Mercy borne out of Faith

Divine Mercy Sunday

Reflections on Acts of the Apostles 5:12-16 /  Revelation 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19 /  John 20:19-31

by Frank Savadera, SJ

Friends, today is Divine Mercy Sunday.  I browsed through the selection of readings prescribed for today and can easily pick up a theme … not of MERCY but of FAITH.  Strange?     

A large number of people gathered around Peter and the apostles, bringing in the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits … and they were cured.  More and more came to believe in the Lord.  Isn’t this FAITH?  Also, those who studied Scriptures among us would affirm that our 2^nd Reading for today from the Book of Revelation does not speak of how the end or the last judgment will be.  The Book of Revelation speaks of encouragement for the people of God to have MORE FAITH in a time of severe persecution.  “Do not be afraid,” it says.  “I am the first and the last, the one who lives.  Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.”  The book, amidst hardships in life, inspires believers to have MORE FAITH.   Also, we see Jesus in the Gospel today speaking to Thomas saying:   “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  I was already scratching my head and telling myself how the readings obviously speak about FAITH.  Where is MERCY here?

And necessarily so … amidst my own personal experiences of confusion, I paused and prayed: Lord how do I find MERCY from the selection of readings today.  The first thought that came to my mind is this:  We cannot be merciful unless we have FAITH.  The MORE INSTENSE our faith is, the MORE RADICAL is our expressions of MERCY.  The readings on Easter will continue to talk about how the apostles take on the role of Jesus … moving about … like CLONES of Jesus.  They begin reaching out to the sick, the lame and crippled … curing them, taking seriously what Jesus himself commissioned them to do:  Whatever you forgive on earth will be forgiven in heaven.  The people began flocking to them … as they did with Jesus.  The description we’ve read is … they’ve laid on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.  Imagine:  Matamaan lang ako ng ANINO nya … is great consolation already for the people of God.  Friends, what GREAT IMPACT the apostles were accomplishing for Jesus.  They’ve become CHANNELS of the Lord’s Mercy and people begin to recognize Jesus in them.   They were going out of their way, offering people Jesus’ same brand of LOVE and MERCY … and WHY?  Because they themselves had an intense encounter with Jesus and they BELIEVED.  Pope Francis tells us:  Do not be afraid to show goodness and tenderness.  The reality is that WE ARE AFRAID to show goodness and tenderness.  Have faith.  We cannot be merciful unless we have FAITH.  The MORE INSTENSE our faith is, the MORE RADICAL is our expressions of MERCY.

2^nd POINT:  MERCY calls us to express greater THANKSGIVING.  Remember how during the crucifixion, a soldier thrusts a spade/ lance unto the side of Jesus … water and blood poured out from Jesus’ wound.  This is the image/ basis of Sister Faustina’s devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus.  Our prayer:  “You expired, O Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world.”  In his passion and death on the cross, Jesus didn’t fight it out.  He accepted his fate wholeheatedly.  He didn’t condemn his accusers.  Instead, he showed great mercy:  Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.  The MERCY of Jesus is symbolized by the BLOOD and WATER that came out from his wound.  The BLOOD, his sacrifice on the cross is what we witness to and celebrate during the mass.  We call our practice EUCHARISTIA or literally THANKSGIVING.  Mercy is symbolized as well as water … also the sign of our baptism, assuring us that wherever we go, we are GIFTED by the SPIRIT that will guide us and provide us wisdom.  MERCY … the BLOOD and WATER that oozed out of the WOUND of Jesus calls us to THANKSGIVING.  Our salvation did not come CHEAP.  We were ransomed and it cost so much.  The MERCY of God saves us … and before the CROSS, we are called to be more THANKFUL.     

LASTLY, Jesus instructs the unbelieving Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  We cannot be MERCIFUL unless we DIP our fingers into the WOUNDEDNESS of OTHERS.  We cannot say that we FULLY UNDERSTAND the troubles and pains of a brother or a sister in community.  We can’t.  But if we seek to understand the difficulty of another; if we grapple with the context and chaotic circumstance of another, then we can be MERCIFUL.  

We cannot be merciful unless we have FAITH.  The MORE INSTENSE our faith is, the MORE RADICAL is our expressions of MERCY. 

MERCY … the BLOOD and WATER that oozed out of the WOUND of Jesus calls us to THANKSGIVING.

We cannot be MERCIFUL unless we DIP our fingers into the WOUNDEDNESS of OTHERS.  

God Sees the Potential in Us

Reflections on Hosea 6:1-6 /  Luke 18:9-14

by Frank Savadera, SJ

What to do with you Ephariam?  What to do with you Judah? Yahweh seems to be expressing extreme DISSATISFACTION and even FRUSTRATION. Your PIETY is like morning dew that early passes away, that is ARTIFICIAL/ FLEETING.  God is getting really frustrated.  Why?  There is a God who sees us, sees our GIFTS and GREAT POTENTIALS. And the dissatisfaction comes from knowing that we can do more than how we are living and spending our lives right now.  Imagine God listening to the prayer of this very pious Pharisee, who prays:   ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ As he listens, God may be scratching his head in DESPAIR.   There is a God who sees our GIFTS and GREAT POTENTIALS and who believes that we can DO MORE than we are actually exerting.

It is this God, who sees GREAT POTENTIAL in us, who also VENTURES to PURIFY US.  For this reason … and from HOSEA, we have a picture of God who smites (he who strikes/ trashes them (Ephraim/ Judah) through the prophets.  I slay them by the words of my mouth, He says.   We often times encounter an image of a VIOLENT GOD whom we believe … if we must … is NOT REALLY A VIOLENT & PUNISHING GOD per se … but someone who STANDS for GREAT PURITY, GREAT SINCERITY, GOODNESS and whose nature goes against anything that is EVIL and UNTRUE.   

The first word that came to me when I read Hosea this morning is “PAMBIHIRA.”  What kind of God is this?  It is he who rents (tears/cracks), yet also one who heals; he strikes but also binds our wounds … he revives us … so we may live in his presence.  He comes to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” …. and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!  PAMBIHIRA naman talaga yan.  Upon seeing our GREAT POTENTIAL and the way we often times MISDIRECT our lives … GOD STEPS IN to strike us and purify us … and for what purpose?  TO HELP US TO BE THE BEST PERSONS WE CAN BE?  He must also be looking at and hearing us, the Pharisee in the Gospel and saying PAMBIHIRA.  I want you to be the BEST PERSON that you can be.  You are more much more than the person you see in yourself. 

It is for this purpose that we are given the image of the sinful tax collector who makes an effort to enter the synagogue and pray amidst the PRYING-suspicious eyes of the Pharisees. He who stood off at a distance and with great humility … would not even raise his eyes but beat his breast and prays and begs: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ 

What saves us therefore from our DESTRUCTIVE SELVES?  Our readings today are clear:  God desires sincere LOVE in our hearts not sacrifice.  He wants us to develop a TRUE KNOWLEDGE of him; knowledge of God not burnt offerings, and the disposition of the tax collector who despite his sinfulness learns to come before the Lord, beats his breast, asks for forgiveness and accepts the mercy of the Lord.

Lord, There is NONE like You

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

Reflections on Micah 7:14-15, 18-20  /  Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

by Frank Savadera, SJ

     There’s an old Don Moen song that goes:  “I worship you Almighty God.  There is none like you.  I worship you, O Prince of peace.  That is what I want to do.  I give you praise for you are my righteousness.  I worship you almighty God.  There is none like you.”

     Who is there like our God who removes guilt and pardons sins?  Who is there like the God who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency?   Who is there like the God who not only cast into the depths of the sea all our sins but as well shows FAITHFULNESS (to Jacob) and GRACE (to Abraham);  he who have sworn to our fathers from days of old.  LORD, THERE IS INDEED NONE LIKE YOU. 

      I suggest that we continue to reflect on HOW TRULY UNIQUE GOD’S PRESENCE HAS BEEN IN EACH OF OUR LIVES.  I say each of our lives because this we know: God works in each one of us differently.   Can we indeed say that THERE IS NONE LIKE GOD?  He who despite my joys, pains, self-esteem and self-identity issues … kalokohan at ka-weidohan … always chooses to be here with us.   Can we indeed say that THERE IS NONE LIKE GOD.  He who calls us to GREATER LOVING … more so when it is difficult to love others and ourselves.   Can we indeed say that there is none like God because indeed after knowing myself and acknowledging my weaknesses … finally finally there is really really none like his PATIENCE, KINDNESS, FORGIVENESS and LOVE.  And more … there is NONE LIKE THIS GOD who even showers me with GRACES that I’ve never even expected for myself ... that is, ENOUGH GRACES to help sustain me in this journey of life that again unfolds.   THERE IS NONE LIKE GOD in His FAITHFULNESS AND GRACE.    

      We convince ourselves that there is NONE LIKE THE FATHER … because despite us … HE CALLS US BACK and WELCOMES US BACK TO HIS HOME.   Isn’t this the story that we find in our Gospel today?  There’s an image of a Father who parties and rejoices because His son who was once lost had indeed been found.   Can we just get into the STRANGENESS and ODDITY of the story.  We are always on our way back to the Father  ... not that we are to die soon ... BUT because of the strong conviction that we INDEED NEED the FATHER in our LIVES and we cannot spend the rest of our lives SEPARATED from Him ... squandering our God given talents ... and our time away from Him in a far away place.  As the younger son in the Gospel today recognized, we will also hunger and thirst for the presence of God.   We now know that indeed ... it is a source of GREAT CONSOLATION SIMPLY BEING HOME with the Father.    There is REALLY NONE LIKE HIM WHO WELCOMES US BACK TO HIS HOME. 

        I guess our Gospel also tells us that other than being home with the Father, we are also called to BEING MORE AT HOME with the Father ... as the second son himself was made to realize.  At HOMENESS with the Father ... for us means ...  that whatever is of God’s ... had already been shared with us.  “Everything I have,” says the Father, is yours.  Nothing is ever lost.  AT HOMENESS WITH THE FATHER means for us that we BRING HIM WITH US WHEREEVER WE GO. 

      Today, we simply pray and convince ourselves that indeed LORD THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU; NONE LIKE YOUR FAITHFULNESS & GRACE. 

       Lord, indeed THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU because you show us always the way … to find our way back to your home. 

       More important, there is none like you Lord because YOU ARE OUR HOME and whereever we go, we can always FEEL AT HOME in your presence.    

       Nice song there by DON MOEN: "There is really NONE LIKE YOU LORD … and in your presence I WORSHIP."  

The Call of Saul and Levi

First Week of Ordinary Time: January 16, 2016Reflections on 1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1/  Mark 2:13-17

My first reflection about the call of both Saul and Levi (Matthew) is this:  In calling us to do His work, God seems to see what is BEST in us.   When we often times get caught up with what is wrong and crazy about me, my pained history, my apparent wronged family background and uncontrolled compulsions, we would like to believe that there is a God who sees the BEST in us.   The Book of Samuel describes Saul as “a handsome young man. There was no other child of Israel more handsome than Saul; he stood head and shoulders above the people.”  God sees exactly what is BEST in Saul and in us as well.

Similarly, we can get hooked with descriptions of Levi (Matthew) as the corrupt and perhaps even a scheming tax collector and publican.  Much like the scribes and Pharisees, we may find ourselves asking:  “Why does Jesus eat with the unclean … the tax collectors and sinners?”  Jesus may have seen in Levi something beyond the human eyes can see.   The call of both Saul and Levi tells us that the eyes and perspective of God are different.  He sees what is BEST in us … yes … even in the hearts of sinners.  He comes not for the righteous but the sinners … may mean for us … that God sees great potentials in those who had strayed and had returned.  Beneath the filth and dirt … God sees the BEST in us. 

Secondly, God anoints people to serve as commanders over his heritage.  This phrase we encounter in our first reading today … the  LORD had anointed Saul as “commander … governor or protector of and over his heritage.  What a responsibility, isn’t it?  What heritage and ministry are we tasked to commandeer or protect?  The Book of Samuel tells us:  “You are to govern the LORD’s people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout.”  We also allow the Gospel, the work of Jesus to speak to us about what the Father wishes us to continue and propagate:  to ask people to COME and FOLLOW Him.   I realize that in all our dealings with people, we must need to ask ourselves: Will this activity and engagement bring more people to God?  To govern God's people is not about leading them astray but rather and mores strongly showing them the path to following Jesus.   

Lastly, my constant question about the apostle Matthew:  Why is he also called Levi?  The simplest explanation is:  many people in the Bible have two names:  Simon/ Peter; Thomas/ Dydimus, etc.  Nothing wrong having two names.  Another explanation:  Matthew is a Greek name, and Levi is Hebrew name. 

Another question:  Why do the Gospels of Luke and Mark use Levi while Matthew uses “Matthew”?  An explanation, the evangelist Matthew preferred “Matthew” over his own pre-conversion name, Levi.

Both names are useful for us.  We are both Levi and Matthew.  Levi means “to take”  or “taken from” while Matthew or Mattija (Hebrew)  means “the gift of the Lord”.    As we answer the call of the Lord, we think of ourselves as “Levi” the one taken by the Lord out of a crowd of believers and sinner.  In one description:  TAKEN  taken out of the mass of the perishing.  And we are as well MATTHEW … as governor and commander of God’s heritage, we are asked as well to serve as God’s gift and grace to His people and His church.  

In summary, we would like to believe that God sees the BEST in us. He asks us to COME … FOLLOW Him to serve as a commander of His heritage.  We are LEVI: God TAKES us and picks us up from our cycle of compulsions to serve as MATTHEW … God’s gift and grace to His people and His Church.

The Paralyzed and the Paralytic!

Memorial of Saint Ambrose

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Reflections on Isaiah 35:1-10 /  Psalm 85:9AB & 10, 11-12, 13-14 / Luke 5:17-26
by Frank Savadera SJ

We are reading from the FIRST BOOKS of Isaiah;  the Messiahnic prophesies;  Jerusalem was being threatened by its enemies and Isaiah sends out a prophesy:  “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.”  In short, the message for us is … DO NOT BE AFRAID!  All shall be WELL … because someone, a MESSIAH will come to relieve us from all our pains, doubts and fears.  Further, Isaiah says: We will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak. Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God.  This corresponds well to our Psalm today isn’t it:  Our God will come to save us!     In whatever way he may do so … we trust … that He will save us … as He is already saving us.  Just imagine if today … you were SOMEWHERE ELSE and NOT HERE.  You may have remained UNSAVED.  Thus, amid all our anxieties nowadays, the word of God remains for us:   DO NOT BE AFRAID!  All shall be WELL …    Our God will come to save us … yes … even from ourselves.

There are a lot of details in this Gospel that are worth tackling:  First, Jesus was struck not only by the faith of the paralyzed man but as well the faith of the friends who toiled to carry the man to Jesus.  It says:  “Jesus saw their faith.”  There is power of faith expressed as a community.  Second, while the other Gospels talked about opening up the roof (usually made up of straw), LUKE speaks about lowering the paralyzed man through the TILES of the roof.  Luke was talking to a more sophisticated crowd here.  Sosyal na sila … di ba?   

Another striking detail:  While the other Gospel versions talk about the PARALYTIC, Luke … a medical doctor, talks about the “man who was paralyzed.”  What’s the difference?  A “paralytic” is a more medical term, isn’t it?  On the other hand, “a man who is paralyzed” may mean a variety of things, isn’t it?  I can be paralyzed from doing my work and mission yet I need not be a paralytic.  What’s the point? 

Well for one, the Gospel today seems to project an image of Jesus who is overly SHOWING OFF.  Not only is he someone who heals PHYSICAL AILMENTS, HE also FORGIVES SINS … and this is when He gets into trouble.  Only God can forgive sins.  Yet Jesus declares it:  “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”   I say, He must really be showing off because He knew WHO were in His audience.  These were people with TILES on their roofs … Pharisees and teachers of the law were inside the house.   “As for you, your sins are forgiven,” means for all who were present that Jesus was NOT merely a HEALER (albularyo) but He claims equality with the Father as well.  Thus, for some conservative Jews, Jesus blasphemes.  He was being disrespectful of Yahweh.  They made judgments of Him. 

What’s my point?  God through Jesus communicates His DIVINITY to us.  This is happening even now … through His promises that ALL SHALL BE WELL.  DO NOT BE AFRAID!  Your enemies shall never overtake you.  Jesus communicates His divinity to us as a people.  He sees our collective faith.  We all need to pray for one another.  Jesus shows His divinity by showing impartiality for people with roofs that are either STRAW or TILED.   Jesus heals both the paralytic and the paralyzed.  At every opportunity,  God continually SHOWS OFF … communicates His power and divinity for all of us to see and experience.  What then seems to matter most for Jesus?      

In the Gospel, Luke notes that Jesus knew their thoughts.  Jesus asked them what He can be asking us as well:  “What are you thinking in your hearts?  He knows yet He STILL asks:  “What are you thinking in your hearts?   Not so much that He wanted to know … because He already knows … but I guess for us to determine for ourselves:  WHAT REALLY IS IN MY HEART?  What is in our hearts will determine if we will live our lives QUESTIONING always the miracles of Jesus OR decide to be seized continuously by awe and astonishment that “We have seen incredible things today … and everyday.”  

God Calls Us As He Knows US

Reflections on Romans 10:9-18 / Matthew 4:18-22

by Frank Savadera, SJ

I don’t know if you agree … but nowadays, we’ve been introduced to a barrage and variety of new superheroes. When in the past, we only had the likes of Superman, Batman and Robin, Captain America, Mighty Thor, Spider Man, the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Darna, Captain Barbell, Lastikman, etc. … nowadays … we hear of characters like the POWER RANGERS, the INCREDIBLES, the X-MEN, the SHE-HULK, DRAX THE DESTROYER,  the ANT MAN, MS MARVEL, SQUIRREL GIRL, etc. (Lola Nidora and AlDub had become popular but I don’t know if they are superheroes).  Mind you, I don’t know them all anymore.  Maybe you know better than I.  The common element among these superheroes, if we notice is that they all possess some kind of super powers not available to ordinary creatures like you and me.  Consequently, as encapsulated by Spider Man in his popular line:  With GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY … and not only that … with GREAT POWER comes GREAT POPULARITY as well.   

I call your attention to the statement we read from the Gospel today:  “They were casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Immediately, we may think … Oh, our Lord as bestowing on these simple folks some kind of power that will give these men SUPER HERO and ROCK STAR STATUS.  On one hand … we say … YES … they’ve been handed some form of power.  Saint Andrew came to evangelize parts of Greece and he was martyred there.  Yes … the apostles have in a way become popular … popular enough that we celebrate the feasts of saints every so often.   But how are Jesus’ apostles or how those whom he had called … different from the usual SUPER HEROES?    

They were fishermen and they were asked to be fishers of men.  The CALL comes with an understanding of who and what we are … my IDENTITY as a person.  I think this is where the CALL, the POWER and ROCK STAR and SUPER HERO status lie:  Maybe God will not call us BEYOND our LIMITED CAPACITIES or expect or endow us with EXTRA ORDINARY skills … but HE CALLS US AS HE KNOWS US.  The question is:  do we find time to know more about ourselves.  Minsan kasi … banat lang ng banat.  Suntok lang ng suntok.  Eh madalas … wala tuloy tayong tinatamaan.  Sometimes, we are just so excited to get into a project yet not making an inventory of my capacity to comply with requirements for the said project.  What happens to us?  We can actually end up NOT finishing well, right? Worst, we can get very very frustrated with ourselves.  The apostles were fishermen and they were called to be fishers of men.  The Call is very much hinged on how God knows us and how we had gotten to know more of ourselves.   Kung SINO KA at ANO KA… dyan at ganyan ka tatawagin at gagamitin ng Diyos.  That is where your SUPER HERO and ROCK STAR status lies. 

How are we then to be helped in understanding this person whom God is calling?  Paul in his letter to the Romans asked:  How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?   FAITH COMES FROM HEARING!  Our ears must be constantly attuned to the sound waves of God … else we get caught up with the bewildering variety of noises around us.  We have to hear and listen to how God speaks even if what we hear may be totally different from what we expect to hear.  Saint Paul again says:  “How can they call on him in whom they have not believed?”   Hearing and listening must bring us to believe.  The are two ways to do so in the first reading:  TO BELIEVE IN OUR HEARTS and BELIEVE WITH OUR HEARTS.  Believe in our hearts more than in our heads:  This asks us how do I feel?  Am I at peace?  What emotions come to me?  Believe with our hearts: a certain FIRMNESS and COURAGE to manifest what I believe against all odds.  Believing with one’s heart.  And lastly, we FOLLOW and PROCLAIM/ CONFESS with our MOUTHS what we believe.   Imagine this line from the 1^st reading:  Their voice has gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

We are SUPERHEROES in our own right as we see God’s call as totally hinged on our understanding of who and what we are.  We fortify and nourish such a call by constantly finding time to HEAR & LISTEN to God’s Word; having the courage to risk and believe with passion to proclaim God word to the ends of the earth.  RockStar ka!  

Wicked, Plunderers Who?

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Reflections on 1 Maccabees 6:1-13 /  Luke 20:27-40

by Frank Savadera, SJ

Today, as in the Ignatian way, we are asked to reflect on how life will end for us.    Our readings today narrate for us stories of lives ending or moving to the afterlife.  The first reading speaks to us a Greek king named Antiochus.  Himself a historical figure, Antiochus colonized Jerusalem and was known to be very harsh and violent against the Jews (the Jews called him by a name which means “the WICKED”).   Much like the story we pick up from the Book of Maccabees, Antiochus apparently was keen in identifying cities famous for wealth in silver and gold and other treasures.  What a preoccupation (hobby)?     He gathers up his army and ransacks them all, killing and murdering those that come his way.  In history, reportedly … he even ventured southward … to Egypt … to sustain his vicious plunder of other people’s wealth.  Anong problema nya?  What a BULLY?   In our first reading today, Antiochus comes to the end of his days.  Down and defeated,  he says:  “Now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.”  What a SAD life, isn’t it?  What a way to end one’s life?   Is this how things will end up for us as well? The story of Antiochus must thus make us ask:  How is it like for me at the end of my days?  Or perhaps more appropriately:   How is it like for me to live my life at present?   Am I an Antiochus?  WICKED?  One who SEIZES and PLUNDERS the LIFE out of another? 

I think, wicked is easier to understand.  What about PLUNDER?  Isn’t it that we sometimes meet people who SUCK OUT THE LIFE OUT OF US? Nakakapagod kasama!  We feel PLUNDERED!  When we I beginning my serious discernment in the Jesuit candidacy house, my fellows and I had what we called the VOCATION VAMPIRES!  They seem t be still here with us!  They suck out the VOCATION out of anyone!  BEWARE of PLUNDERERS!  Or better yet … ask … ask … ask … am I turning out to be an Antiochus! Am I a PLUNDERER!   Do I wish to live my life this way?

There’s a part of the mass when the priest washes his hands after the preparation of the gifts.  One time, in the past, I’ve heard a priest saying aloud the prayer:  Lord Jesus, WASH away my sins and cleanse me of all MY WRETCHEDNESS!   We all can STILL pray that we be delivered from our manifest ways of BEING WICKED!  Antiochus!             

The Sadducees in the Gospel, on the other hand, present for us another preoccupation.  Since they do not believe in the resurrection, let me call this preoccupation:  A CYNICISM for HOPE.  People die and there is no resurrection.  The Sadducees believed plainly that when we die, we simply go to this place called the SHEOL … the place of the "partying" DEAD.   In our case however, we … further add … that we are transfigured … we become better versions of ourselves (ie., we become younger, more handsome,  more healthy, etc.).  Isn’t this the resurrection?   We believe that DEATH is not the end of life for us.  As Saint Paul would even say:  DEATH no longer has power over us.  We had been promised RESURRECTION.  This is our HOPE.  This is what we anticipate.  We are no longer DEAD people walking and partying!  We celebrate life.   This is my reflection on the statement:  ‘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.”  Those who have died … Abraham, Isaac, Jacob … my parents and grandparents, your loved ones are NOT DEAD.  Everyone who comes in the presence of the Lord are once again made alive … because God is the God of the living and not the dead.  What a folly indeed for the Sadducees to be too concerned about earthly things:  Whose WIFE will she be?  The Lord is offering us MUCH MUCH more than our earthly preoccupations.  The DEAD is made alive!  And transfigured … of course.  

The Memorial of Mary’s Presentation at the Temple therefore continually encourages us to rededicate our lives for that HOPE.  We cannot allow ourselves to be continually WICKED … to PLUNDER the life and spaces of others.  Death is not the end of life for us!  We are asked to be hopeful of a transfigured life beyond death.  Thus, we continue to rededicate our lives everyday, that we may affirm that the Lord is indeed the God of the living than the dead.