From the responsorial psalm: "Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!"

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 20:27-40)

"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.

The question the Sadducees pose to Jesus is this: If a woman marries seven brothers in succession after her first husband dies and then each of those husbands die, whose wife will the woman be? It is a hypothetical, even ridiculous question, meant to support the Sadducees's belief that there was no resurrection of the dead and that belief in it is absurd. But Jesus refocuses the question toward the truth and away from the diversion. Their question is about eternal life, and Jesus describes a life in the resurrection that goes beyond relationships and institutions. Jesus goes on to interpret Scripture, revealing to the Sadducees his role as the person of truth, God's only Son who would receive the breath of God in his resurrection.

God, what the psalmist makes clear I want to carry with me throughout the day: this life is a spiritual battle, and you train my hands for battle and my fingers for war. In the first reading, you brought to life with your breath the prophets who were tormented and persecuted. After they died, your "breath of life" entered them, and they heard your loud voice from heaven, saying, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven as their enemies looked on. What does this say to me today? Be my mercy and my fortress, Lord, my stronghold and deliverer, my shield in whom I trust.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: "How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth! How sweet to my taste is your promise!"

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:45-48)

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

The religious leaders who close in on Jesus are frustrated as he teaches every day in the temple area and one day drives out those who are selling things. Just as the scroll in the first reading is sour to swallow, so are the words of Jesus to those who oppose him because of the people who hear his words and hang on them. Taken in, the the words of Jesus are sweet. "How sweet to my taste is your promise!" the psalmist sings. Yet, taking in the words sometimes puts us in bitter opposition to people and the rulers of the world who seek to impose their purpose, which is to put to death the Word made flesh. Hearing and following his voice, we remain in him.

God, help me understand what it means to "take and swallow" your word. Jesus, the Word incarnate, is present body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist. How sweet is the promise of Christ, fulfilled through his death and resurrection, and given every time I receive the Eucharist. To take and eat is not to envelop myself in a supernatural shield but to be strengthened to confront suffering and sorrow with divine sustenance and help. Give me the grace, Lord, to listen out for you and follow your voice; if I fail in that effort, stir in me the desire to recognize my state and turn again to you. Saint Cecilia, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: “Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy upon their couches; Let the high praises of God be in their throats. This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:41-44)

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Not seeing the time of the visitation of the Lord, the people of Jerusalem rejected the Messiah, the true temple. They would see a few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus the destruction of the temple stone by stone under the Roman emperor Titus. Recognizing the consequences of the people’s rejection of him, Jesus weeps—not because of personal rejection but because of the people’s hardness of heart and inability to see the author of peace standing among them. Blind to the visitation of God and his divine authority in our lives, we are weak to the attack of enemies who seek to hem us in on all sides. Jesus, the worthy Lamb in the Book of Revelation, is alive in the Eucharist, commanding us as he commanded the Apostles: “Take and eat; this is my body.”

God, help me know you by the fruit of the Holy Spirit that Jesus desired for Jerusalem. Help me recognize that the person of Christ is what makes for peace. Even as the enemies within and without block my sight of you, you are there, waiting as I redirect my gaze. Although foes press on—I myself a sinner among them—open my eyes today to what I can easily lose sight of through hard-heartedness and lack of faith. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace. Mary, Tabernacle of the Most High, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.