Wednesday 3rd June Saints Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs of Uganda Memorial
Gospel Reading – Mark 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, 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 and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all, the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
The Gospel of the Lord
The Mass intention is for Finlay Rankin RIP
and Paula Martin RIP
Reflection:
Jesus in today’s Gospel text is telling his listeners that God is the God of the living and that those who have died such as Jacob, Abraham, and Isaac, are alive with God. This my friends is the great promise that awaits both you and I. You and I have a duty to proclaim this to the whole world, so that our brothers and sisters who have not heard this promise, may become worthy of it and live in the joy of knowing Jesus.
Prayer to the Martyrs of Uganda
Martyrs of Uganda, pray for the faith where it is danger and for Christians who must suffer because of their faith. Give them the same courage, zeal, and joy you showed. And help those of us who live in places where Christianity is accepted to remain aware of the persecution in other parts of the world. Amen
Fr John