Last Saturday we celebrated All Souls day and offered a mass where we invited those who had lost loved ones over the past year to light a candle in memory of them. A young women commented to me that when all the names were read it really put our mortality and faith in the resurrection into perspective. What does it mean to be children of the resurrection? The Sadducees asked Jesus a question today in the gospel to ridicule the belief in the resurrection. Jesus points out that they misunderstand the very nature of resurrected life. It is not a continuation of this life. We are children of the resurrection, sons and daughters of God. An intimate union with Him. That’s what the resurrection is foremost. We hope and believe we will be reunited with our loved ones in heaven and reunited with each other. It is based in our relationship with God, united into one another in Him. In baptism we are baptised into the life of God. We become children of God. We baptise our body. We are united in Him as the body of Christ. In the resurrection we believe in the resurrection of the body, although a glorified body. It is the ultimate fulfilment of our baptism Jesus says those who are considered worthy of a place in that age, specifically everlasting life. What does that mean. It implies heaven isn’t just granted to everyone. This life matters. In the church we hold up martyrs as being worthy of heaven because they lay down their life for their faith. Being children of the resurrection gives us perspective on how we live our baptism, that union, that relationship with God in this life that it makes a difference into the next life. It’s living the path of discipleship and that willingness to sacrifice for the sake our faith, for that age to come, that everlasting life.
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