>> Sunday, November 10th
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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
It-Tnejn u Tletin Ħadd taż-Żmien ta’
Matul is-Sena
First Reading – 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,
9-14
It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested
and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation
of God’s law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: “What do you
expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress
the laws of our ancestors.” At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend,
you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise
us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.” After him
the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told
to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It
was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them;
from him I hope to receive them again.” Even the king and his attendants
marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as
nothing. After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in
the same way. When he was near death, he said, “It is my choice to die at the
hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you, there
will be no resurrection to life.”
Qari I mit-Tieni Ktieb tal-Makkabej 7, 1-2. 9-14
F’dak iż-żmien, qabdu sebat aħwa u ’l ommhom; u s-sultan beda biex
jisfurzahom bid-daqqiet tas-swat u tan-nerv biex jieklu l-laħam tal-majjal li
ma jiswiex. Wieħed minnhom beda jitkellem f’isem l-oħrajn u qal: “X’int tfittex
tistaqsi u trid taf minna? Aħna lesti mmutu, imma m’aħniex lesti niksru
l-liġijiet ta’ missirijietna”. U t-tieni wieħed, kif kien fl-aħħar nifs, qallu:
“Int, bniedem mill-agħar, int se ċċaħħadna mill-ħajja ta’ issa, imma s-sultan
tad-dinja għad iqajjimna għall-ħajja ta’ dejjem, lilna li se mmutu
għal-liġijiet tiegħu”. Imbagħad wara dan bdew jittorturaw it-tielet wieħed u
malli talbuh ħareġ minnufih ilsienu u bla biza’ ta’ xejn midd idejh u ta’
qalbieni li kien għajjat: “Mis-sema ksibthom dawn, u għal-liġijiet tiegħu jien nistmerrhom,
għax mingħandu nittama li għad nerġa’ niksibhom”. Saħansitra s-sultan u dawk
ta’ madwaru stagħġbu bil-qawwa ta’ dan iż-żagħżugħ, kif l-uġigħ ma kien iqisu
xejn. Meta miet dan bdew jittorturaw u jbiċċru r-raba’ wieħed bl-istess mod.
Meta wasal fl-aħħar qal: “Aħjar li wieħed imut b’idejn il-bnedmin meta jkollu t-tama
mingħand Alla li għad iqajmu mill-ġdid. Imma għalik m’hemmx qawmien
għall-ħajja”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 98:1,
2-3AB, 3CD-4
Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Keep me as the apple of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking I shall be content in your presence.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 16 (17), 1.5-6.8b u 15
R/. (15b): Meta nqum nithenna bid-dehra tiegħek
Isma’, Mulej, il-kawża ġusta tiegħi,
ilqa’ l-għajta tiegħi,
agħti widen għat-talb tiegħi;
bla qerq huma xufftejja. R/.
Il-mixi tiegħi żammejt fi triqatek,
qatt ma għotru riġlejja.
Insejjaħlek, għax int tweġibni, o Alla;
ressaq widintek lejja, isma’ kliemi. R/.
Għad-dell ta’ ġwenħajk kenninni.
Jien, fil-ħaqq, għad nara ’l wiċċek;
meta nqum, nithenna bid-dehra tiegħek. R/.
Second Reading – 2 Thessalonians
2:16-3:5
Brothers and sisters: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God
our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good
hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good
deed and word. Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of
the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, and that we
may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen
you and guard you from the evil one. We are confident of you in the Lord that
what we instruct you, you are doing and will continue to do. May the Lord
direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
Qari II mit-Tieni Ittra lit-Tessalonikin 2, 16 – 3, 5
Ħuti, Sidna Ġesù Kristu stess u Alla Missierna, li ħabbna u tana
l-kuraġġ ta’ dejjem u t-tama sħiħa bil-grazzja, jqawwilkom qalbkom u jsaħħaħkom
f’kull għemil u kelma tajba. Mill-bqija, ħuti, itolbu għalina biex il-kelma
tal-Mulej tiġri l-ġirja tagħha u tkun milqugħa bil-ġieħ bħalma ġara fostkom.
Itolbu biex inkunu meħlusa minn nies ħżiena u bla liġi. Għax mhux kulħadd
għandu l-fidi. Iżda l-Mulej hu fidil: hu jwettaqkom u jħariskom mill-Ħażin.
Aħna żguri minnkom fil-Mulej, jiġifieri, li intom qegħdin tagħmlu u għad
tagħmlu dak li ordnajnielkom. Jalla l-Mulej iwassal lil qlubkom għall-imħabba
ta’ Alla u s-sabar ta’ Kristu. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel – Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came
forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take
the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven
brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the
third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman
also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven
had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry
and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to
the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can
no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses
made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,‘ the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead,
but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Evanġelju Qari skont San Luqa 20, 27-38
F’dak iż-żmien, resqu fuqu xi wħud mis-sadduċej, dawk li jiċħdu
l-qawmien mill-imwiet, u staqsewh: “Mgħallem, Mosè ħallielna miktub: “Jekk
wieħed imutlu ħuh miżżewweġ u dan ikun bla tfal, dak ikollu jiżżewweġ l-armla
biex inissel ulied lil ħuh”. Issa jkun hemm sebat aħwa, u l-kbir iżżewweġ u
miet bla tfal. It-tieni wieħed, u mbagħad it-tielet, f’kelma waħda, is-sebgħa
li kienu, ħadu l-armla, u mietu bla ma ħallew tfal. Fl-aħħar mietet il-mara
wkoll. Issa din, fil-qawmien tal-imwiet, mart min minnhom tkun? Għax is-sebgħa
jkunu żżewġuha”. Weġibhom Ġesù: “Il-bnedmin f’din id-dinja jiżżewġu u jżewġu;
imma dawk li jkun jistħoqqilhom jgħaddu għad-dinja l-oħra u jqumu mill-imwiet,
dawn la jżewġu u lanqas jiżżewġu. Għax anqas jistgħu jmutu iżjed, għaliex ikunu
bħall-anġli, u huma wlied Alla ladarba qamu mill-imwiet. U li l-mejtin iqumu,
Mosè wkoll urieh, fir-rakkont tax-xitla tal-għollieq, għax lill-Mulej isejjaħlu
Alla ta’ Abraham, Alla ta’ Iżakk, u Alla ta’ Ġakobb. Issa hu mhuwiex Alla
tal-mejtin, iżda tal-ħajjin, għax għalih kulħadd jgħix”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
////////// Reflection....
God Is Not God of the Dead
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM
Cap
In reply to the question that the Sadducees had posed to trap him
about the woman who had had seven husbands on earth, Jesus above all reaffirms
the fact of the resurrection, correcting at the same time the Sadducees’
materialistic caricature of it.
Eternal beatitude is not just an increase and prolongation of
terrestrial joys, the maximization of the pleasures of the flesh and the table.
The other life is truly another life, a life of a different quality. It is true
that it is the fulfillment of all man’s longings on earth, yet it is infinitely
more, on a different level. “Those who are deemed worthy to attain to the
coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in
marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels.”
At the end of the Gospel passage, Jesus explains the reason why
there must be life after death. “That the dead will rise even Moses made known
in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,’ and he is not God of the dead, but of
the living, for to him all are alive.” Where in that is the proof that the dead
rise? If God is defined as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is a God of
the living, not of the dead, then this means that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive
somewhere, even if they have been dead for centuries at the time that God talks
to Moses.
Interpreting Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees in an erroneous way,
some have claimed that marriage has no follow-up in heaven. But with his reply
Jesus rejects the caricature that the Sadducees present of heaven, a caricature
that suggests that it is a simple continuation of the earthly relationships of
the spouses. He does not deny that they might rediscover in God the bond that
united them on earth.
Is it possible that a husband and wife, after a life that brought
them into relation with God through the miracle of creation, will not in
eternal life have anything more in common, as if all were forgotten, lost?
Would this not be contrary to Jesus’ word according to which that which God has
united must not be divided? If God united them on earth, how could he divide
them in heaven? Could an entire life spent together end in nothing without
betraying the meaning of this present life, which is a preparation for the kingdom,
the new heaven and the new earth?
It is Scripture itself, and not only the natural desire of the
husband and wife, that supports this hope. Marriage, Scripture says, is “a
great sacrament” because it symbolizes the union between Christ and the Church
(Ephesians 5:32). Is it possible that it be eliminated in the heavenly
Jerusalem, where there will be celebrated the eternal wedding feast of Christ
and the Church of which the marriage of man and woman is an image?
According to this vision, matrimony does not entirely end with
death but is transfigured, spiritualized — it loses those limits that mark life
on earth — in the same way that the bonds between parents and children or
between friends will not be forgotten. In the preface of the Mass for the dead,
the liturgy says that with death “life is changed, not taken away”; the same
must be said of marriage, which is an integral part of life.
But what about those who have had a negative experience of earthly
marriage, an experience of misunderstanding and suffering? Should not this idea
that the marital bond will not break at death be for them, rather than a
consolation, a reason for fear? No, for in the passage from time to eternity
the good remains and evil falls away. The love that united them, perhaps for
only a brief time, remains; defects, misunderstandings, suffering that they
inflicted on each other, will fall away. Many spouses will experience true love
for each other only when they will be reunited “in God,” and with this love
there will be the joy and fullness of the union that they did not know on
earth. This is also what happens to the love between Faust and Margaret in
Goethe’s story: “Only in heaven the unreachable — that is, the total and
pacific union between two creatures who love each other — will become reality.”
In God all will be understood, all will be excused, all will be forgiven.
And what can be said about those who have been legitimately
married to different people, widowers and widows who have remarried. (This was
the case presented to Jesus of the seven brothers who successively had the same
woman as their wife.) Even for them we must repeat the same thing: That which
was truly love and self-surrender between each of the husbands or wives, being
objectively a good coming from God, will not be dissolved. In heaven there will
not be rivalry in love or jealousy. These things do not belong to true love but
to the intrinsic limits of the creature.
[Translation from the Italian by ZENIT] [Father Cantalamessa is
the Pontifical Household preacher.]
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