Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Passion Play in Oberammergau has been bringing to life in an

incredible way the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to many people who have made the journey to watch the play during the summer. At the end of the evening all that is left on the stage are three empty crosses to one side and centre stage a burning flame. This sign of the

resurrection is simple and profound.

 

The Sadducees in today’s gospel reading have no belief in the resurrection of the dead. For the Sadducee death does have the final word. Sometimes some funeral services can also fail to recognize the resurrection. Families may not see themselves as Sadducees and yet they make arrangements for a celebration of the deceased person’s life and seek also some form of support for the bereaved. Their experience of the death is only two

dimensional. Our Christian faith should give witness and help people

discover the light of the resurrection, that funeral services should in fact be three dimensional, praying that through the compassionate love of God, the deceased person may share in the resurrection of Our Lord. We give witness to the resurrection by the way we live our lives, remember, what we do today does have an influence on our future. Like the burning flame at Oberammergau our message must be that death does not have the final word, life is changes not ended and continues to have the energy and

vitality that God gave to our gift of life.

Pastor Emeritus     Fr Leonard May      

Herringthorpe Valley Road, Rotherham

Phone   01709 363753

Parish Priest            Fr Desmond Sexton 

Email                            desmond@tpicr.co.uk

www.tpicr.co.uk          dom@tpicr.co.uk

7th November 2010