3rd Sunday of the Great Advent with the readings of 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, year C

Third week of the Great Advent: Abraham

Genesis17:1-21

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said: I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly.Abram fell face down and God said to him:For my part, here is my covenant with you: you are to become the father of a multitude of nations.No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a multitude of nations.I will make you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings will stem from you.I will maintain my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now residing as aliens, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.God said to Abraham: For your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.This is the covenant between me and you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your descendants.Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

God further said to Abraham: As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Her also will I bless; she will give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples will issue from her.Abraham fell face down and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at ninety?”So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in your favor!”God replied: Even so, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. It is with him that I will maintain my covenant as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.Now as for Ishmael, I will heed you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year.

2 Maccabees7:1-2. 9-14

It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrestedand tortured with whips andscourges by the king,to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.One of the brothers,speaking for the others, said:"What do you expect to achieve by questioning us?We are ready todie rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."At the point of death he said:"You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life,but theKing of the world will raise us up to live againforever.It is for his laws that we are dying."After himthe third suffered their cruel sport.He put outhis tongue at once when told to do so,and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noblewords:"It was from Heaven that I received these;for the sake of his laws I disdain them;from him Ihope to receive them again."Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man'scourage,because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

After he had died,they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.When he wasnear death, he said,"It is my choice to die at the hands of menwith the hope God gives of beingraised up by him;but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."

Psalm 17: 1. 5-6. 8. 15

Hear, O LORD, a just suit;

attend to my outcry;

hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.

My steps have been steadfast in your paths,

my feet have not faltered.

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

incline your ear to me; hear my word.

Keep me as the apple of your eye,

hide me in the shadow of your wings.

But I in justice shall behold your face;

on waking I shall be content in your presence.

2 Thessalonians2:16 – 3:5

Brothers and sisters:May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,who has loved us andgiven us everlasting encouragementand good hope through his grace,encourage your hearts andstrengthen them in every good deedand word.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us,so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified,as it did among you,and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people,fornot all have faith.But the Lord is faithful;he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you,you are doing and will continue to do.May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of Godand to the endurance of Christ.

Luke 20: 27-38

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,came forward and put this question toJesus, saying,"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child,hisbrother must take the wifeand raise up descendants for his brother.Now there were sevenbrothers;the first married a woman but died childless.Then the second and the third married her,and likewise all the seven died childless.Finally the woman also died.Now at the resurrection whosewife will that woman be?For all seven had been married to her."

Jesus said to them,"The children of this age marry and remarry;but those who are deemed worthyto attain to the coming ageand to the resurrection of the deadneither marry nor are given inmarriage.They can no longer die,for they are like angels;and they are the children of Godbecausethey are the ones who will rise.That the dead will riseMoses too made known in the passageabout the bush, when he called out 'Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God ofJacob;and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,for to him all are alive."

Questions:

- It is written in the book of Genesis: “(…) the LORD appeared to Abram and said: I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.” –What does it mean to me to "walk in the presence of God"? How can webe blameless in this world? How did Abraham remain blameless in his generation?

- It is written in the book of Psalms: “Keep me as the apple of your eye,hide me in the shadow of your wings.” – What do these metaphors mean? Have I ever felt safe in the way described in these words?

- It is written in the Second Letter to the Thessalonians: “[May God] encourage your hearts andstrengthen them in every good deedand word.” – In which aspects do I feel that I am not yet as good as I could be? Do I try to improve my daily behavior? What can help me to do better? To what extent do I remember to ask God for His grace?

- Jesus said in the Gospel: “That the dead will rise even Mosesmade known in the passageabout the bush, when he called out 'Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God ofJacob;and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,for to him all are alive.” – What does it mean that "God is not God of the dead, but of the living"? What do the New Testament and the Church teach us about the deceased?

Questions for children:

- It is written in the book of Genesis: “(…) the LORD appeared to Abram and said: I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.” –What does it mean to me to "walk in the presence of God"? How can webe blameless in this world? How did Abraham remain blameless in his generation?

- It is written in the book of Psalms: “Keep me as the apple of your eye,hide me in the shadow of your wings.” – What do these metaphors mean? Have I ever felt safe in the way described in these words?

- It is written in the Second Letter to the Thessalonians: “[May God] encourage your hearts andstrengthen them in every good deedand word.” – Do I believe that with God’s help I can be better and have more strength to do good? What should I do to make this progress really happen?How does God’s grace help me?

- Jesus said in the Gospel: “That the dead will riseeven Mosesmade known in the passageabout the bush, when he called out 'Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God ofJacob;and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,for to him all are alive.” – What does it mean that "God is not God of the dead, but of the living"? What do the New Testament and the Church teach about the deceased?