Daily Prayer
June 2nd, 2010
“Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question..”
(Mark 12:18)
After the Pharisees and Herodians failed to trap Jesus with their tax question, another group, the Sadducees, stepped in with a question they were sure would slump him. This was a question they had successfully used against the Pharisees, who could not come up with an answer. The Sadducees did not believe in life after death – the Old Testament had no direct teaching about it, because the writings of Moses was the only Scripture they followed. But Jesus was about to point out that Moses’ books supported the idea of eternal life. The Sadducees asked Jesus what life would be like after the resurrection.
Jesus said that in heaven things will be different. What life will be like after the resurrection is far beyond our ability to understand or imagine. We need not be afraid of eternal life because of the unknown, however. Instead of wondering what God’s coming kingdom will be like, we should concentrate on our relationship with Christ right now, because in the new kingdom, we will be with him. If we learn to love and trust Christ now, we will not be afraid of what he has in store for us then.
Jesus’ statement does not mean that people won’t recognise their partners in the coming kingdom. It simply means that God’s new order will not be an extension of this life and that the same physical and natural rules won’t apply. Jesus’ comment was not intended to be the final word on marriage in heaven. Instead, the response was Jesus’ refusal to answer the Sadducees riddle and fall into their trap. Sidestepping their question about the much-married woman, he gave a definitive answer to the question about the resurrection.
Prayer
Lord, may I not miss any opportunity to let your life and goodness rise in my life throughout this day.
The prayer for each day has been prepared by various members of the Holy Family Association. All who visit our website are remembered in prayer. If you would like us to pray for a particular need, simply complete and submit the form on the right hand side of this page. You may wish to leave a comment in the space below.
Just a Thought
How the Holy Family prayer: A Reflection by Pope Benedict XVI
“I would like to invite you to reflect on the place of prayer in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The home of Nazareth, in fact, is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, to ponder and to penetrate the profound meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
Pope Paul VI during his visit to Nazareth said “we come to understand the need for a spiritual discipline, if we wish to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ.” And he added: “First, it teaches us silence. Oh! That there would be reborn in us the esteem for silence, that wonderful and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit: while we are deafened by so many noises, sounds and clamorous voices in the frantic and tumultuous times of modern life. Oh! Silence of Nazareth, teach us to be resolute in good thoughts, intent upon the interior life, ready to listen well to the secret inspirations of God and the exhortations of the true masters.”
We can glean several insights on the Holy Family’s prayer and relationship with God from the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ childhood. We may begin with the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. St. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph, “when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, brought the child up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord”(2:22). Like every observant Jewish family, Jesus’ parents go up to the temple to consecrate the firstborn son to God and to offer sacrifice. Moved by fidelity to the law’s prescriptions, they set off from Bethlehem and go up to Jerusalem with Jesus, who is now forty days old. Instead of a one-year-old lamb, they present the offering of simple families; that is two young pigeons. The Holy Family’s pilgrimage is one of faith, of the offering of gifts, a symbol of prayer, and of encounter with the Lord, whom Mary and Joseph already see in the son Jesus.”
