Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” (Lk 20:27:-40)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112324.cfm
The Shakers were a non-Catholic religious group founded in 1747 by Mother Ann Lee. Originally founded in England, they moved to the United States in 1780’s. Ann Lee had a revelation that she was the second coming of the Messiah. She believed that this particular verse was fulfilled in her and so the Shaker community she founded was composed solely of celibate men and women, and of course, over time, they died out. The Virgin Mary teaches us that nothing is impossible for God.
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, November 23
