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.
