SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2023
SATURDAY OF THE THIRTY THIRD WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME A
SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA, Virgin and Martyr (Opt Mem)
1 Maccabees 6:1-13
Luke 20:27-40
THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AND LIFE ETERNAL
One of the Cardinal teachings of the Church is the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, eternal life. That is the core of the Christian faith. That is the aspiration of every good Christian. That our lives on earth is but temporal. That the eternal life is the life we aspire and work for. That life is not fulfilled until we enter into eternal life. And this eternal life and resurrection of the body is that brought about by the coming of Christ and by his suffering, death and ultimate resurrection from death.
So when Christ preached the doctrine of the resurrection during his life on earth, the Sadducees came to question him and sets themselves to counter his teaching with their hypothetical story as we heard in the gospel of today. All was in the bid to discredit the doctrine of the resurrection and to make senseless this teaching of Christ.
But it was not just a teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. He also came to fulfill it by his rising from the dead. His resurrection is much more a statement and reality of the doctrine itself. And that is what every Christian hopes and leans on. That is the reason of our living in this world. To live with God forever. To abide in his presence and to rise from dead one day when the Lord Jesus comes again.
This hope is our joy and our aspiration. But it is predicated on the good life we live, the attendant holiness, sincerity, purposefulness that we put into our lives by following the teachings of Christ and pursuing the life of peace, accepting and living closely with our God.
The opposite is not so much a pleasant life either since it leaves one in serious guilt, sorrow and agony. Sin imprisons the conscience and dampens the heart of man. The story in our first reading narrates how King Antiochus lived with much sorry and agony. He was not able to accomplish his life struggles and he plunged himself into untold sorrows and agony of the mind.
Many of us one time or another experience this agony of the mind especially when we are perturbed by the sins we have committed. We live in such intense sorrow and agony of mind. We find ourselves in great grief of soul, grief that has no cure. Sometimes many think that by drinking heavily and getting drunk or by engaging in drugs or smoking, or even engaging in pleasure inordinately may take away such grief and sorrow. But how wrong they are because the drug will wane, the pleasure will be but momentary and the end is the rise in this grief and sorrow of the conscience.
We must turn to God and be repentant of our sins, make restitution and atonement before these can go away gradually. There is need therefore to keep our hearts free from such tormenting agony, grief and sorrow. And this can be done by reminding ourselves of the task of seeking good life and pursuing it vigorously.
The Lord has prepared a home for us all and desires that we come into it prepared. Let us hold firm this doctrine of life eternal, and the resurrection of our bodies on the last day by the good life we must live and the ideal life of grace we must abide in.
Heavenly Father, we are sometimes in agony of soul, perturbed by our sins, battered in conscience by the many atrocities we committed against you and our neighbours. Deliver and heal us of these agonies, sorrows, guilt and grief of the soul. Help us to recognized your voice drawing us closer to you. May we ever strive to live the ideal life of Christ, which brings holiness, joy and peace of heart so that we may gain and prepare ourselves for the eternal life and the day of the resurrection of the body through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
