First Reading: Revelation 11:4-12
These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of their mouths and shall devour their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain.
These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they will.
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the abyss shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord also was crucified.
And they of the tribes and peoples and tongues and nations shall see their bodies for three days and a half, and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchers. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth.
And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them: Come up here. And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 144:1, 2, 9-10
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Alleluia: Second Timothy 1:10
Gospel: Luke 20:27-40
And there came to Him some of the Sadducees who deny that there is any resurrection, and they asked Him saying: Master, Moses wrote unto us, if any man's brother die having a wife and he leave no children, that his brother should take her to wife and raise up seed unto his brother.
There were therefore seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died without children. And the next took her to wife and he also died childless. And the third took her, and in like manner all seven, and they left no children and died. Last of all the woman died also.
In the resurrection therefore whose wife of them shall she be? For all seven had her to wife.
And Jesus said to them: The children of this world marry and are given in marriage, but they who shall be accounted worthy of that world and of the resurrection from the dead shall neither be married nor take wives, neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
Now that the dead rise again, Moses also showed at the bush when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.
And some of the scribes answering said to Him: Master, you have said well. And after that they dared not ask Him any more questions.
Reflection
The world can rejoice over the defeat of God's witnesses. The two olive trees who stand before the Lord of the earth give their testimony, the beast makes war and kills them, and people celebrate. But after three and a half days the spirit of life from God enters them, they stand on their feet, and a voice says: Come up here. They go up to heaven in a cloud.
Jesus tells the Sadducees the same truth from another side: God is not the God of the dead but of the living. For all live to Him. The resurrection is not just a continuation of this world. Those worthy of that world neither marry nor die anymore, they are like angels, children of the resurrection.
Our Savior has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel. Even when faithful witness seems to fail, God is our Rock and deliverer. Nothing offered to Him is lost.
Prayer
Lord God, you are the God of the living, not of the dead. You have destroyed death through your Son and brought life to light. Be my Rock when witness is hard and my refuge when I am weary. Raise me up when I fall, and keep my heart fixed on the resurrection, so I may praise you with a new canticle all my days. Amen.
Readings are taken from the Douay-Rheims Bible, rendered in modern English for easy reading.
