Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr
Luke 20:27-40
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 ‘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.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, increase my faith in the eternal inheritance that you won for me.
Encountering Christ:
- Moses Prescribed for Us: The Sadducees took as their authority Moses’ law and prescriptions. Those served their purpose for a time. But Jesus has a broader vision, one that spanned from the creation of the world into eternity. As he said in Matthew 5:17, he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus came as the mediator of a New Covenant: “Since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15). Moses reminded the people of the natural law (that which is inscribed in their hearts) as well as made prescriptions based on their hardened hearts and sinful ways. But Jesus came to offer redemptive grace so we may live here on earth in the New Covenant of grace.
- Already, But Not Yet: How do we enter into our inheritance? The door to the possibility is Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant. By baptism we become children of God and heirs to his Kingdom. We are called to exercise our faith and “receive our daily bread” through the grace that the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, offers us in our pilgrimage towards our heavenly homeland. In grace we already possess the inheritance won for us by Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross. In hope, we await the final “portion,” so to speak, or consummation of this inheritance in the resurrection of the body.
- They Did Not Dare: Aren’t we encouraged to ask questions so as to learn and discover more about our faith? So why did they not dare to ask questions? Perhaps because the answers would challenge them to turn from their old law to a new way of faith. This can be scary. Changing our ways of perceiving reality requires a death to our former self. It demands humility to recognize that one’s paradigmatic vision of the world may have been wrongly formed. Sometimes the Holy Spirit desires to shake us up, breaking down our old foundations in order to build up something new and true. The risk of allowing God to do this comes at the cost of dying to one’s self-aggrandizement, but the reward is a new and liberating life in the Spirit.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of the New Covenant I entered into through Baptism. Grant that I may live according to your desires for me, aware that you are the living God, inviting me into relationship every day.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will reflect on how my actions mirror my belief in a living God.
For Further Reflection: What You Do with Your Body Matters, Ascension Press (reflects a sacramental vision of the human person’s body versus a secular worldview), and Nine Days to Christ the King Novena, Day 9.
Jennifer Ristine is a consecrated woman of Regnum Christi dedicated to spiritual and faith formation through teaching, conferences, writing, and spiritual direction. While serving in Ancient Magdala she wrote Mary Magdalene: Insights from Ancient Magdala and “Nine Days with Mary Magdalene.”
