20221106 MOTIVATED BY FAITH IN THE RESURECTION OF LIFE AND LOVE
06 November, 2022, Sunday, 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14 © |
'The King of the world will raise us up to live for ever'
There were seven brothers who were arrested with their mother. The king tried to force them to taste pig’s flesh, which the Law forbids, by torturing them with whips and scourges. One of them, acting as spokesman for the others, said, ‘What are you trying to find out from us? We are prepared to die rather than break the laws of our ancestors.’
With his last breath the second brother exclaimed, ‘Inhuman fiend, you may discharge us from this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up, since it is for his laws that we die, to live again for ever.’
After him, they amused themselves with the third, who on being asked for his tongue promptly thrust it out and boldly held out his hands, with these honourable words, ‘It was heaven that gave me these limbs; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.’ The king and his attendants were astounded at the young man’s courage and his utter indifference to suffering.
When this one was dead they subjected the fourth to the same savage torture. When he neared his end he cried, ‘Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men’s hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 16(17):1,5-6,8,15 © |
I shall be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord.
Lord, hear a cause that is just,
pay heed to my cry.
Turn your ear to my prayer:
no deceit is on my lips.
I shall be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord.
I kept my feet firmly in your paths;
there was no faltering in my steps.
I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God.
Turn your ear to me; hear my words.
I shall be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord.
Guard me as the apple of your eye.
Hide me in the shadow of your wings
As for me, in my justice I shall see your face
and be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory.
I shall be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord.
Second reading |
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 © |
May the Lord strengthen you in everything good that you do or say
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who has given us his love and, through his grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you in everything good that you do or say.
Finally, brothers, pray for us; pray that the Lord’s message may spread quickly, and be received with honour as it was among you; and pray that we may be preserved from the interference of bigoted and evil people, for faith is not given to everyone. But the Lord is faithful, and he will give you strength and guard you from the evil one, and we, in the Lord, have every confidence that you are doing and will go on doing all that we tell you. May the Lord turn your hearts towards the love of God and the fortitude of Christ.
Gospel Acclamation | Lk21:36 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times
for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man.
Alleluia!
Or: | Rv1:5,6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus Christ is the First-born from the dead:
to him be glory and power for ever and ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 20:27-38 © |
He is God, not of the dead, but of the living
Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached Jesus and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died. Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’
Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. 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. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.’
MOTIVATED BY FAITH IN THE RESURECTION OF LIFE AND LOVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 MC 7:1-2,9-14; PS 17; 2 TH 2:16-3:5; LK 20:27-38]
As we approach the end of the year, we will find the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer. In Europe, this would be most obvious as the weather gets colder. In such sombre moments when activities slow down in the world because of the onset of the winter season, the Church invites us to consider how we have lived our lives. This is so because how we live today will also determine how we live tomorrow, and most of all, for eternity.
The truth is that many of us in this generation live in such a way without any thought of tomorrow, much less about eternity. The modern man lives recklessly, caring only about his happiness here, and now. There is no hope for tomorrow. Some are even more sceptical of life after death. In a materialistic and atheistic world, we believe that we will disintegrate upon death like all other creatures and plants in this planet. There is no God, no Supreme Being, no spiritual world, nothing beyond this planet. We have been subtly conditioned to think that everything would end upon death.
Why should one care about tomorrow, or even the planet, when we will no longer be around by the time this planet is destroyed by climate change? Indeed, some question whether this life is even worth living at all. Why work so hard and then leave our wealth behind to those who do not deserve them? Why work so hard to change the world when all the sacrifices we have made would be undone by the future generations? When we read the book of Ecclesiastes, many of us would tend to agree with King Solomon that all is vanity. Life seems meaningless. Nothing lasts. Wealth, power and glory are like flowers in the field. They do not give true joy. Even our loved ones do not stay with us forever. So, what is life all about? What hope do we have for the future? What is in store for us after death?
Indeed, if we follow the position of the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the body, nor in angels and spirits, we will end up in nihilism. This is what the world is leading us to by making science and technology the ultimate in life. In his pride, man thinks that he can do anything, even clone life. He thinks he is in charge of this world. There is no one greater than man. With knowledge, he can control the world. St Paul wrote, “pray that we may be preserved from the interference of bigoted and evil people, for faith is not given to everyone.”
Life is worth living only when we know that life never ends. All of us want to live meaningfully. We must be sure that what we do today continues even after our sojourn on earth. Otherwise, we will not sacrifice so much of ourselves, our life, our time for those things that cannot last. No one wants to die. If there are some who want to die, it is because life has no meaning for them. They do not know what they are living for. Faith in eternal life, whether the immortality of the soul or the resurrection of the body, is critical for people to give themselves for the service of others, and to pour their sweat, blood and tears for humanity and for the planet. Only what we do now that has meaning and can live on after our death will make that sacrifice worth doing.
This was what prompted the seven brothers in today’s first reading to give up their lives for something that is eternal. It was their hope in the resurrection that gave them the courage to stand up for their faith in God, expressed by their commitment to the Law. We must not think that the seven brothers were being over legalistic in the way the Law must be observed, as if eating meat or breaking some of the customs was morally wrong. It was not so much the laws themselves, but the act of breaking the Law that implies a lack of fidelity to God, since the Law was given to Moses by God. It was a matter of commitment to God, not just for themselves but as a witness to their allegiance in their faith to God. Otherwise, their enemies might not believe that their God was real or that their faith was firm. Hence, because of their total faith in God and in the resurrection of the body, they surrendered themselves to the torture of evil men even unto death saying, “ours is the better choice, to meet death at man’s hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life.”
However, we must not confuse eternal life with everlasting life. One can live forever and yet not be happy. The only reason that gives meaning to life ultimately is eternal love. Again, today’s gospel message about marriage is a clarification that love continues forever. Jesus is not denying the eternity of married love. However, He cautions us again, bringing our imperfect love on earth to the next life. On earth our love is possessive and imperfect. We tend to limit our love to those who care for us. But in the next life, the Lord tells us, our love would be perfected. We will have intense love for everyone just as the Lord loves each and every one of us intensely. Jesus said, “The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection, they are sons of God.”
So, the expectation of the fullness of life and fullness of love come when we reach heaven. That should be our goal and that should be what is motivating us to live our life responsibly and fully because our earthly decisions and actions will have eternal consequences. What we sow is what we reap, not just in this life but the next. The kind of heart that we have in this life will be the kind of heart we have in the next life. If we are selfish, vindictive, dishonest, suspicious, destructive, then at death, such a fixation of the condition of our heart will render us unable to live a life of communion, of mutual love and total giving in the next life.
For this reason, we want to prepare ourselves for the fullness of life by living life to the fullest, in anticipation of the life to come. Not by living for ourselves but by living for others. For this is the way to live. Jesus made it clear, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10:39) Only selfless and self-giving people can share in the heart of God’s love and be in communion with the rest of their fellowmen. If we live for ourselves, then we will be like the rich man in the gospel, separated from Abraham and Lazarus. By being oblivious to the poor, even by not doing evil, he was also cut off from his fellowmen. More so when we live evil lives.
Hence, St Paul urges us, to protect ourselves “from the interference of bigoted and evil people.” Instead, we must turn to our Lord and God our Father who gives us “his love and, through his grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you in everything good that you do or say.” Indeed, St Paul asked of us to turn our “hearts towards the love of God and the fortitude of Christ.” Because of our ignorance and weakness, we must turn to the scriptures, the Word of God, to guide us in walking the way of truth and love. As the psalmist prayed, “I kept my feet firmly in your paths; there was no faltering in my steps. I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. As for me, in my justice I shall see your face and be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory.” And indeed, when the time comes for us to depart from this world, we are confident that we can say with the psalmist, “I shall be filled, when we awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord.”
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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