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 '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 of the scribes said in reply, "Teacher, you have answered well." And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
REFLECTION
"he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
There are times that we have to grapple with hard situations that occur in life. I remember November 22, 1963 as if it was yesterday. It was a day of "I can't believe it happened" when I performed poorly on a science exam. My spirits were down. Unfortunately, as we left the classroom we found out that our 35th president of the United States, John F Kennedy, had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
That day highlighted for me that earthly life is temporary and that our ultimate hope is in an eternal life with God, where all pain and suffering are ended.
That day we were introduced to evil, division, sadness, and a loss of innocence. The music truly died that day. Forgotten was my poor academic performance, something greater had taken place. The solemn requiem Mass, the horse drawn caisson with the President's body, the speeches underscored the significance of this historical event.
The nuns stressed the importance of prayers for President Kennedy's soul, his family and for the nation. Faced with death for the first time, my understanding of the resurrection was clearer than before. Taught by the Ursuline nuns to pray for souls, to believe in the promises in both the Old and New Testament of the resurrection, and to make reparation for sins, we gathered in the chapel. Jesus by His death and Resurrection liberated us from death, opening a new life in eternity. President Kennedy was Catholic and believed the same, we trusted he would benefit from our prayers.
Todays' Gospel reading draws us to the Sadducees who did not believe in the Resurrection. They tried to make the afterlife appear ridiculous by the many twisted complicated questions they asked. They believed or presupposed that life after death was just an extension of the earthly life. They were so far from the truth.
In this world everyone dies but in the after life, "they can no longer die". They live in a life that is eternal. We come to share in God's own life in a way that is impossible for us to do so in this earthly life. Heaven is not a continuation of life here on earth: it is a transformation of love with God. To be able to enter, our souls must be sanctified and free of sin.
God's faithfulness and love endures beyond this life. The music might have died that day for many, but the rewards promised to those who love and obey God will be kept by Him as we join Him at His banquet where songs of praise and joy will be heard!
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