Today, we move from the Prophet Jonah to the Prophet Malachi. This transition reflects the rhythm of the Church’s liturgical readings, through which we journey across the books and letters of the Bible, completing it within the three-year cycle.
In today’s reading from Malachi (3:13-20), we encounter one of the earliest and clearest references to the “last things,” Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven. Purgatory was omitted because Catholic teachings hold that it will phase away ultimately, leaving only hell and heaven.
In today’s reading, the prophet Malachi captures the frustration of the righteous who lament that evildoers seem to escape justice after committing grave wrongs. However, God reassures them that divine justice will ultimately prevail: after death comes judgment, when the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked punished.
In the teachings about Purgatory, we learn that while mortal sin leads to spiritual death and separation from God, leading to hell fire, lesser sins may be purified in the cleansing fire of purgatory, so that souls may still attain eternal salvation. As the Lord invites us today to ask, seek, and knock in prayer (Luke 11:5-13), we especially remember the souls of the departed, entrusting them to God’s mercy and praying that they may rest in peace. Amen.