Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 156
Lectionary: 156
It happened that seven brothers with
their mother were arrested
and tortured with whips and scourges by the king,
to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.
One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said:
"What do you expect to achieve by questioning us?
We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."
At the point of death he said:
"You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life,
but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.
It is for his laws that we are dying."
After him the third suffered their cruel sport.
He put out his tongue at once when told to do so,
and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words:
"It was from Heaven that I received these;
for the sake of his laws I disdain them;
from him I hope to receive them again."
Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage,
because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
After he had died,
they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.
When he was near death, he said,
"It is my choice to die at the hands of men
with the hope God gives of being raised up by him;
but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."
and tortured with whips and scourges by the king,
to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.
One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said:
"What do you expect to achieve by questioning us?
We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."
At the point of death he said:
"You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life,
but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.
It is for his laws that we are dying."
After him the third suffered their cruel sport.
He put out his tongue at once when told to do so,
and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words:
"It was from Heaven that I received these;
for the sake of his laws I disdain them;
from him I hope to receive them again."
Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage,
because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
After he had died,
they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.
When he was near death, he said,
"It is my choice to die at the hands of men
with the hope God gives of being raised up by him;
but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."
Responsorial PsalmPS 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
R. (15b) Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Keep me as the apple of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking I shall be content in your presence.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Keep me as the apple of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking I shall be content in your presence.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Reading 22 THES 2:16-3:5
Brothers and sisters:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement
and good hope through his grace,
encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed
and word.
Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us,
so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified,
as it did among you,
and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people,
for not all have faith.
But the Lord is faithful;
he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you,
you are doing and will continue to do.
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God
and to the endurance of Christ.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement
and good hope through his grace,
encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed
and word.
Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us,
so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified,
as it did among you,
and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people,
for not all have faith.
But the Lord is faithful;
he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you,
you are doing and will continue to do.
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God
and to the endurance of Christ.
GospelLK 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who deny that
there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, 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 but died childless.
Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them,
"The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out 'Lord, '
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive."
came forward and put this question to Jesus, 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 but died childless.
Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them,
"The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out 'Lord, '
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive."
Some Sadducees, those who deny that
there is a resurrection,
came forward.
Jesus said to them,
"The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out 'Lord, '
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive."
came forward.
Jesus said to them,
"The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out 'Lord, '
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive."
Scripture Study
November 10, 2013
Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
The
readings this Sunday invite us to consider the true meaning of the resurrection
in our lives. The first reading points out that true faith in the resurrection
breaks the hold of fear over us. Faith is always inconsistent with fear. The
second reading provides encouragement to carry on with confidence in the Lord's
faithfulness. In the Gospel reading, Jesus assures us of the reality of the
life to come. God Himself is the source of real life. What role will faith in
the resurrection play in my life? How is my daily life a preparation for the
return of Jesus?
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14
1 It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law. 2 One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: "What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."
9 At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying." 10 After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, 11 as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again." 12 Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing. 13 After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. 14 When he was near death, he said, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."
NOTES on First Reading:
2 Maccabees is actually a theological interpretation of the history of the period. The interest of the book is mostly in God's marvelous interventions. These direct the course of events, both to punish the sacrilegious and blasphemous pagans, and to purify God's holy temple and restore it to his faithful people. Among the means that the author sometimes used to affect his purpose is the placing of long, edifying discourses and prayers in the mouths of his heroes and transferring events out of their proper historical order. He is the earliest known composer of stories that glorify God's holy martyrs (2Ma 6:18-7:42; 14:37-46).
* 7:1 The king referred to is Antiochus.
* 7:2 The words of the seven martyred brothers progress through a theology of martyrdom: The just would rather die than sin (7:2) and God will vindicate them (7:6; Deut 32,36). God will raise them up (7:9). They will rise with fully restored bodies (7:11). For the wicked there will be no resurrection to life (7:14). They instead will be punished by God (7:17). The just suffer because of their sins as will the wicked (7:18-19). The death of the saints has an imploratory or purificatory or even expiatory value before God (7:37-38).
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-3:5
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.
1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 4 We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you (both) are doing and will continue to do. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 2:16 "Good hope" was a term used in the mystery religions of the time for bliss after death. Here the author gives the phrase a different dimension by joining it with "everlasting consolation" and "in His grace." This Christian context refocuses the "good hope" on the return of Christ Jesus our true Hope.
* 3:1-5 This is a rather conventional set of exhortations to prayer that focus on the success of the apostolic work which is really the Lord's work rather than that of the author just as the Lord is working in the lives of the readers of the letter.
Gospel Reading: Luke 20: 27-38
27 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, 28 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.' 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." 34 Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; 35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. 37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; 38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
NOTES on Gospel:
Here in a controversy in the Temple Jesus, the Teacher, shows His authority in interpreting the Mosaic law and also demonstrates His faith and confidence in the life-giving power of God.
* 20:27 The Sadducees were the priestly aristocratic party, centered in Jerusalem. They accepted as scripture only the first five books of the Old Testament, followed only the letter of the law, rejected the oral legal traditions, and were opposed to teachings not found in the Pentateuch, such as the resurrection of the dead.
* 20:28-33 The Sadducees base their argument on the levirate marriage law of Deut 25:5-10.
* 20:34-36 Jesus rejects the basic premise of their argument which is that the life to come will be simply a continuation of this life requiring procreation, etc. Jesus holds that life after the resurrection will be fundamentally different. Life will result from God Himself rather than human bodily functions.
* 20:37-38 Jesus strengthens His argument from other places in the Torah (Ex 3:2,5) maintaining that God is the God of the living not the dead.
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14
1 It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law. 2 One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: "What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."
9 At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying." 10 After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, 11 as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again." 12 Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing. 13 After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. 14 When he was near death, he said, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."
NOTES on First Reading:
2 Maccabees is actually a theological interpretation of the history of the period. The interest of the book is mostly in God's marvelous interventions. These direct the course of events, both to punish the sacrilegious and blasphemous pagans, and to purify God's holy temple and restore it to his faithful people. Among the means that the author sometimes used to affect his purpose is the placing of long, edifying discourses and prayers in the mouths of his heroes and transferring events out of their proper historical order. He is the earliest known composer of stories that glorify God's holy martyrs (2Ma 6:18-7:42; 14:37-46).
* 7:1 The king referred to is Antiochus.
* 7:2 The words of the seven martyred brothers progress through a theology of martyrdom: The just would rather die than sin (7:2) and God will vindicate them (7:6; Deut 32,36). God will raise them up (7:9). They will rise with fully restored bodies (7:11). For the wicked there will be no resurrection to life (7:14). They instead will be punished by God (7:17). The just suffer because of their sins as will the wicked (7:18-19). The death of the saints has an imploratory or purificatory or even expiatory value before God (7:37-38).
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-3:5
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.
1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 4 We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you (both) are doing and will continue to do. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 2:16 "Good hope" was a term used in the mystery religions of the time for bliss after death. Here the author gives the phrase a different dimension by joining it with "everlasting consolation" and "in His grace." This Christian context refocuses the "good hope" on the return of Christ Jesus our true Hope.
* 3:1-5 This is a rather conventional set of exhortations to prayer that focus on the success of the apostolic work which is really the Lord's work rather than that of the author just as the Lord is working in the lives of the readers of the letter.
Gospel Reading: Luke 20: 27-38
27 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, 28 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.' 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." 34 Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; 35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. 37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; 38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
NOTES on Gospel:
Here in a controversy in the Temple Jesus, the Teacher, shows His authority in interpreting the Mosaic law and also demonstrates His faith and confidence in the life-giving power of God.
* 20:27 The Sadducees were the priestly aristocratic party, centered in Jerusalem. They accepted as scripture only the first five books of the Old Testament, followed only the letter of the law, rejected the oral legal traditions, and were opposed to teachings not found in the Pentateuch, such as the resurrection of the dead.
* 20:28-33 The Sadducees base their argument on the levirate marriage law of Deut 25:5-10.
* 20:34-36 Jesus rejects the basic premise of their argument which is that the life to come will be simply a continuation of this life requiring procreation, etc. Jesus holds that life after the resurrection will be fundamentally different. Life will result from God Himself rather than human bodily functions.
* 20:37-38 Jesus strengthens His argument from other places in the Torah (Ex 3:2,5) maintaining that God is the God of the living not the dead.
Meditation: "He is God of the
living - all live to him"
Is your life earthbound or heavenbound? The Sadducees had one big
problem – 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. The Sadducees
came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous.
The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality, nor in
angels or evil spirits. Their religion was literally grounded in an earthly
image of heaven. Jesus retorts by dealing with the fact of the resurrection.
The scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, when God manifests his presence
to Moses in the burning bush, the Lord tells him that he is the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He shows that the patriarchs who died
hundreds of years previously were still alive in God. Jesus defeats their
arguments by showing that God is a living God of a living people. God was the
friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived. That friendship could not
cease with death. As Psalm 73:23-24 states: "I am continually with
you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you
will receive me to glory." The ultimate proof of the resurrection
is the Lord Jesus and his victory over death when he rose from the tomb. Before
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he exclaimed: "I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he
live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you
believe this?" (John 11:25). Jesus asks us the same question. Do
you believe in the resurrection and in the promise of 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 live now in the joy and hope
of the life of the age to come?
"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)
|
The God of the
Living Makes Us Truly Alive
|
|
Thirty-Second Sunday
in Ordinary Time
|
|
Father Alex Yeung,
LC
Luke 20: 27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no
resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses
wrote for us that if a man´s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children,
the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now
there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the
second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died
childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose
wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." Jesus said to
them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but
those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the
resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed
they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of
God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are
raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of
the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now
he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are
alive." Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have
spoken well."
Introductory Prayer: I love you my Lord, because you are love
itself. I am sorry for whatever is in me that does not come from your love
and does not reflect your love. If I am to become what you want me to be, it
will happen only if I allow you to act in me.
Petition: Lord Jesus Christ, help me to be a true
child of the resurrection.
1. Our Shallows, His Depth: The encounter in this Gospel passage is
somewhat embarrassing to read. It reminds us of so many similar occurrences
in which we see shallowness trying to sound deep, but achieving little more
than bothersome clatter. We’ve all heard rock stars who take themselves for
prophets, or media people who handle issues of the Church, natural law, and
other sublime truths without really knowing what they’re talking about. They
just can’t see things outside of their pre-conceived notions. Their words
grate on our ears and make us cringe. Something similar happens here. The
Sadducees confront our Lord on their own terms and with their own agenda,
armed with what they believe to be clever wit. Precisely such shallowness is
the occasion to reveal God’s depths.
2. Christ More Than Satisfies: Our embarrassment for the Sadducees turns to
admiration for Christ. Christ knew full well what was in the hearts of those
men, and he patiently explained to them where their thinking failed. The
man’s specious reasoning was given an answer that went far beyond the realm
of theory. As the Sadducees’ superficiality is revealed, we get a glimpse of
God’s mercy. These men were humbled, not humiliated. They were not rejected
for being wrong; but were invited to go deeper in the truth. When we allow
the Word of God to penetrate our hearts, it opens entirely new vistas and takes
us out of the comfortable, predictable world of our own pre-conceived
notions. However, for this to happen we need to be open to it. Once the Word
of God finds a crevice, it will work its way in and bring new light into our
previously darkened hearts.
3. We Are Children of the Resurrection: St. Paul says that whereas Christ is risen,
he “has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). This is what the Sadducees had to learn and
what we must still learn: to know our true place as “children of the
resurrection” who are also members of Christ and inheritors of the Kingdom of
Heaven. We are raised again and again, yet frequently we are unaware of it.
God’s word might enter our ears, but it may take a lifetime for its truth
finally to sink into our hearts and penetrate every aspect of our lives. We
are like people waking from sleep, unable to collect their thoughts quickly.
Little by little the truth breaks in upon us and reality comes into focus.
Christ’s truth surprises, reveals and invites.
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus Christ, suddenly I see that I am
more like the Sadducees than I had previously thought. Help me to have an
open heart, alert to your will and a readiness to adapt to it. Forgive me my
rationalism and small-mindedness. I trust in you.
Resolution: I will strive to see others as children of
the resurrection.
|
THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY,
NOVEMBER 10, LUKE 20:27-38
(2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; Psalm 17; 2 Thessalonians 2:16―3:5)
(2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; Psalm 17; 2 Thessalonians 2:16―3:5)
KEY VERSE: "He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive" (v 38).
READING: The Sadducees were the priestly aristocracy within Judaism. They influenced the operation of the Temple and the Jewish legislative body, the Sanhedrin. Although they joined with the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus, they differed in their beliefs. The Sadducees only accepted the Torah, the written law, and rejected the Pharisaic oral tradition such as the resurrection of the dead. A group of Sadducees tried to entrap Jesus by asking a question about the levirate marriage mandated by the Torah law (Dt 25:5-10) in which the brother of a deceased man was obligated to marry his brother's widow. While the Sadducees meant to ridicule the belief in the resurrection, Jesus silenced his adversaries by revealing their ignorance of the scriptures. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their ancestors in faith, were all eternally alive in God.
REFLECTING: Can I explain my belief in the resurrection to those who question it?
PRAYING: Lord Jesus, help me to live in such a way that is deserving of eternal life.
Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
‘They are the same as the angels.’Jesus responds to the Sadducees, who did not believe in any afterlife. They pose a trick question about a woman who had seven husbands. ‘Whose wife’, they ask, ‘will she be in the next life?’ Jesus refutes them and they dare not ask him any more questions. The question of life after death is surely critical to all of us. For believers, it is when we finally enter the kingdom. For the historian Manning Clark it was the ultimate question upon which our approach to life depended. For the French philosopher-novelist, Albert Camus, life was quite pointless if there was no life after death. For believers, there is no certain answer. We put our faith in God’s mercy and love and persevere with hope and prayer.
November 10
St. Leo the Great
(d. 461)
St. Leo the Great
(d. 461)
With apparent strong conviction of the importance of the Bishop of
Rome in the Church, and of the Church as the ongoing sign of Christ’s presence
in the world, Leo the Great displayed endless dedication as pope. Elected in
440, he worked tirelessly as "Peter’s successor," guiding his fellow
bishops as "equals in the episcopacy and infirmities."
Leo is
known as one of the best administrative popes of the ancient Church. His work
branched into four main areas, indicative of his notion of the pope’s total
responsibility for the flock of Christ. He worked at length to control the
heresies of Pelagianism (overemphasizing human freedom), Manichaeism (seeing
everything material as evil) and others, placing demands on their followers so
as to secure true Christian beliefs. A second major area of his concern was
doctrinal controversy in the Church in the East, to which he responded with a
classic letter setting down the Church’s teaching on the two natures of Christ.
With strong faith, he also led the defense of Rome against barbarian attack,
taking the role of peacemaker.
In these
three areas, Leo’s work has been highly regarded. His growth to sainthood has
its basis in the spiritual depth with which he approached the pastoral care of
his people, which was the fourth focus of his work. He is known for his
spiritually profound sermons. An instrument of the call to holiness,
well-versed in Scripture and ecclesiastical awareness, Leo had the ability to
reach the everyday needs and interests of his people. One of his sermons is
used in the Office of Readings on Christmas.
It is
said of Leo that his true significance rests in his doctrinal insistence on the
mysteries of Christ and the Church and in the supernatural charisms of the
spiritual life given to humanity in Christ and in his Body, the Church. Thus
Leo held firmly that everything he did and said as pope for the administration
of the Church represented Christ, the head of the Mystical Body, and St. Peter,
in whose place Leo acted.
Stories:
It is said of Leo that
his true significance rests in his doctrinal insistence on the mysteries of
Christ and the church and in the supernatural charisms of the spiritual life
given to humanity in Christ and in his body, the church. Thus Leo held firmly
that everything he did and said as pope for the administration of the church
represented Christ, the head of the Mystical Body, and Saint Peter, in whose
place Leo acted.
Comment:
At a time when there is widespread criticism of Church structures, we also hear criticism that bishops and priests—indeed, all of us—are too preoccupied with administration of temporal matters. Pope Leo is an example of a great administrator who used his talents in areas where spirit and structure are inseparably combined: doctrine, peace and pastoral care. He avoided an "angelism" that tries to live without the body, as well as the "practicality" that deals only in externals.
At a time when there is widespread criticism of Church structures, we also hear criticism that bishops and priests—indeed, all of us—are too preoccupied with administration of temporal matters. Pope Leo is an example of a great administrator who used his talents in areas where spirit and structure are inseparably combined: doctrine, peace and pastoral care. He avoided an "angelism" that tries to live without the body, as well as the "practicality" that deals only in externals.
LECTIO: 32ND
SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (C)
Lectio:
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Jesus answers to the Sadducees
who ridicule faith in the Resurrection
Luke 20, 27-40
who ridicule faith in the Resurrection
Luke 20, 27-40
Initial prayer
Oh infinite Mystery of Life,
We are nothing,
And still we can praise you
With the voice itself of your Word
Who became the voice of our whole humanity.
Oh, my Trinity, I am nothing in You,
But You are all in me
And then my nothingness is Life… it is eternal life.
Oh infinite Mystery of Life,
We are nothing,
And still we can praise you
With the voice itself of your Word
Who became the voice of our whole humanity.
Oh, my Trinity, I am nothing in You,
But You are all in me
And then my nothingness is Life… it is eternal life.
Maria Evangelista of the Holy Trinity, O.Carm.
1. Lectio
27 Some Sadducees - those who argue that there
is no resurrection - approached him and they put this question to him, 28
'Master, Moses prescribed for us, if a man's married brother dies childless,
the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. 29 Well
then, there were seven brothers; the first, having married a wife, died
childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married the widow. And the same
with all seven, they died leaving no children. 32 Finally the woman herself
died. 33 Now, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since she had been
married to all seven?' 34 Jesus replied, 'The children of this world take wives
and husbands, 35 but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world
and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry 36 because they can no
longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the
resurrection they are children of God. 37 And Moses himself implies that the
dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God, not of the
dead, but of the living; for to him everyone is alive.' 39 Some scribes then
spoke up. They said, 'Well put, Master.' 40 They did not dare to ask him any more
questions.
2. Meditatio
a) Key for the Reading:
• Context
We can say that the passage proposed to us for
our reflection forms a central part of the text which goes from Luke 20:20 to
22:4 which deals with the discussions with the chief priests of the people.
Already in the beginning of chapter 20, Luke presents us with some conflicts
which arose between Jesus, the priests and the scribes (vv. 1-19). Here Jesus
finds himself before some conflict with the Philosophical School of the
Sadducees, who have taken their name from Zadok, the priest of David (2 Sam 8,
17). They accepted as revelation only the writings of Moses (v. 28) denying the
gradual development of Biblical revelation. In this sense one can understand
better the expression: “Moses prescribed for us” repeated by the Sadducees in
this malicious debate which they use as a trap to get Jesus and “to catch him
in a fault” (see: 20, 2; 20, 20). This Philosophical School disappeared with
the destruction of the Temple.
• The Law of the levirate
The Sadducees precisely deny the resurrection
from the dead because, according to them, this object of faith did not form
part of the revelation handed down to them from Moses. The same thing can be
said concerning the faith in the existence of the angels. In Israel, faith in
the resurrection of the dead appears in the book of Daniel written in the year
605 – 530 B.C. (Dan 12, 2-3). We also find it in 2 M 7: 9, 11, 14, 23. In order
to ridicule the faith in the resurrection of the dead, the Sadducees quote the
legal prescription of Moses on the levirate (Dt 25, 5), that is concerning the
ancient use of the Semitic peoples (including the Hebrews), according to which,
the brother or a close relative of a married man who died without sons, had to
marry the widow, in order: a) to assure to the deceased descendants (the sons
would have been legally considered sons of the deceased man), and b) a husband
to the woman, because women depended on the man for their livelihood. Cases of
this type are recalled in the Old Testament in the Book of Genesis and in that
of Ruth.
In the Book of Genesis (38: 6-26) it is said
how “Judah took a wife, whose name was Tamar, for his first born son Er. But,
Er, the first born of Judah, offended the Lord and the Lord killed him. Then
Judah tells Onan: Take your brother’s wife, and do your duty as her brother-in-law
to maintain your brother’s line” (Gen, 38: 6-8). But Onan also was punished by
God and he died (Gen 38, 10), because Onan knowing that the line would not
count as his, spilt his seed on the ground every time he slept with his
brother’s wife, to avoid providing offspring for his brother” (Gen 38, 9. Judah
seeing this sent Tamar to her father’s house, so as not to give her his third
son, Shelah as husband (Gen 38, 10-11). Tamar then, disguising herself as a
prostitute or a harlot, slept with Judah himself and conceived twins. Judah on
discovering the truth, gave reason to Tamar recognizing “She was right and I
was wrong” (Gen 38, 26).
In the book of Ruth the same story is told
about Ruth herself, Ruth the Moabite, who remained a widow after having married
one of the sons of Elimelech. Together with her mother-in-law Naomi, was
obliged to beg for survival and to gather in the fields the ears of corn which
fell from the sheaves behind the reapers, up to the time when she married Boaz,
a relative of her deceased husband.
The case proposed to Jesus by the Sadducees
reminds us the story of Tobias the son of Tobit who married Sarah the daughter
of Raguel, the widow of seven husbands, all killed by Asmodeus, the demon of
lust, at the moment that they slept together. Tobias has the right to marry her
because she belonged to his tribe. (Tobit 7, 9).
Jesus makes the Sadducees notice that the
purpose of marriage is procreation, and therefore it is necessary for the
future of the human species, since none of the “sons of this world” (v. 34) is
eternal. But “those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world” (v.
35) neither take husband nor wife in so far as they can no longer die” (v.
35-36), they live in God: “they are the same as the angels and, being children
of the resurrection, are sons of God” (v. 36). Both in the Old and in the New
Testament, the angels are called sons of God (see for example, Gen 6: 2; Ps 29,
1; Lk 10, 6; 16, 8). These words of Jesus remind us also of St. Paul’s letter
to the Romans, where it is written that Jesus is the Son because of His
Resurrection, He is the First risen from the dead and, par excellence, is Son
of the Resurrection (Rm 1, 4). Here we can also quote the texts of St. Paul on
the Resurrection of the dead as an event of salvation of a spiritual nature (1
Co 15, 35-50).
• I am: The God of the Living
Jesus goes on to confirm the reality of the
resurrection by quoting another passage taken from Exodus, this time from the
account of the revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush. The Sadducees
make evident their point of view by quoting Moses: Jesus, at the same time,
refutes their argument by quoting Moses also: “That the dead resurrect has also
been indicated by Moses about the bush, when he calls the Lord: the God of Abraham,
God of Isaac and God of Jacob” (v. 37). In Exodus we find that the Lord reveals
himself to Moses with these words: “I am the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3, 6). The Lord then
continues to reveal to Moses the divine Name: “I am” (Ex 3, 14). The Hebrew
word ehjej, from the root Hei-Yod-Hei, used for the divine name in
Exodus 3, 14, means I am he who is; I am the existing One. The root
may also mean life, existence. And this is why Jesus can conclude: “God is
not the God of the dead, but of the living” (v. 38). In the same verse Jesus
specifies that “all live for Him [God]”. This can also mean “all live in Him”.
Reflecting on Jesus’ death, in the letter to the Romans, Paul writes: “For by
dying, he is dead to sin once and for all, and now the life that he lives
is life with God. In the same way, you must see yourselves as being
dead to sin but alive for God in Jesus Christ” (Rm 6, 10).
We can say that Jesus, once more, makes the
Sadducees see that God’s fidelity, whether for His People, or for the
individual, is not based either on the existence or not of a political kingdom
(in the case of God’s fidelity to his People), neither on having or not
prosperity and descendants in this life. The hope of the true believer does not
resides in the things of this world, but in the Living God. This is why the
disciples of Jesus are called to live as children of the resurrection, that is,
sons of life in God, as their Master and Lord, “having been regenerated not
from any perishable seed but from imperishable seed, that is, of the living and
enduring Word of God” (1 P 1,23).
b) Questions to help in the reflection
* What has struck you most in this
Gospel? Some word? Which particular attitude?
* Try to reread the Gospel text in the context of the other Biblical texts quoted in the key to the reading. You also find others.
* How do you interpret the conflict which arose between the chief priests of the People an d the Sadducees with Jesus?
* Stop and think on how Jesus confronted the conflict . What do you learn from his behaviour?
* Which do you think is the central point in the discussion?
* What does the resurrection from the dead mean for you?
* Do you feel as a son or daughter of the resurrection?
* What does it mean for you to live the resurrection beginning now at the present moment?
* Try to reread the Gospel text in the context of the other Biblical texts quoted in the key to the reading. You also find others.
* How do you interpret the conflict which arose between the chief priests of the People an d the Sadducees with Jesus?
* Stop and think on how Jesus confronted the conflict . What do you learn from his behaviour?
* Which do you think is the central point in the discussion?
* What does the resurrection from the dead mean for you?
* Do you feel as a son or daughter of the resurrection?
* What does it mean for you to live the resurrection beginning now at the present moment?
3. Oratio
From Psalm 17
We will be filled, Lord, by contemplating your
Face
Listen, Yahweh, to an upright cause,
pay attention to my cry,
lend an ear to my prayer,
my lips free from deceit.
pay attention to my cry,
lend an ear to my prayer,
my lips free from deceit.
My steps never stray from the paths you lay
down,
from your tracks; so my feet never stumble.
I call upon you, God, for you answer me;
turn your ear to me, hear what I say.
from your tracks; so my feet never stumble.
I call upon you, God, for you answer me;
turn your ear to me, hear what I say.
Shelter me in the shadow of your wings
But I in my uprightness will see your face,
and when I awake I shall be filled with the vision of you.
But I in my uprightness will see your face,
and when I awake I shall be filled with the vision of you.
4. Contemplatio
From the mystical diary of
Sister Maria Evangelista of the Most Holy Trinity, O.Carm.
Sister Maria Evangelista of the Most Holy Trinity, O.Carm.
This earthly life is also filled with love,
with gifts of “truth”, hidden gifts and at the same time, revealed by the sign…
I feel an immense gratitude for every human value. To live in communion with
creation, in friendship with the brothers, in openness toward the work of God
and the work of man, in a continuous experience of the gifts of life, even if
in the midst of suffering, even is simply only human, it is a continuous grace,
a continuous gift.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét