Reading 1
Rv 11:4-12
I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:
Here are my two witnesses:
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands
that stand before the Lord of the earth.
If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths
and devours their enemies.
In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.
They have the power to close up the sky
so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.
They also have power to turn water into blood
and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.
When they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up from the abyss
will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.
Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city,
which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,”
where indeed their Lord was crucified.
Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation
will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days,
and they will not allow their corpses to be buried.
The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them
and be glad and exchange gifts
because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.
But after the three and a half days,
a breath of life from God entered them.
When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.”
So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.
Ps 144:1, 2, 9-10
Responsorial PsalmR. (1b)
Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
My mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust,
who subdues my people under me.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
O God, I will sing a new song to you;
with a ten‑stringed lyre I will chant your praise,
You who give victory to kings,
and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Gospel
Lk 20:27-40
Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, 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.
Meditation: Revelation 11:4-12
“These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” (Revelation 11:4)
One reaction to reading the Book of Revelation can be: “John really had a vivid imagination!” But John was not making this up. He really did hear Jesus speaking to him. Though he was not trying to give a literal interpretation of the end times, John found a creative way of writing down what he had learned from the Lord so that he could encourage his brothers and sisters in Christ to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus in difficult times.
Throughout the ages, God has called people from every walk of life into a deeper relationship with him by speaking his word to their hearts. Ignatius of Loyola was a hotheaded soldier recovering from a war wound when he heard Jesus call him to serve in God’s army. Mother Teresa was just an ordinary nun when Jesus asked her to serve the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. Francis of Assisi was the spoiled son of a businessman when he heard the call to embrace Lady Poverty and rebuild the church.
How deeply Jesus longs to speak to us! How dearly he longs to see us turn to him with great expectation, confident that we can hear his voice! Jesus speaks to us by putting a thought in our mind, or giving us a mental picture, or putting a person or situation on our heart. However it happens, the key element is that you know in your heart that what you have heard did not originate from within yourself. There is a distinct sense that this particular word or image was “from the Lord.”
Try this in your prayer today: Quiet your mind and think of someone you know who needs prayer. Picture that person in your mind and ask Jesus how you can serve him or her today. Listen quietly in your heart and see if an encouraging phrase, or a Scripture verse, or a specific action starts to impress itself on you. It’s quite possible that Jesus is speaking to you and telling you how you can love and care for this person today.
“Jesus, I want to hear your voice. Show me one way that I can care for someone today. Help me to grow in my ability to hear your voice in prayer. And help me to respond to what I hear.”
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