21 November 2026 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Luke 20:38
The Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, try to make it look absurd with a story of seven brothers and one wife. Jesus answers on two levels. First, the risen life is not a copy of this one: “they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” Second, from the Torah the Sadducees accepted: God called himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long after they had died. “He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
In Revelation the two witnesses are killed, but after three and a half days “the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet”. Today's memorial of the Presentation of Mary, rooted in an ancient tradition (the Protoevangelium of James) and linked to the dedication of the church of St Mary in Jerusalem in 543, celebrates Mary's total belonging to God from her earliest years. She is the living temple, wholly given, whom the God of the living raised body and soul into glory.
Theme: “God of the living.”
To God all are alive; his breath raises his witnesses; Mary belonged wholly to him.
“He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” Exodus 3:6
“And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Luke 20:37–38
Apply: Pray for one departed person today.
“Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” Ezekiel 37:5
“Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” Luke 20:36
Apply: Thank God for the gift of eternal life.
“For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD.” 1 Samuel 1:27–28
“Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:38
Apply: Renew your consecration to God through Mary.
We belong to the God of the living.
With Mary, let us give ourselves wholly to him.
Take-home resolution: Pray the Angelus daily this week.
Dear friends, the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, try to make it look absurd with a story of seven brothers who each married the same woman. Whose wife will she be? Jesus answers that the risen life is not a copy of this one: those who rise cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection (Luke 20:35–36).
Then he answers from the Torah they accepted: at the burning bush God called himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, long after they had died. He is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive (Luke 20:37–38).
In the first reading two witnesses are killed, and after three and a half days the breath of life from God enters them and they stand on their feet (Revelation 11:11). Death does not have the last word over God's witnesses.
Today we celebrate the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. An ancient tradition tells that Mary was offered to God in the Temple as a child. Her whole life was given to the God of the living. Let us give him our day, and pray the Angelus this week, joining Mary's yes. Amen.
Children, today we remember little Mary being given to God. She said yes to God all her life. Say the Hail Mary today and give your day to God like her.
God of the living, to you all are alive. As Mary gave herself wholly to you from her youth, let me belong to you completely, and raise me with all your saints on the last day. Amen.
On the memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the readings speak of the life that God gives. In Revelation two witnesses are killed, but after three and a half days “the breath of life from God” enters them and they rise. In the Gospel Jesus answers the Sadducees: God is “God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Psalm 144 blesses the Lord, our Rock.
Setting.
Chapter 11 tells of two witnesses who prophesy for 1,260 days, that is 42 months or three and a half years, the symbolic time of persecution taken from Daniel (Daniel 7:25). Their powers recall Elijah, who shut the sky (1 Kings 17:1) and called down fire (2 Kings 1:10), and Moses, who turned water into blood (Exodus 7:20). Some early writers, such as St Hippolytus, thought they were Enoch and Elijah returning at the end; many modern interpreters see in them the witnessing Church, two in number because the Law required two witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” (11:4)
Olive trees give oil, lampstands give light. Witnesses are anointed by God in order to give light to the world.
“their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” (11:8)
The witnesses share their Lord's fate. The “great city” is not one place on the map but every city that sets itself against God.
“But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet” (11:11)
As Christ rose on the third day, so his witnesses rise. The last word belongs not to the beast but to God.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls martyrdom the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith, a witness even unto death (CCC 2473). This reading is the story of every martyr: rejected, silenced, apparently defeated, and raised by God. Its call, “Come up here!” (11:12), echoes the call to John in 4:1 and the Ascension of the Lord: those who bear witness are promised a share in his victory.
Setting.
The Sadducees were a party of priestly and wealthy families linked with the Temple. They held to the written Law of Moses and rejected the resurrection, angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). Their question uses the law of levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5–10): if a man died childless, his brother was to marry the widow so that the dead man's name would not be lost. The case of seven brothers is meant to make the resurrection look absurd. It may echo the story of Sarah in the Book of Tobit, who had lost seven husbands (Tobit 3:8).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” (20:35)
Jesus does not despise marriage; he says that the life to come is greater than this one. Love is not lost; it is fulfilled in God.
“And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (20:37)
Jesus answers from the Torah, which the Sadducees accepted (Exodus 3:6). God does not call himself the God of the dead. If he is still their God, they are alive to him.
“Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (20:38)
The last phrase is found only in Luke. Our hope rests above all on the faithfulness of God, who does not abandon those he loves; even the immortality of the soul is his gift, and he will raise the body too.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism recalls this debate when it teaches the resurrection of the dead: to the Sadducees who denied it, Jesus answered that they knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God, and faith in the resurrection rests on faith in God, who “is not God of the dead, but of the living” (CCC 993). The Church also sees in consecrated virginity a sign of the world to come, where they “neither marry nor are given in marriage” (CCC 1619).
Will husbands and wives know each other in heaven?
Jesus says that the risen do not marry, because the life to come is not a continuation of earthly institutions. He does not say that persons or love are forgotten. The Church hopes for heaven as a perfect communion of life and love with the Holy Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed (CCC 1024), in which every bond of true love is purified and fulfilled.
Today's memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary comes from the East, where it is linked with the dedication of the New Church of St Mary in Jerusalem in 543. Its story, Mary brought as a child to the Temple and offered to God, comes from the ancient Protoevangelium of James, not from the Bible. St Paul VI kept the memorial because, despite its legendary details, it presents lofty and exemplary values: Mary's whole life given to God (Marialis Cultus 8). She who belonged wholly to God is the first of the “children of the resurrection”, taken body and soul into glory. Today is also Pro Orantibus Day, when the Church prays for cloistered contemplative communities, who like Mary have given their lives to God in prayer.