Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 6, 2022
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 out ‘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.”
“I guess it’s a good thing we believe in new life, right?” Initially I was shocked that something so profound could come from a seventeen-year-old, especially considering our sophisticated fast-food setting and meal of chicken tenders & fries. But the Sadducees in today’s gospel remind us that Christ will always overturn our expectations for the better.
Dylan, a senior in my youth ministry program, uttered these words. As the youth minister at his parish, I’ve come to know Dylan as a young man who faces each day with optimism. But Dylan wasn’t sure how to handle the string of losses that had come his way in the last six months: the divorce of his parents, the sudden & tragic death of his best friend in a car accident, and the loss of his home in Hurricane Ian.
I found myself sitting across from him at a fast food restaurant attempting to check in with how he was doing. I was at a loss for words, but Dylan had the right ones.
“I guess it’s a good thing we believe in new life, right? Because I’m going to need some!”
He grinned and chuckled as he said it. Dylan recognized that the hardships we all encounter are the reality of life—the ongoing messiness that simply comes with our humanity. It’s the same messiness that the Sadducees experienced, too. It can feel overwhelming and all-consuming, so much so that we may believe that that’s all there is.
Christ reminds us, however, that we are made for more. New life. Resurrection. Hope. Our lives, these hardships, this messiness, will pass, and we will meet the God of the living face-to-face. Dylan’s optimism each day is not in vain, and the hope we experience is promised to us eternally.
It really is a good thing we believe in new life.
Prayer
O God of the living, you are the God of resurrection—the God who makes a way where there is no way, who makes a way through tombs that are closed. Jesus himself is the promise of the resurrection of the dead. You, Father, gave us the empty tomb, a silent rock that whispers to us a promise of life. It is the same promise you made from a bush burning in the desert: “I will deliver you.” You, God of the living, crush death and mend everything that is broken. Because of you, even death turns to life, and our fear turns to gladness. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today, the Church in Ireland celebrates the Feast of All the Saints of Ireland. This is something of a regional version of All Saints Day, honoring the many saints and scholars of Ireland. It is a reminder to us of a rich heritage of Catholic faith that is rooted in Ireland, that grew across the sea with the many Irish immigrants who traveled here, and has blossomed in the American Church.
The official litany used in the Irish liturgy for this feast concludes with a prayer asking God for an increase in grace to all of “us who celebrate the memory of all the saints of our island.” Just as on earth, the Irish people rejoiced to “be one with them in race, so in heaven, may we deserve to share with them an inheritance of bliss.”
This stained glass image of St. Patrick stands in a reading room in the Hesburgh Library. Other great Irish saints whose stories have been told here include St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Laurence O’Toole, Patrick's driver, St. Odran, St. Kieren of Saighir, St. Angus the Culdee, the great explorer St. Brendan, and St. Columba.
Ireland has a particularly privileged place at the University of Notre Dame, and the University has important ministries in Ireland, including Teach Bhríde and the Newman Centre for Faith and Reason. Let us pray with the saints of Ireland today for their intercession for their country, which has such a special relationship with our University.
All the Saints of Ireland, pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!