to choose Christ in a way that preserves the potential to do otherwise, since the potential is a mode of being that God is the Creator of. Here’s a way to summarize it:
P1: God is the source/cause of all modes of being, both actual and potential.
P2: The choice to follow Christ is actual being.
P3: The potential to do otherwise in the choice to follow Christ is potential being.
C1: Therefore, God is the source/cause of the choice to follow Christ and the potential to do otherwise.
The bottom line is that as Creator, God is able to cause us to choose Christ while preserving the potential to do otherwise, which means we are still free in God accomplishing what he wills.
The next detail is Jesus’ teaching, “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 some Christians, this might seem like Jesus is teaching the doctrine of ‘once saved, always saved.’ Jesus plainly says, so the argument goes, that Jesus would not lose anything of what the Father gave him. A born-again believer is someone whom the Father has given to Christ. Therefore, the born-again believer will not be lost, and thus assured of his salvation.
The problem with this interpretation is that the Christian assumes that by “what the [Father] gave me” Jesus means someone who has initially believed and converted to Christ. But by this statement Jesus just as easily could have meant only those whom the Father gave him to dwell with him in heaven, which means only those who will die in friendship with Christ and thus be granted the reward of heaven.
On this interpretation, there would be mental space for a Christian to legitimately enter into a friendship with Christ initially and then later fall out of that friendship and die in such a state. Thus, this teaching of Jesus in principle cannot serve as evidence for the ‘once saved, always saved’ doctrine.
As to what Jesus means, that’s a question that would have be settled by looking at the wider context of the passage and other teachings of Jesus throughout the Gospels. But, unfortunately, that goes beyond what we can do here in this episode.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that’s all I have for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. The first, second, and Gospel readings do not sell us short when it comes to material relevant for apologetical discussions:
- The first reading at least gives us concepts and principles that we can use in articulating the precise nature of purgatory, and who is there,
- The second reading gives us material to justify the Catholic view of justification as being rooted in interior righteousness that God brings about by grace, and
- The Gospel reading gives us material to establish the infallible will of God and his preservation of our human freedom when he accomplishes his will through moving us to choose Christ, along with material that prompts us to think through the belief of ‘once saved, always saved.”
As always, I want to thank you for subscribing to the podcast. And please be sure to tell your friends about it and invite them to subscribe as well through any podcast platform that they use. You can also access the archived episodes of the Sunday Catholic Word at sundaycatholicword.com.
You might also want to check out the other great podcasts in our Catholic Answers podcast network: Trent Horn’s The Counsel of Trent, Joe Heschmeyer’s Shameless Popery, and Jimmy Akin’s The Jimmy Akin podcast,” all of which can be found at catholic.com. And if you want to follow more of my own work, check out my website at karlobroussard.com
One last thing: if you’re interested in getting some cool mugs and stickers with my logo, “Mr. Sunday podcast,” go to shop.catholic.com.
I hope you have a blessed 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C. Don’t forget to pray for the holy souls in purgatory. Until next time, God Bless.