Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and
Companions, Martyrs
Lectionary: 355
Lectionary: 355
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus
by the will of God
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
For this reason, I remind you to
stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a
holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day.
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day.
Responsorial123:1B-2AB, 2CDEF
R. (1b) To you, O Lord, I lift
up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
AlleluiaJOHN 11:25A, 26
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no
resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
For the readings of the Memorial of Saint
Charles Lwanga and companions, please go here.
Meditation: "You
know neither the scriptures nor the power of God"
How
reliable is the belief that all will be raised from the dead? The Sadducees,
who were a group of religious leaders from the upper classes in Jesus' time,
did not believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead to eternal life. They
could not conceive of heaven beyond what they could see with their naked eyes!
Aren’t we often like them? We don't recognize spiritual realities because we
try to make heaven into an earthly image we can touch and see. The Sadducees
came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous.
The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in the existence of
immortal beings - whether humans, angels, or evil spirits. Their religion was
literally grounded in an earthly image of heaven which ended in death.
Jesus
offers proof to immortality - life without end
Jesus responds to their argument by dealing with the fact of the resurrection and immortal life. Jesus shows that God is a living God of a living people. The Scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, God calls himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived on the earth. That friendship with God could not cease with death. David in the Psalms also speaks of the reality of immortal life with God. In Psalm 73:23-24 we pray through the words of David: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."
Jesus responds to their argument by dealing with the fact of the resurrection and immortal life. Jesus shows that God is a living God of a living people. The Scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, God calls himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived on the earth. That friendship with God could not cease with death. David in the Psalms also speaks of the reality of immortal life with God. In Psalm 73:23-24 we pray through the words of David: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."
Through
Christ's resurrection we, too, can rise again to eternal life with God
The Holy Spirit reveals to us the eternal truths of God's unending love and the life he desires to share with us for all eternity. Paul the Apostle, quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17) states: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The promise of paradise - heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God - is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you believe the Scriptures and do you know the power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and who gives us the assurance of everlasting life as well?
The Holy Spirit reveals to us the eternal truths of God's unending love and the life he desires to share with us for all eternity. Paul the Apostle, quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17) states: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The promise of paradise - heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God - is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you believe the Scriptures and do you know the power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and who gives us the assurance of everlasting life as well?
"May
the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to
look not at what is seen but at what is not seen. May he open the eyes that are
concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the
heart’s vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord,
Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending
succession of ages." (Prayer of Origen, 185-254 AD)
Daily
Quote from the early church fathers: No marriage in the resurrection, by
Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"What
did the Lord say to the Sadducees? He said, 'You are mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures or the power of God. For in the resurrection they marry neither
husbands nor wives; for neither do they start dying again, but they will be
equal to the angels of God' (Mark 12:24-25; Matthew 22:29-30). The
power of God is great. Why do they not marry husbands or wives? They will not
start dying again. When one generation departs, another is required to succeed
it. There will not be such liability to decay in that place. The Lord passed
through the usual stages of growth, from infancy to adult manhood, because he
was bearing the substance of flesh that still was mortal. After he had risen
again at the age at which he was buried, are we to imagine that he is growing
old in heaven? He says, 'They will be equal to the angels of God.' He
eliminated the assumption of the Jews and refuted the objection of the
Sadducees, because the Jews did indeed believe the dead would rise again, but
they had crude, fleshly ideas about the state of humanity after resurrection.
He said, 'They will be equal to the angels of God.' ... It has already been
stated that we are to rise again. We have heard from the Lord that we rise
again to the life of the angels. In his own resurrection, he has shown us in
what specific form we are to rise again." (excerpt from SERMON
362.18–19.30)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, MARK 12:18-27
Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
(2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12; Psalm 90)
Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
(2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12; Psalm 90)
KEY VERSE: "He is not God of the dead but of the living" (v 27).
TO KNOW: The Sadducees were a conservative group within Judaism. Unlike the Pharisees, they did not believe in oral tradition, but alleged that all revelation ended with Moses. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and they challenged Jesus' teaching. They presented him with an absurd situation in which a woman had been married to seven different men who all died. The Sadducees asked whose wife the woman would be in the "supposed" resurrection. Jesus told them that they misunderstood the risen life as merely a continuation of the present life. In heaven we are not given to one person in marriage, but to all. This becomes plain in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus reminded the Saducees that the God of their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was the God of all who are eternally alive in him.
TO LOVE: Is there someone I need to console with the belief in the resurrection?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, thank you for allowing me to share eternity with you.
Memorial of
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs
There were perhaps 400 court pages in King Kabaka Mwanga's palace in Uganda, Africa. Charles Lwanga was the chief of the pages. He trained the others to be exemplary servants of the king but later pointed them towards Jesus Christ as their Savior. As strong followers of God they prayed constantly even under threats of death. Charles Lwanga was among those who became the martyrs of Uganda on June 3, 1886. Charles Lwanga's death was a slow one. He was tied on a low stake where he was burnt. He never feared the fire but warned his executioners that there was fire for them that would last forever. The rest of the pages were tied in bundles of threes and thrown into fire, where they kept singing and praising God until they perished. To honor these modern saints, Paul VI became the first reigning pope to visit sub-Sahara Africa in 1969, a visit which included a pilgrimage to the site of the martyrs. He also dedicated a site for a church in honor of the martyrs, at the spot where Charles Lwanga was killed in Namugongo.
Wednesday 3 June 2020
St Charles Lwanga & Cc
2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes – Psalm
122(123):1-2. Mark 12:18-27.
‘God did not give a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power
and love and self-control’
This is a timely reminder that our faith gives us strength to go
out and make a difference. The three spirits spoken about by Paul in his letter
to Timothy are all catalysts for change. Power can be something that people
impose on others. We talk about having power over someone and yet, combined
with the other two, love and self-control, it becomes the opposite. It becomes
a call to gentleness, listening and justice. Paul is calling us to be our best
selves – don’t be timid, believe that by restraint, love and a gentle use of
power, we can change our world for the better.
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions
Saint of the Day for June 3
(d. between November 15, 1885 – January 27, 1887)
 |
| Stained glass of Saint Charles Lwanga | photo by Rachel Strohm |
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions’ Story
One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth
and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He protected his fellow pages,
aged 13 to 30, from the homosexual demands of the Bagandan ruler, Mwanga, and
encouraged and instructed them in the Catholic faith during their imprisonment
for refusing the ruler’s demands.
Charles first learned of Christ’s teachings from two retainers
in the court of Chief Mawulugungu. While a catechumen, he entered the royal
household as assistant to Joseph Mukaso, head of the court pages.
On the night of Mukaso’s martyrdom for encouraging the African
youths to resist Mwanga, Charles requested and received baptism. Imprisoned
with his friends, Charles’s courage and belief in God inspired them to remain
chaste and faithful.
For his own unwillingness to submit to the immoral acts and his
efforts to safeguard the faith of his friends, Charles was burned to death at
Namugongo on June 3, 1886, by Mwanga’s order.
When Pope Paul VI canonized these 22 martyrs on October 18,
1964, he also made reference to the Anglican pages martyred for the same
reason.
Reflection
Like Charles Lwanga, we are all teachers and witnesses to
Christian living by the examples of our own lives. We are all called upon to
spread the word of God, whether by word or deed. By remaining courageous and
unshakable in our faith during times of great moral and physical temptation, we
live as Christ lived.
Lectio Divina: Mark 12:18-27
Lectio Divina
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
Your love never fails.
Hear our call.
Keep us from danger
and provide for all our needs.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Your love never fails.
Hear our call.
Keep us from danger
and provide for all our needs.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Mark 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus
and put this question to him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If
someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the
wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second
brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the
resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been
married to her." Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled because you
do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in
heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the
living. You are greatly misled."
3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel the confrontation between Jesus and the
authorities continues. After the priests, the elders and the scribes (Mk
12:1-12) and the Pharisees and the Herodians (Mk 12:13-17), now the Sadducees
appear who ask a question about resurrection. It is a controversial theme,
which caused argument and discussion among the Sadducees and the Pharisees (Mk
12:18-27; cf. Acts 23:6-1).
• In the Christian communities of the years seventy, the time when Mark wrote his Gospel, there were some Christians who, in order to not be persecuted, tried to reconcile the teaching of Jesus with the ideas of the Roman Emperor. The others who resisted the Empire were persecuted, accused and questioned by the authority due to neighbors who felt annoyed, bothered by their witness. The description of the conflicts of Jesus with the authority was a very great help for the Christians so as not to allow themselves to be manipulated by the ideology of the Empire. In reading these episodes of conflict of Jesus with the authorities, the persecuted Christians were encouraged to continue on this road.
• Mark 12:18-23. The Sadducees: The Sadducees were the aristocratic elite of land owners and traders. They were willing to borrow from Hellenism and believed in written, but not oral, law. They did not accept faith in the Resurrection. At that time, this faith was beginning to be challenged by the Pharisees and popular piety. It urged the resistance of the people against the dominion of the Romans, and of the priests, of the elders and of the Sadducees themselves. For the Sadducees, the Messianic Kingdom was already present in the situation of well-being in which they were living. They may have followed what we call today as the “Theology of Retribution,” which distorted reality. According to this theology, God rewards with richness and well-being those who observe the Law of God, and He punishes with suffering and poverty those who do evil. A variation of this today in some independent Christian communities is called “Prosperity Theology”. It is also related to the concept of Deuteronomist Theology, which refers to the agenda of the Deuteronomic authors. This explains why the Sadducees did not want change. They wanted religion to remain as it was, immutable like God Himself in the written law. This is why they did not accept faith in the Resurrection and in the help of angels, who sustained the struggle of those who sought changes and liberation.
• Mark 12:19-23. The question of the Sadducees: They go to Jesus to criticize and to ridicule faith in the Resurrection, to tell about the fictitious case of the woman who got married seven times and at the end she died without having any children. The so-called law of the levirate obliged the widow who had no children to marry the brother of the deceased husband. The son who would have been born from this new marriage would be considered the son of the deceased husband. Thus he would have a descendant. But in the case proposed by the Sadducees, the woman, in spite of having had seven husbands, remained without a son. They asked Jesus: “In the Resurrection, when they will rise, to whom will the woman belong? Because seven had her as wife!” This was in order to say that to believe in the resurrection was absurd.
• Mark 12:24-27: The response of Jesus. Jesus responds harshly: “Surely, the reason why you are wrong is that you understand neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Jesus explains that the condition of persons after death will be totally different from the present condition. After death there will be no marriage, but all will be as the angels in Heaven. The Sadducees imagined life in Heaven as life on earth. And at the end Jesus concludes: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living! You are in great error.” The disciples are warned: those who are on the side of these Sadducees will be on the side opposite to God.
• In the Christian communities of the years seventy, the time when Mark wrote his Gospel, there were some Christians who, in order to not be persecuted, tried to reconcile the teaching of Jesus with the ideas of the Roman Emperor. The others who resisted the Empire were persecuted, accused and questioned by the authority due to neighbors who felt annoyed, bothered by their witness. The description of the conflicts of Jesus with the authority was a very great help for the Christians so as not to allow themselves to be manipulated by the ideology of the Empire. In reading these episodes of conflict of Jesus with the authorities, the persecuted Christians were encouraged to continue on this road.
• Mark 12:18-23. The Sadducees: The Sadducees were the aristocratic elite of land owners and traders. They were willing to borrow from Hellenism and believed in written, but not oral, law. They did not accept faith in the Resurrection. At that time, this faith was beginning to be challenged by the Pharisees and popular piety. It urged the resistance of the people against the dominion of the Romans, and of the priests, of the elders and of the Sadducees themselves. For the Sadducees, the Messianic Kingdom was already present in the situation of well-being in which they were living. They may have followed what we call today as the “Theology of Retribution,” which distorted reality. According to this theology, God rewards with richness and well-being those who observe the Law of God, and He punishes with suffering and poverty those who do evil. A variation of this today in some independent Christian communities is called “Prosperity Theology”. It is also related to the concept of Deuteronomist Theology, which refers to the agenda of the Deuteronomic authors. This explains why the Sadducees did not want change. They wanted religion to remain as it was, immutable like God Himself in the written law. This is why they did not accept faith in the Resurrection and in the help of angels, who sustained the struggle of those who sought changes and liberation.
• Mark 12:19-23. The question of the Sadducees: They go to Jesus to criticize and to ridicule faith in the Resurrection, to tell about the fictitious case of the woman who got married seven times and at the end she died without having any children. The so-called law of the levirate obliged the widow who had no children to marry the brother of the deceased husband. The son who would have been born from this new marriage would be considered the son of the deceased husband. Thus he would have a descendant. But in the case proposed by the Sadducees, the woman, in spite of having had seven husbands, remained without a son. They asked Jesus: “In the Resurrection, when they will rise, to whom will the woman belong? Because seven had her as wife!” This was in order to say that to believe in the resurrection was absurd.
• Mark 12:24-27: The response of Jesus. Jesus responds harshly: “Surely, the reason why you are wrong is that you understand neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Jesus explains that the condition of persons after death will be totally different from the present condition. After death there will be no marriage, but all will be as the angels in Heaven. The Sadducees imagined life in Heaven as life on earth. And at the end Jesus concludes: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living! You are in great error.” The disciples are warned: those who are on the side of these Sadducees will be on the side opposite to God.
4) Personal questions
• What is the Church’s teaching of Heaven, and what is my own
view?
• We in the Church have written laws, doctrine, authoritative teaching (in writing, as in Encyclicals), and the writing of the saints. We also have oral stories, Catholic culture, devotions, and ‘popular’ personal interpretations. Do I know the difference between these and do I have a grasp on what is firm truth and what is personal opinion?
• Do I also believe in the resurrection? What does the following mean for me: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and in life everlasting?”
• Have you heard or met anyone who believes in the theology of retribution or prosperity theology?
• We in the Church have written laws, doctrine, authoritative teaching (in writing, as in Encyclicals), and the writing of the saints. We also have oral stories, Catholic culture, devotions, and ‘popular’ personal interpretations. Do I know the difference between these and do I have a grasp on what is firm truth and what is personal opinion?
• Do I also believe in the resurrection? What does the following mean for me: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and in life everlasting?”
• Have you heard or met anyone who believes in the theology of retribution or prosperity theology?
5) Concluding Prayer
Lord, I lift up my eyes to You who are enthroned in heaven.
Just as the eyes of slaves are on their masters' hand,
or the eyes of a slave-girl on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on Yahweh our God,
for Him to take pity on us. (Ps 123:1-2)
Just as the eyes of slaves are on their masters' hand,
or the eyes of a slave-girl on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on Yahweh our God,
for Him to take pity on us. (Ps 123:1-2)
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