God of the living...

The readings this Sunday, (especially the Gospel, Lk 20:27-38) remind us of the truth of the resurrection of all from the dead, which we profess in the Apostle's Creed.

But it is important to ask whether we really believe in the God and in the Resurrection before we proceed reflecting.

Only with faith in God will we be able to have a certain level of understanding of the Resurrection.

God is Love, Pope Benedict reminds us in his encyclical with the same title. He says that this is the most basic (note the redundancy, for emphasis!) truth of the Christian faith. And the love of God, God who is Love, is eternal. When God chose to love, he loves not only yesterday or today or tomorrow, but he loves yesterday, today and tomorrow. God’s love never fails! God’s love is eternal, everlasting. God’s love outlasts the limits of our mortality. God’s love is greater than death! God’s love makes possible the resurrection!

The Resurrection of the righteous is a manifestation of God’s continuing, everlasting love. God loves us so much, and always that he wills that we share his love forever.

What is meant by the Resurrection? How will things be when we resurrect? The question of the Sadducees (Lk 20:27-33) seems to be valid at first glance. What will become of our relationships?

Our Resurrection is our liberation from the clutches of sin and death gained for us by Jesus' own Resurrection. In the resurrection of the dead, in heaven, in the Kingdom of God, we shall not have the same relationships that we have in this world. Instead, we shall have a different, more perfect, more fulfilling intimacy with God and with each other.

We cannot fully comprehend, but we hope for this resurrection.

Just as the Kingdom of God is not only something we hope to share in the afterlife, but a reality we struggle to begin realizing in the here and now, the Resurrection of all, is not only a future event we hope for, but a reality we work for, live and make present in the here and now – by defeating death-dealing structures and situations, and making present life-giving opportunities, conditions, communities and relationships. We make present the Resurrection we hope for by making possible a life worth living, the fullness of live, a life replete with the blessings of the Kingdom, a life filled with life-blessings of total well-being.

The irony is that we seem not to live a Resurrected life. The death of 12-year old Mariannet Amper of Davao (and the plight of teeming thousands!) is an illustration and loud wake-up call.

The girl committed suicide because of her family’s depressing condition of poverty. She snapped because of the incomprehensible duality of what should be and what is actually happening.

Suicide of course is not justifiable, and is no solution to problems. But the desperation that brought it about should be enough to make Christian rethink their role to be bearers and sharers of life and hope. It should lead the Christian to review his or her responsibility for the other.

I agree with Archbishop Cruz when he mused that the death of this child in a way falls in our hands. Fr. Gerry Orbos reflects along with Archbishop Cruz that this should lead us to review our social responsibilities.

It falls on the hands of authorities, civil leaders who are in position to serve the common good, and have special predilection for the poor, not to serve their own good, and have special concern for their personal gain and aggrandizement. If we have in one way or another power to help, we have greater responsibility to help. More so, if we have been entrusted with public trust and funds. Shame on us if we use them for our own pleasure and comfort when thousands wallow in poverty, when many slowly die in hunger, when countless cannot have access to decent living conditions, food, health care, education, when teeming thousands despair, or even when just one child snaps because of the seeming hopelessness. Shame on us for killing people gradually by killing their hope of a better world.

It falls in our own hands for we are all called to help each other, to serve each other, to make life more worth living for each other. We need not go far away, we just are to begin with our own families and neighborhood. Shame on us if we fail to encourage family members, if we withhold forgiveness to a repentant parent, child, or sibling, if we refuse to help a relative in need when we can, if we close our hearts, our homes, our pockets, our lives to our needy brothers and sisters.

Walang sinoman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang. Walang sinoman ang namamatay para sa sarili lamang. Tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa't isa. Tayong lahat as tinipon ng Diyos na kapiling niya.

Our God is a God of the living, not of the dead. Are we making the presence of a God of the living a reality in our lives, our families, our communities, our church?

We can make a difference. We should make a difference. We can be witnesses to a living God, a God of the living. We could live as people freed from the enslavement of death-dealing selfishness. We could live and let others live in the freedom of life's blessings.