ALL MEN ARE ALIVE IN GOD

PRAYER BEFORE HOLY MASS  Act of Love before Mass 

SATURDAY 33RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B O my God, I love Thee with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength and with no other desire than to be inseparably united to Thee. It is through Thy Divine Son that this union is about to be realized within me. In Holy Communion I long to identify myself with Him, that it will no longer be myself, but Him, who lives in me; and when I have received Jesus within myself, then I shall love and be loved by Thee in that same measure, in which I am united to Him. Hasten then, to give me Thy Divine Son, at the hands of Thy priest, that through Jesus, I may unite myself forever to Thee, O God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Readings Lectures Reflection 

Frist Reading 1 Maccabees 6:1-13

I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem

King Antiochus was making his way across the upper provinces; he had heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, renowned for its riches, its silver and gold, and its very wealthy temple containing golden armour, breastplates and weapons, left there by Alexander son of Philip, the king of Macedon, the first to reign over the Greeks. He therefore went and attempted to take the city and pillage it, but without success, since the citizens learnt of his intention, and offered him a stiff resistance, whereupon he turned about and retreated, disconsolate, in the direction of Babylon. But while he was still in Persia news reached him that the armies that had invaded the land of Judah had been defeated, and that Lysias in particular had advanced in massive strength, only to be forced to turn and flee before the Jews; these had been strengthened by the acquisition of arms, supplies and abundant spoils from the armies they had cut to pieces; they had overthrown the abomination he had erected over the altar in Jerusalem, and had encircled the sanctuary with high walls as in the past, and had fortified Bethzur, one of his cities. When the king heard this news he was amazed and profoundly shaken; he threw himself on his bed and fell into a lethargy from acute disappointment, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned. And there he remained for many days, subject to deep and recurrent fits of melancholy, until he understood that he was dying. Then summoning all his Friends, he said to them, ‘Sleep evades my eyes, and my heart is cowed by anxiety. I have been asking myself how I could have come to such a pitch of distress, so great a flood as that which now engulfs me – I who was so generous and well-loved in my heyday. But now I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there, and ordered the extermination of the inhabitants of Judah for no reason at all. This, I am convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am dying of melancholy in a foreign land.’

Responsorial Psalm

I will rejoice in your saving help, O Lord

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death

and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.

Alleluia! cf2Tim 1:10

Gospel Luke 20:27-40

In God all men are alive

Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached Jesus and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died. Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’ 

Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord 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 men are in fact alive.’ 

Some scribes then spoke up. ‘Well put, Master’ they said – because they would not dare to ask him any more questions.

My God and Father, give me a good heart. May I live a life here on earth worthy of eternal life. Father our conscience is the best judge of our actions.  Father may my actions not condemn me, that it will lead to depression and guilt. Father forgive me for times I have made wrong decisions, wrong actions that may have affected the well being of my fellow creatures. Loving Father may your Holy Spirit dwell in me to guide me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may bear good fruits.  I depend on you God my Father to lead me, to guide me for in you I live.

Lord Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour be with me.  May I follow your steps, obey your words for I live because God is the Lord of my life.  God is our creator, we are alive in God.  

Lord Jesus Christ I trust in you. Virgin Mary pray for me. Saint Joseph pray for me. God's guardian angels pray for me, protect me. My angle guardian pray for me, protect me, guide and guard me. Eternal rest grant to all departed souls. 

Today's Mystery is Joyful Mystery.