Domus Sancta Maria Gaudalupe (religious sisters)

Lk 20: 27 – 40 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward 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 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.

They are SAD - U - CEE!

Last year, while at my apostolate at the Little Sister’s of the Poor, I had an interesting encounter with an elderly depressed woman. Every week after serving lunch to the elderly, there would be a little something set aside for us to eat. This day it happened to be fish (something like a McFish sandwich) and as I began to eat my lunch a woman, who knew about a dozen languages, entered the room. In her strong European accent she said… "Why are you always smiling?" I stopped eating and replied…"Life is good!"

She then answered back, "no, life is like that fish you are eating, and I hate that fish!"

She was SAD U CEE!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is confronted with the Saducees. They didn’t believe in the Resurrection from the dead and decided to try to trick Jesus with a question on marriage after death. Of course they failed in their attempt and Jesus tells them marriage will not be part of the age to come. They were SAD U CEE! An easy way to remember how to pronounce this word is remembering that they didn’t believe in the resurrection and as a result had no hope and thus were SAD U CEE!

So many people in our world are SAD U CEE. So many are like the elderly lady I mentioned earlier or the saducees mentioned in the Gospel. So many people are living with no hope and no belief in eternal life. As Christians it is our responsibility to bring this message of hope and the possibility of eternal life to these people caught in a pity party. My dear sisters and Father Martin, we specifically can witness to the world in our celibacy. In the age to come, eternal life, there is no marriage. The only marriage will be that of all those in Heaven in perfect union with Christ. In our celibacy we witness to this union, although imperfect right now. We have been consecrated to Our Lord and as a result we are married to Christ. It may be hard to picture Fr Martin or even me as a bride, although I think I make a rather cute bride. I even look good in white (alb). However, this marriage is a reality since we have been consecrated to Jesus. Our joy in celibacy is a witness to all those who are SAD U CEE.

I responded to the elderly lady by saying that, "Life is good". However, it would have been better to simply say, "God is good, and praised be Jesus Christ for opening the gates of Heaven so that we may all have the hope of eternal life!

(Note: marriage will not be part of Heaven, but we will have all we ever wanted and will lack nothing, so don’t worry about whether we will see loved ones in Heaven or not. Somehow, we will have everything-it’s a mystery. Also, the priest is a bridegroom, in persona Christi capitas, and is married to the Church. However, priests as well as deacons and religious are consecrated (soul is configured) to Jesus as well and thus can be referred to as brides of Christ. (Men can be feminine and called brides in their souls, receiving from God, but not called brides in their sexuality, only friends who share all they have with Jesus (Vita Consecrata 34a, JPII))

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