Cycle C - Year I:  

10 November 2019: Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

Second Reading:   2 Thessalonians 2:16--3:5

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 20:27-38

"Life beyond death!"

Two little boys were at a wedding when one of them leaned to the other and asked, "How many wives can a man have?"

His friend answered, "Sixteen....  four better, four worse, four richer, and four poorer."  Bingo!

It is a joke about marriage.

This Sunday's Gospel passage also mentioned something about marriage.  The Sadducees tried to trap our Lord Jesus Christ to resolve a complicated marriage question, which they thought would make nonsense of any belief in the resurrection.  Of course, Jesus outsmarts them with His reply.

Actually, belief in heaven and in the afterlife is the message of this Sunday's liturgy.  In the Gospel, Jesus offers us a vision about the beauty of eternity.

St. Luke narrates an encounter between our Lord Jesus and the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead nor in afterlife.  Their religion was based on an earthly image of heaven, based on their own experience of this world and what they see with their naked eyes.  So they pose a hypothetical question to Jesus purposely to trap Him.  This is what they asked: A woman who was a widow of seven brothers who died one after another but left her childless.  "Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?" they asked Jesus

But then, Jesus told the Sadducees that eternity and this present life are very different.  Marriage is for this earthly life and doesn't continue into the next life.  And so in the resurrection, there is no marrying or being given in marriage.  For God will be all in all.  

This means that in the next life our relationship is not with man or woman, or even with each other, but only with God Himself.  Heaven is ultimately about seeing God, and we call this the "beatific vision".  And the beatific vision is more than simply "seeing" God.  We will actually possess Him and He possesses us.  Thus, the beatific vision is about a complete and total union with God.

Of course, this does not mean that we will not see each other again in heaven.  In fact we will, and in heaven we will also enjoy the companionship of Mary and all the saints and angels, including our family members and friends who preceded us into the heavenly kingdom.  Husbands and wives who have faithfully loved and served one another will be united with each other once again, and it will be a more perfect communion of life and love.

Now, our Lord Jesus Christ and His victory over death when He rose from the tomb is really the ultimate proof of our resurrection.  So Jesus asks us today, "Do you believe in the resurrection?"

So then, today's liturgy invites us to reflect on life, death and the afterlife.

For non-believers, there is no afterlife.  Death is the end of everything.  No matter how wealthy or healthy you are, or how powerful, how famous, how many friends you have, when death comes, it becomes a disaster!  Because everything is wiped away!  We will fall into nothingness.  So for them, enjoy as much pleasure as you can each day while you are still alive.  For there is no tomorrow after death.

But for Christians, death is just a passage, a transition to a more perfect life, a life with God Himself.  Because we are destined for eternal joy in the loving presence of the Creator.  It has to be different from this life we experience now, so much better indeed.  It is what we are originally created for, from the beginning of time, until Adam and Eve sinned.  That is why God intervenes in our earthly affairs with a definite purpose.  He has a plan for us that includes life after death.

And the Good News is that at the end of the age, Jesus will redeem the whole of creation and everything will be good as it was from the very beginning.  But we must watch out that in our earthly journey we follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ in order to be able to enter into the heavenly kingdom of the Father, and thus not fall into the pit of hell.

And finally, these profound sayings inspire us:  "The unknown of the known makes me tremble. But the known of the unknown gives me hope." (Philosophical) Or, "The not yet of the already makes me tremble. But the already of the not yet gives me hope." (Theological).

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!