Reading I: 2 Maccabees
7:1-2, 9-14
Psalm: 17
Reading II: 2 Thessalonians
2:16-3:5
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
In today’s Gospel, we find the Sadducees challenging Jesus. The Sadducees were Jews who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Therefore, in an effort to discredit Jesus’ teachings, they posed a question to Him.
The Sadducees presented a situation about a widow whose husband had died leaving her childless. They then referred to Moses’ instruction that if a man were left without an heir, one of his brothers was to marry his wife and raise up descendants for his deceased brother.
In the widower’s family there were seven brothers. Each time one of the brothers married this woman they would die leaving the widow childless. The big question that they asked of Jesus was “At the Resurrection, whose wife will that woman be? ...for all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus responded, “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.” (Luke 20:37-38)
As fall begins, we see the leaves on many trees dying. In fact, the bare trees give the impression of being dead. However, in the spring we see new life as flowers and leaves bud forth. It is during the spring that we celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus and His promise that we too will be raised up to new life.
I recall that when I taught sixth-graders and talked about heaven, some thought heaven would be boring. Perhaps, they thought that they would be singing “Glory to God in the Highest” all the time like the angels at Christmas time.
I did a questioning exercise with them to dispel their assumptions. First, I asked them what would make a baby happy. Some answers were a rattle or playing Peek-a-Boo. Then I asked what would make a five-year-old happy? Some responses were a doll or a truck. Then I moved up to a twelve-year-old. A bicycle and a basketball were mentioned. (When I was a young teacher, video games, etc. had not yet been invented.) The children got the point that at different times in our lives, the things that make us happy change.
Finally, I explained that when we die there will be new things that will make us happy. Scripture says: “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 9)
Often times, I have noted that some people have very difficult lives here on earth. It gives me consolation to know that they have the afterlife with the Lord to anticipate.
In the first reading, we hear of the seven brothers and their mother who were tortured in order to force them to eat pork, which was against the law of God at that time. At the point of death, one brother 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.”
Spanish Translation of Reflection Above...
Dios de la vida
En el Evangelio de hoy, encontramos a los saduceos desafiando a Jesús. Los saduceos eran judíos que no creían en la resurrección de los muertos. Por lo tanto, en un esfuerzo por desacreditar las enseñanzas de Jesús, le hicieron una pregunta.
Los saduceos presentaron una situación sobre una viuda cuyo esposo había muerto dejándola sin hijos. Luego se refirieron a las instrucciones de Moisés de que si un hombre se quedaba sin heredero, uno de sus hermanos debía casarse con su esposa y criar descendientes para su hermano fallecido.
En la familia del viudo había siete hermanos. Cada vez que uno de los hermanos se casaba con esta mujer, moría dejando a la viuda sin hijos. La gran pregunta que le hicieron a Jesús fue “En la resurrección, ¿de quién será esa mujer esa esposa? ... porque los siete se habían casado con ella”.
Jesús respondió: Los hijos de esta edad se casan y se vuelven a casar: pero los que se consideran dignos de alcanzar para la edad venidera y para la resurrección de los muertos no se casan ni se dan en matrimonio. Ya no pueden morir, porque son como ángeles; y ellos son los hijos de Dios porque ellos son los que resucitarán. Que los muertos resucitarán, incluso Moisés dio a conocer en el pasaje sobre la zarza, cuando llamó al ‘Señor’, el Dios de Abraham, el Dios de Isaac y el Dios de Jacob; y no es Dios de los muertos, sino de los vivos, porque para él todos están vivos”. (Lucas 20:37-38)
Cuando comienza el otoño, vemos morir las hojas de muchos árboles. De hecho, los árboles desnudos dan la impresión de estar muertos. Sin embargo, en la primavera vemos una nueva vida a medida que brotan las flores y las hojas. Es durante la primavera que celebramos la Pascua, la resurrección de Jesús y su promesa de que nosotros también seremos resucitados a una nueva vida.
Recuerdo que cuando enseñé a alumnos de sexto grado y hablé sobre el cielo, algunos pensaron que el cielo sería aburrido. Tal vez, pensaron que estarían cantando “Gloria a Dios en las alturas” todo el tiempo como los ángeles en Navidad.
Hice un ejercicio de preguntas con ellos para disipar sus suposiciones. Primero, les pregunté qué haría feliz a un bebé. Algunas respuestas fueron un sonajero o jugar Peek-a-Boo. Luego pregunté qué haría feliz a un niño de cinco años. Algunas respuestas fueron una muñeca o un camión. Luego me mudé a un niño de doce años. Se mencionaron una bicicleta y una pelota de baloncesto. (Cuando era un joven maestro, los videojuegos, etc., aún no se habían inventado). Los niños entendieron que en diferentes momentos de nuestras vidas, las cosas que nos hacen felices cambian.
Finalmente, le expliqué que cuando muramos habrá cosas nuevas que nos harán felices. La escritura dice: “Lo que nadie vio ni escuchó, lo que nadie pensó que podría suceder, es lo que Dios preparó para aquellos que lo aman”. (1 Corintios 9)
Muchas veces, he notado que algunas personas tienen vidas muy difíciles aquí en la tierra. Me consuela saber que tienen una vida futura con el Señor para anticipar.
En la primera lectura, escuchamos de los siete hermanos y su madre que fueron torturados para obligarlos a comer carne de cerdo, lo que estaba en contra de la ley de Dios en ese momento. En el momento de la muerte, un hermano dijo: “Maldito demonio, nos estás privando de esta vida presente, pero el Rey del mundo nos resucitará para vivir de nuevo para siempre”.
Comments:
Stephanie Morris, Ph. D, Historian, Certified Archivist, emerita
As a child, did you ever tell your mother: “The teacher wasn’t fair – she punished the entire class for something one kid did”? And did your mother then say: “The world isn’t fair”? Pilate found Jesus “innocent,” yet Jesus was scourged, crowned with thorns and cruelly crucified. That hardly seemed “fair.” But we, with the eyes of faith, see that Jesus’ sacrifice was necessary open the gates of heaven to all. Mother Katharine noted that “Heaven is our home, we were made for it.” Whatever happens to us here on earth is insignificant; what matters is how we use every minute of our earthly life to prepare us for our return home, to heaven.
Pat Chiaffa, ASBS
Annually, the season of Autumn invites me to explore the
myriad of feelings that stir within me every time I witness the exquisite
colors of the leaves, and subsequently watch them fall from their life source
to the ground where they dry and wither. I’ve yet to delve deep enough to
reflect on the richness of the interior awareness resulting from observing the
breathtaking hues of red and orange leaves leading to the barrenness of the
tree on which they once thrived. I notice the change in light and the
increasing prevalence of darkness, which tends to dull my senses. At one level,
these changes address my vulnerability to the forces of nature as I progress
from being actively engaged in many areas of life, to slowing down physically,
and enter into the autumn years of the life cycle. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul
writes, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed
day by day.” There is a grace, a sacredness of sorts, which permeates the crisp
autumnal air.
The feasts of All Saints and All Souls remind me that there
is more to ponder. What are my thoughts about life after death…am I
anticipating eternal life? What does
that mean to me? How should my beliefs influence how I choose to live out my
autumn years?
For six decades, I have been affirming a belief in life
everlasting with every recitation of the Apostles Creed. The Bible has multiple
references to eternal life. My most cherished one is from John 3:16, “For God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The lives of the Saints all point to a belief
in life after death.
One perspective I am very at ease with is that of Father
Joseph Boyle who states, “I expect death to be a transition. I think it is a
movement into a space that is not limited by our body and our senses that are
quite limited now. I like the phrase in St. Paul, that we will ‘see God face to
face’ [1 Corinthians 13:12] and we’ll relate to people and the beauty of who
they are without the ego-agendas we have right now.
I see [life after death] as infinite love, as if the whole
atmosphere of heaven is filled with God…I think that we are going to see and
know each other in God…It strikes me as a homecoming, us returning home to
where we come from…and all of our brothers and sisters are coming home as
well…I certainly have a very deep hope that it is a transition into an
incredible related life.”
People who have had near death experiences report being in
the presence of a brilliant light, from which they felt tremendous warmth, peace and love surrounding them. Many
report seeing loved ones.
My faith,
prayers, Scripture studies, and the lives of the saints, provide enough support
for me to believe that God will deliver on his promise of eternal life.
Therefore, I live each day in anticipation of eternity. I once heard the suggestion that we should live
each day as if it were our last day of life. I think that’s good advice for
those of us with the goal of living in eternity.
