In the first reading today from 2 Timothy 1, St. Paul says “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord…” It seems there is a movement afoot to get Christians to sit down and shut up. These words of St. Paul are an awesome reminder to us that we must bold in the face of evil, a light in a dark world.
In the Gospel reading from Mark 12, some Saducees come to Jesus with yet another trick question. They pose to him a scenario where a man marries a woman and dies. Likewise, the man’s brothers all marry the woman and die, leaving no descendants. They as whose wife she will be at the resurrection. (They asked Him this because they did not believe in the resurrection.) Jesus answers the question and ends with, “(God) is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
This is a key passage for us to remember when we think of the Communion of Saints. Our brothers and sisters who have gone on to heavenly glory before us are not dead at all! They are more alive than we could ever be here on earth. Let us pray for the intercession of those who are close to God, in heaven and on earth. All holy men and women, pray for us!
Father, you are God of the living. Make us more alive in Christ than we ever dreamed. Amen.
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