Jun 04 2024 4 mins
Wednesday 9th week in ordinary time "Mk 12:18-27"
And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and...Jesus said to them, "as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong." The Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection, Heaven or life after death. Jesus had to explain to them very clearly that there is a Heaven and that man was meant to live forever. God is 'God of the living', because all the people that have lived in the past still exist. Life without Heaven doesn't make any sense, like a marathon without a finish line, running for no purpose. As we pray in the Creed: we "look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come" because we were made for it, for an intimate and eternal friendship with God. St Justin (100–165) was a brilliant philosopher who discovered the Christian faith and left everything to place his intelligence and talents at the service of Christ. He produced a huge number of writings in defence of our Faith. When the time came, he gave the ultimate witness to his faith with his life. We still preserve the record of his trial, during which the Prefect Rusticus said, "Sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy." Justin replied, "That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour." He and his companions were scourged and beheaded. They lost their heads rather than lose their hope in the Resurrection. Holy Mary, Our Hope, help me to remember always, especially in difficult times, that there is a Life after this, and that it is worthwhile to fight for it! It's worthwhile to leave everything I have to leave and do anything it takes to 'get a Life' - an eternal one, of course. "Can you imagine what it will be like to arrive there and meet God, to see that beauty, that love which is poured out into our hearts, which satisfies without satiating? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard...' It's worthwhile my children, it's worthwhile" (St. Josemaría).
And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and...Jesus said to them, "as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong." The Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection, Heaven or life after death. Jesus had to explain to them very clearly that there is a Heaven and that man was meant to live forever. God is 'God of the living', because all the people that have lived in the past still exist. Life without Heaven doesn't make any sense, like a marathon without a finish line, running for no purpose. As we pray in the Creed: we "look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come" because we were made for it, for an intimate and eternal friendship with God. St Justin (100–165) was a brilliant philosopher who discovered the Christian faith and left everything to place his intelligence and talents at the service of Christ. He produced a huge number of writings in defence of our Faith. When the time came, he gave the ultimate witness to his faith with his life. We still preserve the record of his trial, during which the Prefect Rusticus said, "Sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy." Justin replied, "That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour." He and his companions were scourged and beheaded. They lost their heads rather than lose their hope in the Resurrection. Holy Mary, Our Hope, help me to remember always, especially in difficult times, that there is a Life after this, and that it is worthwhile to fight for it! It's worthwhile to leave everything I have to leave and do anything it takes to 'get a Life' - an eternal one, of course. "Can you imagine what it will be like to arrive there and meet God, to see that beauty, that love which is poured out into our hearts, which satisfies without satiating? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard...' It's worthwhile my children, it's worthwhile" (St. Josemaría).