Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Sunday Word

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14
2 Thes 2:16-3:5
Lk 20:27-38
We are coming so much closer to the end of the liturgical season. And this Sunday we hear about preparing for the end of time. “In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.” It is the Good News that we can stay alert and will be ready when it is our time to recognize the Lord’s coming in our own life’s challenges today.

In the gospel from Saint Luke, the Sadducees pose a riddle to Jesus. Jesus answers and disarms his questioners. He spends the time teaching not only about the resurrection but also something about marriage.

We also have the seven Maccabean brothers in the first scripture this weekend - but their's is a different story. The brothers are unwilling to compromise when faced with eating pork. So, in the midst of suffering and death for their faithfulness to their God, they give an early testimony to their belief in life after death.

And somewhat connected to the first and third readings today we have the passage from the second letter to the Thessalonians. As a part of the trilogy of readings we find Saint Paul encouraging his readers not to worry about the time of the Second Coming but rather to stand firm in their faith in the moment. The moment is what Paul is all about for today! Be in the NOW!

TODAY we celebrate we commemorate the the martyrdom of our four Marianists: Miguel Léiber Garay, SM; Florencio Arániz Cejudo, SM; Joaquín Ochoa Salazar, SM; and Sabino Ayastuy Errasti, SM all martyred during the relgious persecution in Spain in 1936.

498 Spanish martyrs were proclaimed blessed and marked the largest number to be beatified simultaneously in the history of the Church. Some fifty thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square for the celebration of the martyrs.

"The message of the martyrs is a message of faith and love," affirmed Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Saints' Causes. Beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on October 28, 2007