They are children of God, because they are the ones who will rise. – Luke 20:36

Have you ever been to the underground river in Palawan? Oh, it is wonderful. When my family went there, I became afraid as we entered the cave in a small boat. It was so dark. The only light was the one the boatman had. Without it, we were in total darkness.

       But as we went along, I prayed for peace. I began to appreciate the beautiful rock formations we saw and, of course, the experience   itself. My fear was gone. I was so glad I went with my family. If I had given in to my fear, I would have missed such an experience.

       Like what happened to me in the undergound river, there are moments when we have to die to ourselves if we want to experience the real beauty of life.

       And as I allowed the Lord to change my fearful heart into a peaceful one, we have to also allow Him to transform us into the children of God that we ought to be. That way, when we finally face our death, our living God will raise us to live with Him forever. Ma. Luisa De la Cruz (theessence_byluisa@yahoo.com)

Reflection: Do you live your life keeping in mind that there is an eternal life?

Reveal to me, dear Holy Spirit, what needs to be purified in me. Help me to change my ways so I can be worthy of eternal life with God. Amen.

St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, pray for us.

The life of discipleship is a battle between the powers of good and evil. One of the most important assets a disciple of Jesus has in this battle is that Jesus has already given us victory over all the dominions of hell. This means that we never need to be beaten. As Christians, we should always remember to live in the victory of Christ over sin and death.

4 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses: These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. 6 They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. 7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. 8 Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. 9 Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.

R: Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war. (R) 2 My mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues peoples under me. (R) 9 O God, I will sing a new song to you; with a ten-stringed lyre I will chant your praise. 10 You who give victory to kings, and deliver David, your servant, from the evil sword. (R)

The focus of the Pharisees on the minutiae of the Law means they often overlook the obvious and this means that they miss the loving response in the midst of all the legalism. Let us avoid this trap as we follow Jesus’ example of love. The Law is important as a guide to the “dos” and “don’ts” but this is not the final word on any matter — this rests with the compassion of our loving God.

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.

27 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, 28 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.’ 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; 35 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. 36 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. 37 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; 38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” 39 Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” 40 And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Jeremiah 50-52

ARE YOU A SADDUCEAN OR A SINCERE SEEKER?

We ought to give it to the Sadducees for being so creative in conjuring up an imaginary situation that almost surely would never happen in real life. But they had an overwhelming desire to put down someone who was getting too popular for comfort.

       It was a carefully laid out trap. No matter how implausible, it nevertheless drove home their desired point —that such a situation would

render the belief in the resurrection of the dead almost laughable or absurd.

       The Lord knew better than to glorify the question that was meant, not so much to seek for answers, as to embarrass. At the end, the Lord turned the tables against them and even made the teaching about the resurrection sink deeper into everyone’s consciousness. In the afterlife, He says, the conditions will be different from the earthly conditions and relationships will no longer be governed by earthly criteria.

       Nowadays, social media is awash in such Sadducean seekers, not of the truth, but simply their own brand of truth. They tend to saturate cyberspace and they seem more active and engaged than the typical cradle Catholic.

       Whatever the Sadducees wanted to accomplish, they sure remind us all about the need for us so-called “believers” to really know what it is we believe in and, more than just that, to know how to get that “belief system” across to others. Their zeal at getting others to their side is just matched by the “disengaged” attitude of most cradle Catholics who simply take their beliefs for granted or who are at a loss as to how to pass them on to others.

       Last year, the Year of Faith, the issue of disengaged Catholics was  supposed to take center stage. Today, ironically, it is the Sadducees who, once again, take us to task and remind us that the time to be seriously engaged is now, for it is precisely now that the world seriously lacks faith formation — the kind that is strong and stable enough to engage a confused and confusing world. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How well do you know your “belief system”? Can you confidently pass it on to others?

Help me to treasure my faith, Lord, and share it with others, especially the people that You bring to my side.