Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary
Time
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 123:1B-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.
AlleluiaJN 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."
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 6, MARK 12:18-27
Weekday
(2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12; Psalm 90)
Weekday
(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. Jesus reminded them that the God of their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was the God of all who are eternally alive.
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.
Optional Memorial of Saint
Norbert, bishop
Norbert of Xanten, a town near the Holland-German border, did not begin his career as a reformer. Quite the opposite, for he took holy orders as a career move, a practice that was eroding the credibility and effectiveness of the Church. A narrow escape from death led him to a conversion experience. After three years of self-scrutiny and prayer, he concluded that he should commit himself to Jesus and the ideals of the Gospel. A changed man, he returned to the parish community, determined to live as a principled priest and anxious to engage in active ministry. He founded the order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, France, also called the Norbertines, starting a reform movement that swept through European monastic houses. The Norbertines vowed to seek Christ by means of community living, poverty, obedience and celibacy. Norbert held before them the ideal of the first Christians after Pentecost whose community life was characterized by the power of the Spirit and a desire to be of service to others.
Wednesday 6 June
2018
2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12. Psalm 122(123):1-2. Mark 12:18-27.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes—Psalm
122(123):1-2.
God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of
power and love and self-control.
Paul writes lovingly to Timothy—‘dear child of mine’—as he would
to us. We need the encouragement that Paul gives.
We are blessed with our faith, and it is wonderful when we lose
our timidity and are ready to share our faith with others.
As our faith grows, we deepen our relationship with God. We may
become happy to share our faith when the opportunity comes.
If we each can fan this gift of faith into a flame, we will have
the Spirit of power and love and self-control that is God’s gift.
Saint Norbert
Saint of the Day for June 6
(c. 1080 – June 6, 1134)
Saint Norbert’s Story
In the 12th century in the French region of Premontre,
Saint Norbert founded a religious Order known as the Praemonstratensians or the
Norbertines. His founding of the Order was a monumental task: combating rampant
heresies—particularly regarding the Blessed Sacrament, revitalizing many of the
faithful who had grown indifferent and dissolute, plus effecting peace and
reconciliation among enemies.
Norbert entertained no pretensions about his own ability to
accomplish this multiple task. Even with the aid of a goodly number of men who
joined his Order, he realized that nothing could be effectively done without
God’s power. Finding this help especially in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament,
he and his Norbertines praised God for success in converting heretics,
reconciling numerous enemies, and rebuilding faith in indifferent believers.
Many of them lived in central houses during the week and served in parishes on
weekends.
Reluctantly, Norbert became archbishop of Magdeburg in central
Germany, a territory half pagan and half Christian. In this position he zealously
and courageously continued his work for the Church until his death on June 6,
1134.
Reflection
A different world cannot be built by indifferent people. The
same is true in regard to the Church. The indifference of vast numbers of
nominal faithful to ecclesiastical authority and essential doctrines of the
faith weakens the Church’s witness. Unswerving loyalty to the Church and
fervent devotion to the Eucharist, as practiced by Norbert, will continue
immeasurably toward maintaining the people of God in accord with the heart of
Christ.
LECTIO DIVINA: MARK 12:18-27
Lectio Divina:
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
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?”
• 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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