PRI Reflections on Scripture | Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

Gospel 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. Reflection One of the things that Jesus brought into consciousness in his story as it unfolds in the New Testament, is how we have to go beyond the logical, beyond the ordinary, enter the world of mysticism and mystery. And in this particular passage, it seems to me that the Sadducees are using their minds, and Jesus inviting people to live not so much in your mind, but in a heart relationship with God, an intimacy with him. Where the promise is, nothing will harm you and you will always live. Nothing can destroy you. Closing Prayer Father, bless us with the confidence that comes from knowing who you really are. Help us not to ever doubt that your plan for us is that we grow, we evolve, we become more who we are and we ultimately live with you forever. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices