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| “Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and His Companions, Martyrs” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN. |
Texts for the Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions may be taken from the Common of Martyrs. [1]
Commentary:
Reading 1: Revelation 11:4-12
Commentary on Rv 11:4-12
We continue St. John’s Revelation with more visions full of symbolic references. Note, he begins talking about two witnesses (who later in the same section are referred to as “prophets”). He borrows his imagery this time from Zechariah 4:8-14. The powers they have are taken from Moses' confrontation with Egypt (drought and water turned to blood).
Again using the Old Testament imagery, he now confronts his modern nemesis, Nero, referring to him as the “beast that comes up from the abyss.” The great city of evil is referred to as "'Sodom' and 'Egypt'." This reference is used throughout the Book of Revelation to symbolize Babylon-Rome. Even the three and a half day period has symbolism for those interested in Hebrew numerology (see the note on Revelation 11:2).
The general sense of this reading is one of the good (followers of Christ) being persecuted by the Romans because of their testimony (“fire comes out of their mouths”). But, because of their faith, they will be resurrected (“a loud voice from heaven say to them, ‘Come up here.’”).
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 144:1b, 2, 9-10
R. (1b) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Commentary on Ps 144:1b, 2, 9-10
Psalm 144, taken in its entirety, is difficult to classify as it opens with a lament. However, seen in the strophes given in this passage, it concludes in thanksgiving (v. 9-10). In these strophes, we find that David’s faith provides the courage needed to be victorious in battle. The Lord’s support is celebrated with song, as God provides the victory over his foes. It also carries with it the martial theme of heavenly conflict, seen in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 6:10ff, and in Jesus' vision of the impending passion in Jerusalem from St. Luke’s Gospel (Luke 13:31ff).
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Gospel: Luke 20:27-40
Commentary on Lk 20:27-40
The Sadducees' question, based on the law of levirate marriage recorded in Deuteronomy 25:5 ff, ridicules the idea of the resurrection. Jesus corrects their grave misunderstanding of the resurrection. He then argues on behalf of the resurrection of the dead on the basis of the written law that the Sadducees accept. He uses Exodus 3:2, 6 as an example of the Heavenly Father being God of the living who have passed from this life to the next.
This passage also relates the idea that the risen body is glorified. He states that the body is brought to a glorified state, free of the burdens of age or deformity (“for they are like angels”). No longer is there earthly need for marriage, that purpose being the continuation of the species. It is not necessary because there is no death in the Heavenly Kingdom.
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Reflection:
Today we are presented with some serious theological realities. We are reminded in St. Luke’s Gospel that we believe in “the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come.” We also see the conflict we will encounter, exemplified in St. John’s revelation as he speaks about those who testify to the truth of Christ’s Gospel being persecuted by Rome (“the beast that comes up from the abyss”). Jesus experiences a foretaste of that conflict in his confrontation by the Sadducees in the passage today.
There is a fundamental truth that floats like a vision just out of plain sight within these passages. We thank God today that, as part of a faith tradition that spans two thousand years, we do not have to “re-invent the wheel,” as they say. Our predecessors in the faith have taken that difficult truth and have made it crystal clear for us. We refer, of course, to the mystery of the resurrection and the eternal life that is promised for all those who die in the friendship of God.
Christ came to reveal God’s truth to us in his very presence on earth as true man. The love the Father has for us is implicit in the act of incarnation. Jesus came, his spirit clothed in human flesh, like us! He revealed through his own death that God’s plan to unify all creation under Christ included the new resurrection. We, who follow Christ on earth, will follow him also into the eternal kingdom (Romans 6:3). We might beg the question: Why was this necessary? Why do we die at all, since Christ came to wipe away the death that comes from sin? Was this God’s plan?
I know I have quoted this passage recently but it was something of a revelation (pun intended). Pope Emeritus Benedict during his papacy published a great work on Christian Hope, Spe Salvi. Within its pages he quoted another of our predecessors in the faith, St. Ambrose, speaking at the funeral of his brother. The words he used bring us hope indeed as he sees a piece of the mystery for us:
“Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin [...] began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labor and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing.”[4]
And once we have released the last remnants of earthly sin and achieved this state, we are, as Christ tells us, “like angels,” free of all earthly burdens, free to join the choirs of angels and saints who live eternally free from all the pain and anguish sin had once imposed upon us.
Today as we wrestle with our final destination, we once again pray for all those who have gone before us in God’s friendship. We pray that their journey will be swift and that we may one day join them in the promise of the resurrection, God’s gift of love, given by love, for love’s sake.
Pax
[1] The picture is “Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and His Companions, Martyrs” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN.
[4] De excessu fratris sui Satyri, II, 47: CSEL 73, 274.
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