Eye Has Not Seen, Ear Has Not Heard

                                     What God Has Ready for Those Who Love Him

I’ve never written a blog with such a long title! You may recognize the words. They are from a song refrain that we occasionally sing at mass. They are also appropriate words for us to consider as we look at a theme in this weekend’s First Reading and Gospel texts.

   

The first reading is from the Old Testament book of 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14.  It is the only place in the Old Testament which mentions the idea of ‘being raised from the dead’.

   

And the Gospel text, Luke 20:27-38, is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus says anything about the Resurrection as such. Jesus’ only other references to the resurrection are in His predictions that He will suffer and ‘rise again’. And then, of course, there are the descriptions of His Resurrection appearances which are wonderful but unexplainable.

So what can we say about ‘resurrection’? I read this commentary:“Trying to describe ‘resurrection’ is like a butterfly describing flight to a caterpillar...or a professor describing ‘college’ to a preschooler. How can Jesus describe afterlife to those who only know this life?”   

Read the title of this blog again. Take 5-10 minutes just peacefully thinking about it.