Whose wife shall the woman be?

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him another question. (Lk 20, 27-38)

Today’s gospel selection presents us with a question the Sadducees asked Jesus: “In the resurrection whose wife will the woman be?” Now, this woman, the Sadducees said, was married to seven brothers. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the immortality of the soul, resurrection and angels, made up the story based on a Law of Moses that obliged brothers to marry the widow of a childless brother, so as to “raise up children for his brother”. This question was thought as a trap. They were not sincere, and they did not want Jesus to clarify for them the reason for this law, and this question worked against them.

Hurry and come down

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” (Lk 19, 1-10)

    This is the story of Zacchaeus as we have it from the evangelist Luke.

RUŻARJU - MISTERI TAL-FERĦ

1- Marija taċċetta li tkun omm l-Iben t’Alla

L-anġlu tal-Mulej ġie mibgħut għand waħda mara żagħżugħa, minn Nazaret, jisimha Marija mgħarrsa ma’ mastrudaxxa jismu Ġużeppi. Wara li sellmilha l-anġlu taha l-aħbar: “Tibżax, Marija, ara int se tnissel fil-ġuf u jkollok iben u ssemmih Ġesù”. Marija tħawwdet. Rat il-wisa’ u l-profondità ta’ dak li qalilha l-messaġġier tal-Mulej.

Wieħed jieħu l-impressjoni li l-anġlu wasal għand Marija b’pakkett maħsub, deċiż u magħluq li fih ix-xbejba ta’ Nazaret ma kellha ebda għażla, bħallikieku l-unika triq li kellha kienet li tbaxxi rasha u tobdi. It-tħabbira tal-anġlu ma kinetx “Int se ssir omm, trid jew ma tridx”. L-aħbar li wasslilha l-anġlu kienet tispjega x’kien qed jipproponilha Alla, xi xtaq minnha, iżda hu ħalliha fil-libertà li taħseb, titlob u tiddeċiedi. Kien għalhekk li l-anġlu ma qabadx u telaq malli taha l-aħbar. Għinha tirrifletti biex tiddeċiedi. U baqa’ jistenna t-tweġiba ta’ Marija. L-anġlu telaq minn ħdejn Marija biss wara li din qaltlu bid-deċiżjoni tagħha: “Ara, jiena l-qaddejja tal-Mulej; ħa jsir minni skont kelmtek”. Telaq ferħan l-anġlu. Nimmaġinah iwassal l-aħbar it-tajba lill-Missier u lill-kori kollha tal-anġli.

How to pray correctly

 Jesus then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.' But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18, 9-14)

Just before this gospel selection Jesus spoke about how important it is to pray and never stop praying (Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge - Luke 18, 1-8). Today, Jesus teaches us how to pray correctly. He does this through the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

Jesus tells us that both Pharisee and tax collector went up to the temple to pray. Both had good intentions. Both of them were sincere.

RUŻARJU / MISTERI TAT-TBATIJA

1 – Kristu fil-ġnien tal-Ġetsemani

     

  Wara l-aħħar ikla ma’ ħbiebu, Ġesù, imdawwar b’dawk li kienu ħalfu li jħobbuh, telaq lejn il-ġnien fejn kien soltu jmur jitlob. Hemm sab ruħu imdawwar minn naħa l-waħda bil-ħbieb li ħadhom in-ngħas u raqdu, u minn naħa l-oħra mill-għedewwa li kienu resqin biex jaqbduh bi traditur quddiem u suldati armati sew warajh.

   L-evanġelista Luqa jitkellem dwar anġlu li deher mis-sema biex ifarraġ lil Ġesù li kien qiegħed jgħereq l-għaraq tad-demm meta kien qed jiġi mitlub li jaċċetta t-tbatija tal-passjoni li kienet qrib sewwa. Luqa qisu ried ipoġġi eku tat-tħabbira tal-anġlu lil Marija. Jekk hu hekk, allura, aktar milli jwassal il-faraġ, kien aktar anġlu ħabbar li kien qed jistenna biex iwassal it-tweġiba ta’ Ġesù lil Missieru. “Ħa jsir minni skont kelmtek” wieġbet l-Omm; “Mhux kif irrid jien, imma kif trid int” wieġeb l-Iben. Hu għalhekk li l-liturġija tfakkarna “[Ġesù] aċċetta li minn rajh ibati”. Mill-ġnien tidwi wkoll il-kelma, “li spirtu iva jrid, imma l-ġisem dgħajjef” (Mt 26, 41).

Will there be faith on earth?

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 18, 1-8)

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

In today’s gospel, Jesus asked his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Before we try to give an answer to Christ’s question, we have to ask: “What is faith?”

To pray, to bless, to preach

A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (Lk 10, 1-12)

“After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.”

 This is the Word of the Lord.

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