Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr
Luke 20:27-40
Faith Beyond This World

In today’s Gospel, the Sadducees approach Jesus with a question meant not to learn, but to mock. They did not believe in the resurrection, so they posed a riddle about a woman who married seven brothers — hoping to make belief in life after death sound absurd. But Jesus responds with calm authority, revealing a deeper truth: heaven is not an extension of earthly life — it is a new and transformed existence in God’s love.

The Sadducees’ mistake was to limit God’s power to what they could understand. They imagined heaven in earthly terms, relationships in human categories, and life only within the boundaries of this world. Jesus reminds them — and us — that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” His love transcends death, and those who belong to Him will live forever.

This truth is beautifully mirrored in the life of St Cecilia, virgin and martyr. Her faith was not confined to earthly comfort or human reasoning. Even in persecution, she sang to the Lord in her heart, confident that the life she would lose in this world would be gained eternally in heaven. Her courage flowed from the same conviction Jesus proclaimed — that love endures beyond death.

As we honour St Cecilia, the patroness of sacred music, let us pray that we live with hearts attuned to eternity. May our words and actions, our joys and sufferings, all become part of that eternal hymn which never ends — the song of those who live forever in the God of the living.

© Claretian Publications, Hong Kong, China
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025