2 Tm 1: 1-3, 6-12; Mark 12: 18-27

Our first reading is about our calling from God the Father.  Paul is “in persona Cristi” as father to Timothy calling him “my dear child”.  That is the love of God the Father for us all.  Through the imposition of the hands it is about the call to the priesthood and for us now deacons also.  It is a gift of “power, and love and self-control…to a holy life not according to our works but according to his own design.”  God has designed a mission and purpose for each of us.  It is a gift, what gift?  The gift of salvation, “he saved us” through baptism we are saved from our sins with the power to overcome sin with love and self-control.

Salvation leads to service, “the calling”.  In baptism we all share and receive the calling as priest, prophet and king.  “A calling is something you live and are willing to die for.  That is the essence of the sacrament of marriage.  In marriage preparation a good question to ask a couple who claims they are ready to get married is, “So this is the person you’re willing to live and die for?”  That is the level of commitment in a covenant.  The bride of a priest is the church “entrusted to me” says Paul and by extension the priesthood “until that day”.  That day is the day of immortality approaching us and is already here for our loved ones who have passed from death to light immortal.

Paul is “appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher”.  We are appointed father, mother, teacher nurse, doctor, farmer, coach, business owner, administrator and more but also to preach by our witness of faith, apostles to evangelize beginning at home and to teach in raising our families in the faith.  At the end of Mass we say “Go forth” meaning go forth to fulfill your mission.  Mathew Kelly in his book Perfectly Yourself says “mission is a meeting between self and service”.  We receive the gift of grace to be formed in his image to respond to his call.  Paul reminds us it is not about us, “our works but according to his design.”  Fulfilling our mission has a place in the salvation of the world.  We have been called by name and today we have an opportunity to give our fiat as the Blessed mother surrenders complete faith and trust.  Let us also say, “yes Lord I have come to do your will, teach me, guide, and give me your grace to walk boldly in faith, hope and love.”

In the gospel, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.  One would think that is a good hope to have.  It appears they were more interested in their earthly inheritance and building up their earthly treasures.  In fact the Sadducees were part of the priestly class in power to rule over the people.  To believe in the resurrection meant to believe in judgment for their actions.  To deny the resurrection meant no eternal consequences.  Jesus however responds with the same scripture Book of Moses with the quote from God, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  He is not God of the dead but of the living.”  This they cannot deny.  The God of the living has that day also marked a the day of judgment.

None of us have reached the resurrection so we only have a sense of this mystery from Jesus and scripture, “they are like the angels in heaven”, “We shall be like Him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2), “Never again shall they know hunger or thirst, nor shall the sun or its heat beat down on them for the Lamb on the throne will shepherd them.  He will lead them to springs of live-giving water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Rv. 7:15-17).  In heaven, “They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their forehead.  Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 22:4-5).  This is our faith, this is our hope, and this is why there is a crucifix reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, his covenant with us.   We share invited to share the cross on the journey to get to heaven.  It is our gift for purification.

This reminds me of my early childhood when families looked to children as an inheritance that provided more workers in the fields and everyone turned over their pay to the father to manage the household.  Big farming families or big migrant families the bottom line was more is better.  In the past it was common to lose a child from any number of diseases something we have come a long way in preventing.  Today the world preaches less children is better and more makes for more poverty.  Today children are still being born in large numbers but lost in conception through an ideology of less is better with contraception, abortion, genetic manipulation, in vetro fertilization and end of life decisions on health care with no fear of eternal consequences.  In heaven there is no marriage because there is no more reproduction but love remains.

God keeps his promise.  Let us not be “greatly misled”.  We are his children of the faith.