November 23, 2019 Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

2019년 11월 23일 연중 제33주간 토요일  

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

 마카베오기 상. 6,1-13
그 무렵 1 안티오코스 임금은 내륙의 여러 지방을 돌아다니다가, 페르시아에 있는 엘리마이스라는 성읍이 은과 금이 많기로 유명하다는 말을 들었다. 2 그 성읍의 신전은 무척 부유하였다. 거기에는 마케도니아 임금 필리포스의 아들로서 그리스의 첫 임금이 된 알렉산드로스가 남겨 놓은 금 방패와 가슴받이 갑옷과 무기도 있었다.
3 안티오코스는 그 성읍으로 가서 그곳을 점령하고 약탈하려 하였으나, 그 계획이 성읍 주민들에게 알려지는 바람에 그렇게 할 수가 없었다. 4 그들이 그와 맞서 싸우니 오히려 그가 달아나게 되었다. 그는 크게 실망하며 그곳을 떠나 바빌론으로 향하였다.
5 그런데 어떤 사람이 페르시아로 안티오코스를 찾아와서, 유다 땅으로 갔던 군대가 패배하였다고 보고하였다. 6 강력한 군대를 이끌고 앞장서 나아갔던 리시아스가 유다인들 앞에서 패배하여 도망치고, 유다인들이 아군을 무찌르고 빼앗은 무기와 병사와 많은 전리품으로 더욱 강력해졌다는 것이다. 7 또 유다인들이 안티오코스가 예루살렘 제단 위에 세웠던 역겨운 것을 부수어 버리고, 성소 둘레에 전처럼 높은 성벽을 쌓았으며, 그의 성읍인 벳 추르에도 그렇게 하였다는 것이다.
8 이 말을 들은 임금은 깜짝 놀라 큰 충격을 받았다. 그리고 자기가 원하던 대로 일이 되지 않아 실망한 나머지 병이 들어 자리에 누웠다.
9 그는 계속되는 큰 실망 때문에 오랫동안 누워 있다가 마침내 죽음이 닥친 것을 느꼈다. 10 그래서 그는 자기 벗들을 모두 불러 놓고 말하였다.
“내 눈에서는 잠이 멀어지고 마음은 근심으로 무너져 내렸다네. 11 나는 마음속으로 이런 생각을 했네. ‘도대체 내가 이 무슨 역경에 빠졌단 말인가? 내가 이 무슨 물살에 휘말렸단 말인가? 권력을 떨칠 때에는 나도 쓸모 있고 사랑받는 사람이었는데 …….’
12 내가 예루살렘에 끼친 불행이 이제 생각나네. 그곳에 있는 금은 기물들을 다 빼앗았을뿐더러, 까닭 없이 유다 주민들을 없애 버리려고 군대를 보냈던 거야.
13 그 때문에 나에게 불행이 닥쳤음을 깨달았네. 이제 나는 큰 실망을 안고 이국땅에서 죽어 가네.”  

 

복음

 루카. 20,27-40
그 때에 27 부활이 없다고 주장하는 사두가이 몇 사람이 예수님께 다가와 물었다. 28 “스승님, 모세는 ‘어떤 사람의 형제가 자식 없이’ 아내를 남기고 ‘죽으면, 그 사람이 죽은 이의 아내를 맞아들여 형제의 후사를 일으켜 주어야 한다.’고 저희를 위하여 기록해 놓았습니다.
29 그런데 일곱 형제가 있었습니다. 맏이가 아내를 맞아들였는데 자식 없이 죽었습니다. 30 그래서 둘째가, 31 그다음에는 셋째가 그 여자를 맞아들였습니다. 그렇게 일곱이 모두 자식을 남기지 못하고 죽었습니다.
32 마침내 그 부인도 죽었습니다. 33 그러면 부활 때에 그 여자는 그들 가운데 누구의 아내가 되겠습니까? 일곱이 다 그 여자를 아내로 맞아들였으니 말입니다.”
34 예수님께서 그들에게 이르셨다. “이 세상 사람들은 장가도 들고 시집도 간다. 35 그러나 저세상에 참여하고 또 죽은 이들의 부활에 참여할 자격이 있다고 판단받는 이들은 더 이상 장가드는 일도 시집가는 일도 없을 것이다.
36 천사들과 같아져서 더 이상 죽는 일도 없다. 그들은 또한 부활에 동참하여 하느님의 자녀가 된다.
37 그리고 죽은 이들이 되살아난다는 사실은, 모세도 떨기나무 대목에서 ‘주님은 아브라함의 하느님, 이사악의 하느님, 야곱의 하느님’이라는 말로 이미 밝혀 주었다. 38 그분은 죽은 이들의 하느님이 아니라 산 이들의 하느님이시다. 사실 하느님께는 모든 사람이 살아 있는 것이다.”
39 그러자 율법 학자 몇 사람이 “스승님, 잘 말씀하셨습니다.” 하였다. 40 사람들은 감히 그분께 더 이상 묻지 못하였다

November 23, 2019

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass 

Reading 1 

1 Mc 6:1-13

As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces,
he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais,
famous for its wealth in silver and gold,
and that its temple was very rich,
containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weapons
left there by Alexander, son of Philip,
king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks.
He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city.
But he could not do so,
because his plan became known to the people of the city
who rose up in battle against him.
So he retreated and in great dismay withdrew from there
to return to Babylon.

While he was in Persia, a messenger brought him news
that the armies sent into the land of Judah had been put to flight;
that Lysias had gone at first with a strong army
and been driven back by the children of Israel;
that they had grown strong
by reason of the arms, men, and abundant possessions
taken from the armies they had destroyed;
that they had pulled down the Abomination
which he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem;
and that they had surrounded with high walls
both the sanctuary, as it had been before,
and his city of Beth-zur.

When the king heard this news,
he was struck with fear and very much shaken.
Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed.
There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow,
for he knew he was going to die.

So he called in all his Friends and said to them:
"Sleep has departed from my eyes,
for my heart is sinking with anxiety.
I said to myself: "Into what tribulation have I come,
and in what floods of sorrow am I now!
Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule."
But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem,
when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver
that were in it, and for no cause
gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed.
I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me;
and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land."

Responsorial Psalm 

Ps 9:2-3, 4 and 6, 16 and 19

R. (see 16a) I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
R. I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.
Because my enemies are turned back,
overthrown and destroyed before you.
You rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
their name you blotted out forever and ever.
R. I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.
The nations are sunk in the pit they have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor shall the hope of the afflicted forever perish.
R. I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.

 

Gospel 

Lk 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

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «For He is God of the living and not of the dead, and for him all are alive»

Fr. Ramon CORTS i Blay
(Barcelona, Spain)

Today, God's word deals with the outstanding matter of the resurrection from the dead. It is peculiar that, as the Sadducees did, we keep on asking useless and pointless questions. We try to explain the substance of afterlife with world criteria, when in the world to come everything is different: «But for those who are considered worthy of the world to come and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage» (Lk 20:35). Setting off from wrong criteria leads you to wrong conclusions.

Should we love each other more and better, we would not be surprised to see that, in Heaven, there is not the exclusive kind of love we have down here, otherwise normal for us because of our limited intelligence, but which makes it very difficult for us to get away from our closer circles. In Heaven we shall all love each other with a pure heart, without any feelings of envy or distrust, and, not only husband and wife, our sons or those or our own blood, but everybody, without exception nor language country, race or culture discriminations, for «true love attains a great strength» (St. Paulinus of Nola).

These words of the Scripture coming out of Jesus' lips are very convenient for us. They indeed are, for, it could happen to us that, in the maelstrom of our daily chores that do not allow us any time to think, and influenced by an environmental culture that denies eternal life, we should be doubtful with regards to the resurrection of the dead. Yes, it is very convenient that the same Lord tells us there will be a future beyond the destruction of our body and of this passing world: «Yes, the dead will be raised, and even Moses implied it in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For He is God of the living and not of the dead, and for him all are alive» (Lk 20:37-38).

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

When we got bored during a high school religion class, we would try to tie our teacher up in a theological tangle like whether it counted to baptize a baby with orange juice in a car that broke down in the desert. With luck, we could kill a class period.

This came to mind when I read today’s gospel. In it the Sadducees try to trap Jesus by asking him who a woman is married to after death when she’s had more than one husband. Unlike some of my more hapless teachers, Jesus sidesteps the nonsense.

He in effect, tells them that their question is irrelevant to God. “And he is not God of the dead but of the living for to him all are alive.” Your point is moot because people are alive after death. Bravo Jesus!

The Sadducees aren’t the only ones who have expected God to judge people’s adherence to their rules. I grew up in a Catholic culture that was almost as obsessed with legalistic trivia as they were.

• If you were distracted during the priest’s communion (easy to do when his back was turned to you), had you missed Mass?

• Could you eat beans on Friday if a tiny piece of pork floated in the can even if you removed it?

• Would you spend time in purgatory for talking in church?

• If you were female was it sinful not to wear a hat in church?

This looks silly in retrospect but we took such questions pretty seriously in the 1950’s.

Today’s gospel teaches us that God is concerned about big issues like those in the two great commandments about loving him and our neighbor, not our own peculiar rules.  Probably God cares no more whether a Muslim eats a piece of bacon than he does if I have a hamburger on a Friday in Lent.

When I picture God judging me, I hope he doesn’t nail me for all my garden variety faults. Yes, I gossiped. Yes, I lost my temper etc.

I HOPE God will be concerned with things that Ignatian spirituality asks us to focus on like whether we have tried to be men and women for and with others or tried to change the world for the good.

Today Jesus asks us to consider if we are asking the right questions so that our concerns align more closely with God’s. 

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 "All live to him"

Is your life earth-bound or heaven-bound? The Sadducees had one big problem - they could not conceive of heaven beyond what they could see with their naked eyes! Aren't we often like them? We don't recognize spiritual realities because we try to make heaven into an earthly image. The Sadducees came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality, nor in angels or evil spirits. Their religion was literally grounded in an earthly image of heaven.

The Scriptures give witness - we will rise again to immortal life
Jesus retorts by dealing with the fact of the resurrection. The scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, when God manifests his presence to Moses in the burning bush, the Lord tells him that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He shows that the patriarchs who died hundreds of years previously were still alive in God. Jesus defeats their arguments by showing that God is a living God of a living people. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived. That friendship could not cease with death. As Psalm 73:23-24 states: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory." 

The ultimate proof of the resurrection is the Lord Jesus and his victory over death when he rose from the tomb. Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he exclaimed:  "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?" (John 11:25). Jesus asks us the same question. Do you believe in the resurrection and in the promise of eternal life with God?

Jesus came to restore Paradise and everlasting life for us
The Holy Spirit reveals to us the eternal truths of God's unending love and the life he desires to share with us for all eternity. Paul the Apostle, quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17) states: "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him," God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The promise of paradise - heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God - is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you live now in the joy and hope of the life of the age to come?

"May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen. May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart's vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages." (Prayer of Origen, 185-254 AD)

Psalm 19:1-6,15,18

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies turned back, they stumbled and perished before you.
4 For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.
5 You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins; their cities you have rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.
15 The nations have sunk in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid has their own foot been caught.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Jesus cites Moses to affirm the resurrection, by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)

"The Savior also demonstrated the great ignorance of the Sadducees by bringing forward their own leader Moses, who was clearly acquainted with the resurrection of the dead. He set God before us saying in the bush, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob' (Exodus 3:6). Of whom is he God, if, according to their argument, these have ceased to live? He is the God of the living. They certainly will rise when his almighty right hand brings them and all that are on the earth there. For people not to believe that this will happen is worthy perhaps of the ignorance of the Sadducees, but it is altogether unworthy of those who love Christ. We believe in him who says, 'I am the resurrection and the life' (John 11:25). He will raise the dead suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, and at the last trumpet. It shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52). For Christ our common Savior will transfer us into incorruption, glory and to an incorruptible life." (excerpt from COMMENTARY on LUKE, HOMILY 136)

  

More Homilies

November 25, 2017 Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary TimeNovember 21, 2015