Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Luke 20:27-40
Then some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection, and they asked Jesus this question, “Master, in the law Moses told us, ‘If anyone dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife, and any child born to them will be regarded as the child of the deceased.’ Now, there were seven brothers: the first married, but died without children. The second married the woman, but also died childless. And then the third married her, and in this same way all seven died, leaving no children. Last of all the woman died. On the day of the resurrection, to which of them will the woman be a wife? For all seven had her as a wife.”
And Jesus replied, “Taking a husband or a wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die, for they are like the angels. They are sons and daughters of God, because they are born of the resurrection.
Yes, the dead will be raised, as Moses revealed at the burning bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For God is God of the living, and not of the dead, for to him everyone is alive.”

Reflections
“God of the living, and not of the dead, for to him everyone is alive.”
The Sadducees represent one of the two prominent factions in the time of Jesus. The other one is the group known as the Pharisees. While they share religious fervor and adherence to the Je- wish faith, they differ in doctrinal matters. The Sadducees believed only in the things found in the writings of Moses, namely, the Torah. The Pharisees on the other hand believed in the Torah and other beliefs coming from oral tradition, which includes faith in the resurrection and the angels. In the gospel, the inquiring Sadducees must have felt scorned by the response of Jesus: there is a resurrection and angels exist.
The resurrection is the firm assurance of our hope in the life to come. Many of us are scared of “passing away” because it seems to point to vanishing and disappearance. But the God of life, Jesus, consistently points to our “passing on” from this life to the next. Of course it’s not a continuation of earthly life (e.g. those who are married here will not be husbands and wives there) but a new and fuller life. Jesus affirms the existence of an- gels, too. We will be like angels, with life not threatened by death anymore. But we will not become angels.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 19:45-48
Then Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out the merchants. And he said to them, “God says in the Scriptures, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of robbers!” Jesus was teaching every day in the temple. The chief priests and teachers of the law wanted to kill him, and the elders of the Jews as well, but they were unable to do anything, for all the people were listening to him and hanging on his words.

Reflections
“My house shall be a house of prayer.”
St. Cecilia was born to a noble family in the 2nd century and is one of the most venerated saints in Christian antiquity. She converted Valerianus her husband to Christianity and later his brother Tiburcius. They lived at the time of Christian persecution, but the three of them remained coura- geous children of the faith. They served the poor and took responsibility of burying the bodies of Christians who were persecuted and killed for their faith. Both Valerianus and Tiburcius also met martyrdom and not long after, Cecilia by a miraculous beheading kept her head attached to her neck.
Nothing in the life account of St. Cecilia mentioned about her connection to music. At best, this must have come from the line of a 5th century document about her martyrdom which states that “while the musicians played at her wedding, she sang in her heart to God.” Her being patroness of music was further strengthened when the Academy of Music in Rome was opened in 1548 where she was made its patroness. On the whole, this one outstanding woman of faith we should ask to inspire us courage in our own life of faith.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 19:41-44
When Jesus had come in sight of the city, he wept over it, and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Yet days will come upon you, when your enemies will surround you with barricades, and shut you in, and press on you from every side. And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and not leave stone upon stone within you, for you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God.”

Reflections
“If only today you knew the ways of peace!”
The presentation of Mary at age 3 was a fulfillment of the promise her mother Anne made when she was still childless. Al- though the source of the story is a dubious account, the so-called Protoevangelium of James, this has been celebrated since the 6th century and was adopted by the whole church 10 centuries later. Rev. Alban Butler wrote that the presentation paved the way for Mary to spend her youth in holy retirement and to the exercises of a religious and interior life. Through the act of presentation then, the Blessed Mother was introduced early into a life of holiness. And her holiness, seen in her obedience to God, she kept until the completion of her life on earth.
We keep this practice even in our times with us being initiated young into the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. But keeping our holiness, our closeness with God, is something many of us miss to keep. Let it be our prayer that this commemoration of the presentation of Mary rekindle our own interior life.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 19:11-28
Jesus was now near Jerusalem, and the people with him thought that God’s reign was about to appear. So as they were listening to him, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country in order to be crowned king, after which he planned to return home. Before he left, he summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver. He said, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’ But his compatriots, who disliked him, sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’
He returned, however, appointed as king. At once he sent for the servants, to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made. The first came in, and reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.’
The master replied, ‘Well done, my good servant! Since you have proved yourself faithful in a small matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.’ The second reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver earned five more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘And you, take charge of five cities!’
The third came in, and said, ‘Sir, here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping. I was afraid of you, for you are an exacting person: you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.’
The master replied, ‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Why, then, did you not put my money on loan, so that, when I got back, I could have collected it with interest?’
Then the master said to those standing by, ‘Take from him that pound, and give it to the one with ten pounds.’ But they objected, ‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!’
The master replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for my enemies who did not want me to be their king, bring them in, and execute them right here in front me!’”
So Jesus spoke, and then he passed on ahead of them, on his way to Jerusalem.

Reflections
“Everyone who has will be given more.”
One cannot help but think highly, with tears, of the courage of the mother and her seven sons in the First Reading. Theirs was an ordeal extremely difficult to bear. But they possessed a faith so strong to bend. Even with the promise of safety and friendship benefits, they were not swayed. The mother even faced the persecution with joy. What happened? They faced a test of allegiance. They faced a test of friendship. Either they please the earthly king and displease the heavenly king, or either they obey the earthly king and disobey the heavenly king. But the mother knew and she told her sons that only to the Creator of life should they submit their obedience. So they chose the heavenly king, to make him happy and to make him proud.
The gospel parable is instructive of the same. The king in the parable is God, the heavenly king. We must please him. We must make him happy and proud but this time by making use of the treasures he entrusted to us. May we have the same resolve as the mother and her seven sons and the good servants to please God above all and in everything that we do in life.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019