Reflection for Saturday November 22 Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr: Luke 20:27-40

Gospel: Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. 

Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” 

Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. they can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. 

That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

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Reflection:

Do we believe that there is life after death? The Sadducees, an organization within the Jewish faith, did not believe in the resurrection. So, they presented Jesus with a story about a woman who married seven brothers, and by asking whose wife she would be in the resurrection, they were mocking Jesus’ teachings. But Jesus, in His wisdom, revealed to them and to us—the deeper reality of life beyond the grave.

Sometimes, like the Sadducees, we may also limit our understanding of life. We may think that everything ends when we die, that our existence is confined only to what we can see and touch. Yet if there is no life after death, what would be the purpose of striving to live a meaningful and righteous life?

The truth is this: there is a resurrection. And we begin to sow its seeds the moment we turn away from sin and walk toward God’s light. Every humble act of repentance, every sincere act of love, every choice for goodness is a seed of eternity planted within us. And when our earthly life ends, we will have an up-close, personal encounter with the reality we have prepared for through our daily choices.

Jesus tells us clearly about the afterlife—about heaven, everlasting life, and the company of angels. Yet He also reminds us that this eternal joy is reserved for those who are considered worthy not by human judgment, but by the merciful eyes of God. It is God who sees our hearts, our struggles, our efforts, our wounds, and our desire to walk in His ways.

Are we living our lives with eternity in mind, sowing seeds that will bloom in the Resurrection, or are we settling only for what our eyes can see and our hands can touch?

If we were to meet the Risen Lord face-to-face today, would He find in us a heart ready for eternal life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas