Saturday, November 21, 2026 — Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Sadducees and the resurrection
Luke 20:27-40
The Gospel
Some Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, ask Jesus about a woman who was wife to seven brothers: whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Jesus answers that the children of this world marry, but those worthy of the world to come and of the resurrection neither marry nor die, for they are equal to the angels and children of God. He proves the resurrection from Moses at the bush: God is God of the living, not of the dead.
Readings of the day: First Reading: Revelation 11:4-12; Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 144:1, 2, 9-10; Alleluia: 2 Timothy 1:10; Gospel: Luke 20:27-40.
Reflection
The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, pose a riddle about seven brothers and one wife, imagining the life to come as a longer version of this one. Jesus answers that the children of the resurrection neither marry nor die; they are equal to the angels and children of God. St. Augustine explains why: marriages are for the sake of children, children for succession, succession because of death; where there is no death, there are no marriages. The proof is in the name God gives himself at the burning bush: he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not the God of the dead but of the living. St. Bede adds that the true life is the one the just live unto God, even though they are dead in the body. Our hope is not that this life goes on forever, but that God gives a new life, where death has no more power and his children live to him.
From the Fathers
“For marriages are for the sake of children, children for succession, succession because of death. Where then there is no death, there are no marriages.”
— St. Augustine, Questions on the Gospels, bk. 2, q. 49, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 20:27–40
“But that is a true life which the just live unto God, even though they are dead in the body.”
— St. Bede the Venerable, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 20:27–40
Saint of the day
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to tradition, Mary was presented in the Temple as a young child and consecrated to God. The feast has been kept in the East since the eighth century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope Sixtus IV in 1472.
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Sources: the day’s readings follow the daily lectionary (USCCB, Lectionary 502). The Gospel text is not reproduced here; read it at the link above. Patristic quotes: Catena Aurea on Luke 20:27–40, compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by John Henry Newman (1841, public domain).