32 SUNDAY OF THE YEAR 22

32ND SUNDAY, 06 NOV 2022: 2 MACCABEES 7. 1-2, 9-14; 2 THES 2.16 – 3.5; LUKE 20. 27-38 (REFLECTION 1) Thrust: A life for Life! Indicative: Even though we are on this earth, we cannot be earth-bound because we are heaven-destined and heaven-bound. Resurrection is our destiny 1. God is living! This is profoundly consoling. God is not dead, though many events and situations force us to believe so. Though many try to kill the godly spirit and bury him in the coffin of evil, He is not dead. Though many deaden His presence and action in their lives, He is not dead. 2. Though He does not matter to many, His spirit never ceases. He lives on. His power cannot be subdued by all other powers put together. Though many do not recognise His intervention because they are too busy, He continues to intervene in human lives and situations. 3. Therefore Foster faith in God’s presence. Foster hope in His action and intervention. See the faith and hope of the seven brothers in the first reading from Maccabees. Even under persecution, even when they were in the jaws of death, they did not give up their faith. They did not become hopeless. They were not intimidated. They were stirred by indomitable courage. 4. If He is a living God, We must feel Him coming alive in our lives. We must feel His presence and power. In other words, we must become alive to Him. We must live with Him and for Him. For the seven brothers, God was very much alive. He was so close to them. That is why they kept their faith and hope in Him alive and ardent. 5. We are reminded today once again that this earth is only a land of duty, a transit port for us. Heaven and eternity are our destination and destination. So we cannot be earth-bound. We cannot restrict our thinking to earthly interests. We cannot be caught up in worldly perspectives. The Sadducees in the gospel indicate this earthliness. They do not go beyond mundane concerns. They even attribute to and impose earthly and human perspectives on the divine realities. They apply the limited human categories to the divine as well. 6. We need to Raise ourselves to be the sons of resurrection and not restriction and constriction. We must not be the children of this age but of heaven. We are equal to angels. It implies being “in the presence of God”, “in closeness with him”, “ever at His service in obedience”, and “spiritual and pure” before His holiness. It also implies, “not bound by body and the physical or the material”, but “free and prompt to live and act in a higher, spiritual, divine realm.” 7. Thus, to be the sons of God and resurrection would mean that we are not bound by earthly ties and attachments. We constantly raise ourselves both in terms of attention and action. We have no ulterior motives to deceive or trap others. We do not give up our sacred traditions and laws that are life-promoting values. We remain loyal to them, even in the face of death, like the seven brothers. 8. In the light of the second reading, the children of resurrection are those who trust and experience God’s own comfort even amidst all tribulation. And they continue firm in every good work and word. They shall experience God’s power that guards them against the evil one. They constantly strive to speed ahead and honour the word of the Lord. Imperative: We cannot afford to get stuck to the earth. We cannot demean ourselves with earthly and evil passions and pursuits. We cannot debase ourselves from being the children of a living God (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 20 NOVEMBER) Focus: We are given this life so that we can live it well. This earthly life is only a temporary duration and we should never lose sight of what lies after 1. We often experience and witness a dominant culture of death. A lot of fear, violence, and destruction surrounds us. Respect for life and human dignity, values, and relationships too is fast declining. The idea of God, as well as their approach to Him, is shallow and defective. God is seen as a God of stop-gaps, one who is sought in times of need and use. Further, there is a heavy tendency to “privatise” God also, confining Him to the boundaries of religion or class. 2. All these are nothing but tendencies of making God dead. Perhaps this is the re-rising of the negative philosophy of Nietzsche, “God is dead”. When people do not live and promote the life that is given by God, they deaden God. When God does not live within and amidst the humans, they deaden Him. When His kingdom of love, justice, and peace does not reign among the humans, they make Him dead. 3. It is in this context, the declaration of Jesus that “God is not God of the dead, but of the living; because all live to Him” makes tremendous sense. Death is not our end or destiny. Life and that too, eternal life is our end and destiny. Physical death is closure only to earthly life. But it is an opening upon a new life, an everlasting life. 4. This life in eternity is a life above and beyond the earthly life. This means that we are raised to a higher level where we do not operate merely on the basis of earthly ties or human attachments. We will also not be carried away by earthly pursuits or interests. We become fully spiritual and heavenly. In the words of Jesus, we “are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” 5. Therefore, to attain that life of eternity, we need to recommit ourselves to making God live in us and among us. We must be alive to God. We must foster a culture of life that reflects God, for all life belongs to Him. God must re-enter and live more intimately in human hearts, lives, societies, and nations. For this, one essential condition is the realization and repentance over our sinfulness, like Antiochus in the first reading from 1 Maccabees. He reflects, realizes, and repents over his wickedness against Israel and God Himself. Direction: The reality of death must constantly remind us that we must look beyond death. Our faith makes us focused on eternity; our hope must make us directed to heaven, and our charity must make us committed to earth (REFLECTION 3 FROM 2020, 21 NOVEMBER) Focus: This earthly life is not an end by itself but resurrection and eternal life is our destiny. Therefore, let this life now be a worthy passage to the life then 1. Jesus declares: “God is the God of living and not of the dead, for to Him everyone is alive”. Thereby, two fundamental truths are affirmed. God is God of eternity, and we too are destined for the same eternity. Our God is a living God; He is the God of life and He shares this same life, His own life with us. If this is so, then we will live with Him in eternity. 2. This earthly human life is only temporary duration, a transit in preparation for that life without end. Therefore, death is not a permanent closure or cessation of life but is only a door that opens upon resurrection and risen life in heaven. But this destiny after death commits us to life before death to live it with a spirit of focus and direction, detachment and soaring high. Our life on earth should be in such a way qualitative that it qualifies us for life in heaven. 3. Unfortunately, many lose sight of this fundamental nature of nurturing and orientation to life in eternity. Consequently, they tend to live a culture of death. They tend to be heavily conditioned and stuck with only the temporary and transient. They fail to value and appreciate life. They fail to realise that life is precious and sacred because it is a share of God’s own life. That is why often it is so much abused and destroyed. 4. Further, the loss of the sense of eternity also makes people lose their sense of purpose and direction. They become excessively earth-bound. They do not raise themselves to what is above, what is high and lofty. It is ironic that people who claim to be foresighted and far-sighted fail to see the horizons of eternity. Direction: Certainly, all of us are alive to God because He is ever-living. But how much He is alive to us and how much we make Him live in and through us? (REFLECTION 4 FROM 02 JUNE 2021, (Parallel) MARK 12. 18-27) Focus: To be faithful is to be full of faith, that is, to be filled with the power of the Spirit to remain in faith and trustworthiness Our God is a God of the living and not of the dead. As long as we live in Him, we have life. But when we live in sin, we are dead though physically alive. We as faithful people are called to carry this life within us. It is a call to live by the power of this life, to nurture it, and to bear witness to it. How to live and witness this godly life? It is by not being intimidated by the pressures and assaults of evil, or not being weighed down by the unjust reproaches of the people, as in the case of Jesus whom the Sadducees tried to corner with the question on the resurrection. Jesus indicates who are the resurrected people. They are not bound by mere earthly restrictions or attachments. They rise higher and operate in a higher realm, like the angels in heaven. These always do God’s will and obey His commands. Obviously, the criteria of heaven are different from those of the world! Direction: The life of resurrection can already be anticipated and foretasted here on earth itself, provided that we live like angels. That is, with detachment from all the binding ties of the earth and with singular attachment to God