32nd Sunday in the Ordinary Time - Sunday (Year II)
6th November 2022 (Sunday) Readings and Reflection
Dear Brothers and Sisters, we are on the Sunday of 32nd week in the ordinary time. Today's gospel reflection is on the theme Earth oriented to heaven!
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Reading of the Day
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
In those days: It happened that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine's flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, "What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers." And when he was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands and said nobly, "I got these from heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again." As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man's spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing. When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. And when he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!"
Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8 and 15 (R. see 15b)
Response: When I awake, O Lord, I shall be filled with the vision of your presence.
O Lord, hear a cause that is just;
pay heed to my cry.
Turn your ear to my prayer:
no deceit is on my lips. Response
I kept my steps firmly in your paths.
My feet have never faltered.
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God.
Turn your ear to me; hear my words. Response
Guard me as the apple of your eye.
Hide me in the shadow of your wings
As for me, in justice I shall behold your face;
when I awake I shall be filled with the vision of your presence. Response
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Brethren: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honoured, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
Gospel : Luke 20. 27-38
At that time: There came to Jesus some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a 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 widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 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. Afterwards 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 considered 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."
Daily Gospel Reflection
The Reflection by Fr. Thumma Mariadas Reddy MSFS{alertWarning}
Main Theme: Earth oriented to heaven!
Indicative: Even though we are on this earth, we cannot be earth-bound because we are heaven-destined and heaven-bound. Resurrection is our destiny{alertSuccess}
1. God is living! This is profoundly consoling. God is not dead, though many events and situations force us to believe so. Though many try to kill the godly spirit and bury him in the coffin of evil, He is not dead. Though many deaden His presence and action in their lives, He is not dead.
2. Though He does not matter to many, His spirit never ceases. He lives on. His power cannot be subdued by all other powers put together. Though many do not recognise His intervention because they are too busy, He continues to intervene in human lives and situations.
3. Therefore Foster faith in God’s presence. Foster hope in His action and intervention. See the faith and hope of the seven brothers in the first reading from Maccabees. Even under persecution, even when they were in the jaws of death, they did not give up their faith. They did not become hopeless. They were not intimidated. They were stirred by indomitable courage.
4. If He is a living God, We must feel Him coming alive in our lives. We must feel His presence and power. In other words, we must become alive to Him. We must live with Him and for Him. For the seven brothers, God was very much alive. He was so close to them. That is why they kept their faith and hope in Him alive and ardent.
5. We are reminded today once again that this earth is only a land of duty, a transit port for us. Heaven and eternity are our destination and destination. So we cannot be earth-bound. We cannot restrict our thinking to earthly interests. We cannot be caught up in worldly perspectives. The Sadducees in the gospel indicate this earthliness. They do not go beyond mundane concerns. They even attribute to and impose earthly and human perspectives on the divine realities. They apply the limited human categories to the divine as well.
6. We need to Raise ourselves to be the sons of resurrection and not restriction and constriction. We must not be the children of this age but of heaven. We are equal to angels. It implies being “in the presence of God”, “in closeness with him”, “ever at His service in obedience”, and “spiritual and pure” before His holiness. It also implies, “not bound by body and the physical or the material”, but “free and prompt to live and act in a higher, spiritual, divine realm.”
7. Thus, to be the sons of God and resurrection would mean that we are not bound by earthly ties and attachments. We constantly raise ourselves both in terms of attention and action. We have no ulterior motives to deceive or trap others. We do not give up our sacred traditions and laws that are life-promoting values. We remain loyal to them, even in the face of death, like the seven brothers.
8. In the light of the second reading, the children of resurrection are those who trust and experience God’s own comfort even amidst all tribulation. And they continue firm in every good work and word. They shall experience God’s power that guards them against the evil one. They constantly strive to speed ahead and honour the word of the Lord.
Imperative: We cannot afford to get stuck to the earth. We cannot demean ourselves with earthly and evil passions and pursuits. We cannot debase ourselves from being the children of a living God{alertSuccess}
Video Reflection
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