 |
| “Resurrection” by Alvise Vivarini, 1497-98 |
Catechism Links[1]
CCC 992-996: the progressive revelation of resurrection
CCC 997-1004: our resurrection in Christ
CCC 1023-1029: heaven
CCC 1030-1032: purgatory, the final purification
Commentary:
Reading 1: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
Commentary on 2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14
This selection from the Second Book of Maccabees provides examples of courage in the face of extreme cruelty based upon belief in the resurrection on the last day. This is one of the important theological ideas expounded upon in the book, and provides a framework for our later understanding of the importance of Christ’s sacrifice and promise.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
R. (15b) Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Commentary on Ps 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
The lament of David in this passage from Psalm 17 follows nicely from the prayers of the unjustly persecuted brothers in 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14. Faith in God’s salvation will follow those who keep firm to God’s commands.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: 2 Thessalonians 2:16--3:5
Commentary on 2 Thes 2:16--3:5
This reading is comprised of the final verses of the second chapter of Second Thessalonians and the first verses of the third and final chapter. In this passage, we see St. Paul encouraging the church of Thessalonica to keep firm to the gospel values about which he instructed them, and then, beginning in the third chapter, he asks for prayers for his ongoing mission to spread the Gospel message.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
Commentary on Lk 20:27-38
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel is closely is rooted in 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14. It has the same basic subject, the resurrection, and it uses seven brothers as part of the lesson. The real linkage comes as Christ refutes the Sadducees, whose role, because of their rejection of the resurrection, would ironically parallel the evil king in 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14. Jesus chides them as “children of this age,” a reference to their simplistic understanding of Mosaic Law.
The apparent dismissal of marriage in heaven is not refuting marriage in this life, but rather pointing to the fact that the earthly purposes of marriage (i.e. propagation of the race through children and assisting one’s spouse to grow in holiness) are not necessary in heaven since: “Life in heaven will no longer require populating the Church and sanctifying spouses. Rather the righteous will live as angles, who beget no offspring and worship God continually (cf. Isaiah 6:2-3; Revelation 5:11, 12).”[5] (From notes on Matthew 22:30)
“The burning bush episode shows that Yahweh identified himself with the patriarchs long after their death (Exodus 3:6). If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still with God, then life must endure beyond death and a future resurrection is implied in the Pentateuch.”[6]
CCC: Lk 20:36 330
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Or
Shorter From: Luke 20:27, 34-38
Commentary on Lk 20:27, 34-38
The shorter version of this Gospel story really focuses on the nature of the spirit at the resurrection. Jesus says that, while the bonds of love and friendship remain, the resurrected are like angels for “they are children of God.”
The apparent dismissal of marriage in heaven is not refuting marriage in this life, but rather pointing to the fact that the earthly purposes of marriage (i.e. propagation of the race through children and assisting one’s spouse to grow in holiness) are not necessary in heaven since: “Life in heaven will no longer require populating the Church and sanctifying spouses. Rather the righteous will live as angles, who beget no offspring and worship God continually (cf. Isaiah 6:2-3; Revelation 5:11, 12).”[7] (from notes on Matthew 22:30)
CCC: Lk 20:36 330
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
The scripture we are given today should cause us deeper reflection when we later profess our Creed. We believe in the resurrection! We believe that death is not the end. There is a great verse in the Book of Wisdom that says: “They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.” (Wisdom 3:1ff)
Our understanding of the promised resurrection began with the early Hebrews as an understanding quite different from the one we have in Christ. When the author of the books of Maccabees recounted the events described in the first reading, the brother who announced his faith in the resurrection was thinking in Hebrew terms. Those who believed in the resurrection (and not all of them, even mainstream Hebrews did) believed that the “Just” would rise from their graves on the “Last day.” For them, Eternal Life began when this world ended and God’s Kingdom began.
It was a rather natural progression. The earth would not last forever but God, who is eternal, would. Therefore even when earth passed away, those considered “Just” would be taken from their graves to God’s kingdom to live forever after with him.
It’s important that we understand this concept of the resurrection because Jesus came as “the resurrection,” so we could have a new understanding of what God’s promise meant. He showed us this promise in the resurrection of his friend Lazarus (John 11:23ff), and the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:21ff), when he brought them back from the dead. He did so, not only to bring joy to their loved ones, but to assure us that he has power over death. He raised them from the dead so we could have hope.
In his own physical death through his passion, we have a heightened sense of the real gift given in the resurrection. The mental and physical pain he suffered during his last day in his human body was as if a lifetime of suffering were condensed into a few short hours of unimaginable agony. He lived a lifetime of pain in those last few hours. He did so only to show us that, even through the pain of life in this world, there would be new hope as he rose from the dead on the third day.
He showed himself to his closest friends so a great misunderstanding about the resurrection could be clarified. He did not return in a body still wracked with the pain of his passion, but in a glorified body, free from pain or deformity. The wounds he showed to St. Thomas were to demonstrate the fact that he was the Christ, who had undergone the passion as a sacrifice of atonement, not some gory demonstration. He did so providing hope for all of us so we could understand that our resurrection would not come with the pain and suffering of this life. We would not be trapped in a body that was riddled with disease or deformed by age or illness, but rather in a glorified body like his own. A body created in God’s image and likeness, created to present itself at the throne in eternal and glorious adoration of our Heavenly Father.
The resurrection is a fundamental belief expressed as we finish our Creed: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
It is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day.” (CCC 1016)
The lesson of the Gospel today gives us one more glimpse of the resurrection, as the Lord responds to the challenge of the Sadducees, those Jews who did not believe in the resurrection. They demonstrated the problem with temporal thinking when speaking of eternal life. Jesus gives us one more piece of the puzzle as he describes how Mosaic Law regarding marriage does not apply in the heavenly kingdom. The Sadducees were thinking of the Heavenly Kingdom
Eternal life cannot be looked at in earthly terms. Pope Benedict addressed this very issue in Spe Salvi, his encyclical on Hope. He told us:
“To continue living for ever —endlessly—appears more like a curse than a gift. Death, admittedly, one would wish to postpone for as long as possible. But to live always, without end—this, all things considered, can only be monotonous and ultimately unbearable. “ (Spe Salvi, 10)
No, eternal life, as the Lord implies in his response, is a state of existence without time as a measure. We quote again from Spe Salvi:
“To imagine ourselves outside the temporality that imprisons us and in some way to sense that eternity is not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality—this we can only attempt. It would be like plunging into the ocean of infinite love, a moment in which time—the before and after—no longer exists.” (Spe Salvi, 12)
The Lesson today is one that requires us to work diligently to put on the mind of Christ. He points to the resurrection for each of us, the great gift he offers on his Father’s behalf, one that requires us, like those poor Sadducees who could only see him as a threat, to step outside of our one language-defined reality, and try to see the great mystery he offers.
As we approach the altar once more today to receive the glorified body of Christ in the Eucharist, let us all come to new hope in the resurrection he promised and new life with him who exists eternally.
Pax
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2] The picture used today is “Resurrection” by Alvise Vivarini, 1497-98
[5] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. pp. 47
[6] ibid pp.146
[7] ibid pp. 47
No comments:
Post a Comment