November 7, 2010
We find Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple where he affirms his authority to speak for God. His ministry journey ends at this holiest of places where he is hailed as King. He takes possession of the Temple and he states he is the Temple. He is the cornerstone of the reconstituted Israel. The God Jesus speaks about is the God who gives and sustains life beyond the grave. Today we hear about his dispute with the Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection or angels. They question his authority because they hold that the Pentateuch (Torah) is the only authoritative teacher in the faith.
The Sadducees question Jesus by using an example of a woman whose marriage was transferred chronologically to her husband's brothers when he died without fathering a child. In fact, all seven brothers died in succession and none of them bore a child with her. She finally died childless. Since each brother had been married to her, whose wife will she be? To the Sadducees, this was an unsolvable puzzle, but Jesus points out that their fundamental premise is wrong.
Using his authority, Jesus interprets the Mosaic law and demonstrates his faith in the life-giving power of God. His premise is the life of the age to come is a continuation of this life and needs human propagation lest it die out. He strengthens his argument in two ways: (1.) Since God is the God of the living, God must have sustained the deceased Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in life by resurrecting them, and (2.) immortal life is granted to them because to God "all are alive." The Sadducees are displeased while the scribes and Pharisees feel justified in their beliefs.
To an Israelite, a person's name is to be remembered throughout the generations, but without offspring, no one will bring the memory of the name forward. A glimmer of immortality is received through one's descendants. Jesus assures the Jews that in the afterlife, there will be no need to ensure one's legacy through descendents. Each person will live on as a child of God. Therefore, the sting of death is less painful.
The Maccabean brothers in the first reading choose immortality when they accept a martyr's fate instead of defiling the principles of their faith. They refuse to eat pork in violation of God's law and were put to death. They hope their fidelity will be honored by God who will raise them up. Paul tells us in Thessalonians that God will strengthen us and guard us as we strive to glorify God.
As we hasten toward the end of the liturgical year, we pause to consider what we believe about the afterlife. Many fear death and see it as final. Some cannot deal with the unresolved issues in their lives and they refuse to acknowledge their mortality. It might require that one makes amends. Others, though they want to live well, find great hope and comfort in the promise of eternal life. Death becomes a measurement in which one reflects upon the quality of one's choices in life. I pray that I will be able to die well, which means that I have to live well today and prepare for my eventual death. I will spend my days moving closer to Christ so when I am with him in eternal life, we will share many important memories. All are alive to Christ. Let's learn how to live well with him.
Quote for the Week
From the Book of Wisdom 3:1-9 (read at the Mass for the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed)
The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.
Themes for this Week’s Masses
First Reading: Paul tells Titus to appoint presbyters (priests) who are reputable and blameless and bishops who are not arrogant, aggressive, or greedy, but are hospitable, temperate, good, holy, and self-controlled. The people are to respect authority with an attitude of openness. They are to speak well of others and to build up the community and to treat others in the merciful way God has regarded us. Paul tells Philemon to welcome his former slave, Onesimus, as one who is an equal. Paul will pay for any expenses. In John's second letter, he writes that many are walking in the light and keeping the commandments of Christ. John preaches fidelity to Christ's teachings and support for those who need aid along the way.
Gospel: Jesus in Luke asks people to be cautious of sin's effects, but if anyone repents, we are to forgive him. Only faith will help people forgive others. On his way to Jerusalem, he heals ten lepers, but only one of them, a foreigner, returns in gratitude. Jesus then talks about the characteristics of the coming kingdom. We are to pay attention to the signs of the times so we are prepared for its coming and the judgment that it brings. Many will be unprepared and will face doom. We are to set our eyes to the lasting things of this world. Prayer is necessary. Like the widow who appears before an unjust judge, we are to petition the Lord God for what we need - our preparedness.
Saints of the Week
Tuesday: The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome celebrates the cathedral church of Rome because the pope is the bishop of Rome and therefore has a local parish. The cathedral was first dedicated in 324 by Pope Sylvester I. It is called St. John Lateran because it was built on property given to the church by the Laterani family and its baptistry is named after the Baptist. Throughout the centuries, popes lived at the residence. We celebrate the unity this church symbolizes because its acts as the mother of all churches of the city and the world.
Wednesday: Leo, doctor, sought to bring peace to the warring Roman factions who were leaving Gaul at the dissolution of the Roman empire in the mid-5th century. He worked with barbarian invaders, most notably Attila the Hun, to keep the people safe from destruction. He postponed Attila's invasion of Rome for three years, but he saved the city from being burned to the ground. He is also known for his writings on the Incarnation that influenced doctrine at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Thursday: Martin of Tours, bishop, was a Roman soldier from Hungary in the mid-4th century. He realized military service was incompatible with his faith. When he left the military, he founded a monastery in Gaul where the people of the nearby villages strongly asked him to become their bishop. The church was going through a period of controversies and heresies and he sought to unify the faithful. He was the first bishop who separated his diocese into distinct parishes.
Friday: Josaphat, bishop and martyr, entered the Order of Basil and was ordained a priest within the Byzantine rite in 1609. In 1617, he was name an archbishop in Polotsk, Russian and sought to unify the church with Rome amid great opposition. He was the first Eastern saint canonized in the Roman church.
Saturday: Francis Xavier Cabrini, was born in 1850 as the youngest of thirteen children. She taught in an orphanage until she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1880. She was sent to the U.S. by the Pope to work with Italian immigrants. She was first American citizen to be canonized.
This Week in Jesuit History
• Nov 7, 1717. The death of Antonio Baldinucci, an itinerant preacher to the inhabitants of the Italian countryside near Rome.
• Nov 8, 1769. In Spain, Charles III ordered all of the Society's goods to be sold and sent a peremptory demand to the newly-elected Pope Clement XIV to have the Society suppressed.
• Nov 9, 1646. In England, Fr. Edmund Neville died after nine months imprisonment and ill-treatment. An heir to large estates in Westmoreland, he was educated in the English College and spent forty years working in England.
• Nov 10, 1549. At Rome, the death of Paul III, to whom the Society owes its first constitution as a religious order.
• Nov 11, 1676. In St James's Palace, London, Claude la Colombiere preached on All Saints.
• Nov 12, 1919. Fr. General Ledochowski issued an instruction concerning the use of typewriters. He said that they could be allowed in offices but not in personal rooms, nor should they be carried from one house to another.
• Nov 13, 1865. The death of James Oliver Van de Velde, second bishop of the city of Chicago from 1848 to 1853.
Veteran's Day - A day of remembrance (USA)
Here is a prayer I composed to remember the veterans of our foreign wars on Thursday, November 11th.
Loving God,
we remember those who have served our nation
and died to protect
and defend our freedom.
Help us never to forget them
and their efforts to keep us safe.
We honor those who were in combat,
and returned home safely.
May they know our thankfulness.
We honor those in the service who supported
our military behind the front lines.
May they know our gratitude.
We pray for those whose bodies and spirits
are ravaged by war,
whose memories cannot forget the
brutality war inflicts upon others,
whose pain is too deep for others to touch.
Help us find ways to reach out
to our brothers and sisters who have returned from war
and are in psychic pain
so they may know they are important to us.
May we come to know their pain
and be in solidarity with them so
they will not take their own lives.
We pray for those who are in combat today.
Shield them from danger
and bring them home safely and soon.
May we all work to end all wars
and establish a lasting peace
that is built on justice, charity, and mutual understanding.
Help us to live in hope
that your kingdom of heaven
can reign here on earth.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
I also included the song Taps:
Day is done,
gone the sun,
from the lakes,
from the hills,
from the sky,
all is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.
Fading light,
dims the sight,
and a star gems the sky,
gleaming bright,
from afar,
drawing nigh,
falls the night.
Thanks and praises,
for our days,
'neath the stars,
'neath the sky,
as we go,
this we know,
God is neigh.
No comments:
Post a Comment