Daily Devotional

Remembering the dead has its benefits. By honouring their memories, we are reminded of our mortality. There is no teacher like the grave. Visit the grave to gain wisdom, learn humility, despise vanities, know the value of time, and much more. Look at the tombs of those you knew who reigned on earth but now sleep in the grave. The graveyard is always silent, but even this silence speaks volumes.

Today, we are celebrating the innumerable multitude of souls who are in God’s presence. We cannot simply call them “dead people”, just as we cannot refer to the multitude in our first reading today as dead people. They must be more than just dead people if they can cry out and sing praises to God.

And behold, out of the blue, a man with dropsy arrived at the banquet hall. Would Jesus turn a cold face towards this man and pretend not to care? Or would he go out of his way to heal this man on the Sabbath? The wise Jesus looked at the scenario and decided to teach everyone a lesson in love. Jesus asked them: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” meaning, “Does the Sabbath law forbid anyone from performing an act of love?” They pretended not to get the message by keeping quiet.