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Homily for the thirty-second
Sunday of the year - Year C - Lk. 20:27-38
by
Canon Dr. Daniel Meynen
" There came to Jesus some
Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked
him a question, saying, «Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a
man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take
the wife and raise up children for hisbrother. Now there were seven
brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; and the
second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children
and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection,
therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as
wife.»
" And Jesus said to them,
«The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those
who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection
from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot
die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God,
being sons of the resurrection.
" «But that the dead
are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he
calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live
to him.» "
Homily:
" There came to Jesus some
Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked
him a question... "
In every age there are
people who think that nothing follows this temporal life and that
everything ends when we die. Unfortunately, is it not true that even
some Christians limit religion to social and philanthropic work, or put
all the emphasis on the temporal action of the Church, disregarding the
eternal life which Christ came to give us? Are there not also
Christians who concentrate all their efforts on the promotion of social
action, but who don't worry of the salvation of their soul, thinking
that Heaven has already been guaranteed to them and that, in any case,
there will be nobody in hell? We can see this is true: every age has
its Sadducees! There were Sadducees in the time of our Lord, and there
are some today, too!
The resurrection is real:
we believe in it! We say so twice in the profession of faith. Speaking
of Christ, we say: "The third day He rose again in fulfillment of the
Scriptures." And the last sentence of the Creed is: "I look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come." Truly, we
believe in it! Indeed, it is the basis of ourfaith! Why would we
believe in Christ the Savior if we didn't need salvation? If we cry out
to the Savior to come and save us, it is because we need to be saved
from an immense danger: that of eternal death, that of being sentenced,
without appeal, to an eternal hell! If we believe in Christ Jesus, it
is because, through him and in him, salvation is offered to us for
eternal life!
" And Jesus said to them,
«The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those
who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection
from the dead neither marry nor are given inmarriage, for they cannot
die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being
sons of the resurrection.» "
What is this Mystery? Why
is it that the elect of God will no longer be able to have a wife or
husband? Is it because the elect will no longer have a body, so that it
will not be possible to differentiate between male and female? Not at
all. This would go against the very principle of the resurrection of
the body! So how can this be explained? Jesus himself gives us the
answer, saying: "They are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."
The elect of God are sons of God. Now, the Son of God, Christ, is the
Image of God: "He is the image of the invisible God." (Col. 1:15)
Therefore, in the same way, all the elect, as sons of God, are images
of God and similar to Him. The elect of God, resurrected in Christ, are
re-created in Christ: they are similar to God, just as was the man
created by God in the beginning (cf. Gen. 1:26).
If the elect of God are all
similar to God, then, as sons of the resurrection, they are all similar
to each other, and especially in terms of their body. That's why the
Lord said in all truth: "They cannot die any more, because they are
equal to angels and are sons of God." The elect of God are like the
angels, for, while they have a body, it is as if they didn't. The elect
of God, who are similar to God, have a resurrected body: their body is
spiritualized! All of them have a true body, similar to the one they
had on earth (but so magnificent, beautiful, and without defect!), but
mysteriously, in the risen Christ, they are all similar to each other.
The body of one is the body of another, and therefore, it is as if they
had no body: "They are equal to angels."
" «Now he is not God
of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him.» "
What is death? It is
nothing more than a transition from this world to the Father: "Jesus
knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the
Father..." (John 13:1) Death is not an ending: it is a transition from
a life that ends to a life without end! Man is made to live. Death is
not something normal. It came with original sin: "Sin came into the
world through one man and death through sin." (Rm. 5:12) Death is a
trial, and if it frightens us, it is because of the sin that is in us,
first because of original sin, of which we carry the mark from the time
of our conception, and second because of our own personal sins. Death
is a trial, but death is not something normal: "God is not God of the
dead, but of the living."
We are soon going to
receive the Bread of Life, the Bread which comes down from heaven! Let
us ask the Lord to give us his life: "This is the bread which comes
down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die... He who eats
my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." (John 6:50 and 54) Let
us ask Mary to receive her divine Son for us: may she help us mightily
as we proceed along the way to salvation!
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