33rd Week, Saturday, Nov 23
Apocalypse 11:4-12 / Luke 20:27-40
The two prophets heard a voice; "Come up here - to heaven!"
The Book of Revelation is a paradoxical book. On the one
hand, it's utterly confusing. On the other hand, it's utterly clear. Take
today's description of the two witnesses. It seems to fit Moses and Elijah, who
tradition said would return to earth before the final Day of the Lord. And,
certainly, they did return to earth to speak with Jesus during his
transfiguration. But other parts of the description leave us utterly confused.
Even though we may not know the meaning of many individual
passages in Revelation, the main message of the book is clear. God is saying to
the persecuted Christians for whom the book was originally intended: "Hold
on! Just as my Son emerged victorious after his suffering, so will you. So,
take heart!"
***
How do we "hold on" and "take heart" in
trials? Jesus said to his disciples, "You can do nothing without me."
John 15:5
***
At a time when the first persecutions of the Church had
begun, the Book of Revelation speaks of the killing by evil forces of those who
witness with their lives. But like the dried-up bones in Ezekiel, the martyrs
will be raised to life and go to heaven.
“God is the God of the living,” says Jesus. He calls back to
life those who die; death is overcome since Jesus rose from the dead. The
witnesses of the first reading are put to death by the mighty of this earth
because they contest the abuse of power, but God raises them up. The
resurrection is the core of our faith, not only as a promise to live on in
God’s joy after death but already now as a power of building up one another in
human dignity, justice, peace, and serving love. We cannot die forever, because
God cannot stop loving us.
***
Where is the Woman’s Voice?
On the hypothetical case (which was not hypothetical at all,
given the then practice) that the Pharisees brought before Jesus to debate the
issue of the resurrection, there is one element missing: Where is the voice of
the woman in the story? Whereas the law mandated that the woman be married to
the dead husband’s brothers one after the other, we do not find any provision
for listening to the woman’s voice, how she felt about the successive deaths of
her husbands, and if she wished to continue the practice. It is as if she were
a dead entity already with no resurrection in sight. We need to apply what
Jesus says today – that God is God of the living – to life
after death as well as to life before death, to breathe life into those
silenced by society.
***
Prayer
God, source and purpose of all life, you have committed
yourself to us with a love that never ends. Give us the indestructible hope that
you have prepared for us a life and a happiness beyond the powers of death. May
this firm hope sustain us to find joy in life and to face its difficulties and
challenges resolutely and fearlessly, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
***
Saint Clement I
Feast day November 23
In A.D. 88, Saint Clement I became the fourth pope. His
reign lasted until A.D. 97. Though we have few facts about Clement, we do know
that he wrote a very important letter to the Church in Corinth.
The city of Corinth in Greece had a large Christian population, but it also had a number of problems. A group of people in Corinth refused to follow the legitimate Church authority there. They split off from the main group of believers. Clement, as the shepherd of the Church, wrote to the people, explaining the role of authority and the role of the people, encouraging peace and harmony. So powerful and clear was the letter that in some places in the early Church, it was ranked next to the accepted books of Scripture. It is one of the earliest Christian documents we have. Clement was martyred.
