Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
September 20, 2000
Scripture scholar presents
Cardinal Stafford lectures
By Peter Droege
Jesuit Father John J. Kilgallen, a New Testament professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, was the distinguished speaker at the Second Annual Cardinal Stafford Lectures, Sept. 14-16 at the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization.
The author of nine books, a popular guide to the Holy Land, and more than 60 scholarly articles, Father Kilgallen has spent the greater part of his research and writing to the Gospel of St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
On Sept. 14, he addressed the seminarians and faculty of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Seminary on the topic of "The controversy with the Saducees concerning the Resurrection." An afternoon lecture followed on "The Parables of Luke."
On Sept. 15, he developed two major themes on the Gospel of Luke for the Continuing Education Day for Clergy.
On Sept. 16, a large gathering of people, including a large turnout from the Catholic Biblical School, attended Father Kilgallen's public lecture on, "Evangelization in Luke and Acts."
The Archbishop Vehr Library provided the setting for Father Kilgallen's lecture to the faculty and seminarians. His talk illuminated the scriptural basis for the resurrection from the dead.
Referring to Luke 20: 27-40, Father Kilgallen related the account in which Jesus was approached by the Saducees and asked to resolve a hypothetical situation in which a woman married seven brothers in turn, each of whom died without leaving an heir.
"At the resurrection, whose wife will she be?" the Saducees asked Jesus.
Father Kilgallen explained that the Saducees regarded the Penteteuch, the first five books of the Bible, as authoritative concerning the doctrine of the Jewish faith. They had great respect for the other books, but none held the same spiritual gravity as those of the Penteteuch.
Father Kilgallen pointed out that Jesus responded to the Saducees in two ways. First, by saying, "the children of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those judged worth of a place in the age to come and of the resurrection of the dead do not." (Luke 20:34)
Father Kilgallen said Jesus then told the Saducees, "Moses in the passage about the bush showed that the dead rise again when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. All are alive for him." (Luke 20:37-38)
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all dead when God spoke to Moses. According to Father Kilgallen, Jesus used one of the books of the Penteteuch, Exodus, to prove the resurrection.
In guiding people in the understanding of Scripture, Father Kilgallen stressed to the seminarians and faculty the importance of understanding that there must be a balance between the intellect and the will.
"In our struggle to understand, we can be caught up in the intellect and miss the importance of love," he said. "We may respect one's intellect, but we admire and are uplifted by one who loves," he added.
When Jesus told the Saducees that they had "erred greatly," he was telling them that they failed to grasp God's love and mercy, according to Father Kilgallen.
"We may feel that we are unworthy of the resurrection, but we cannot place that limitation on God, whose love is boundless," he said. "Our hope is in God," he continued. "I exist because God chose me to exist — It was an act of love.
"For those who love God, this is our first assurance of our resurrection and eternal life," he added.
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