THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

17 NOVEMBER 2019

          When Saint Paul writes to Thessalonians, he knows that they are concerned about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  Believing that the Lord would come again very soon, many of them had quit their work and were sitting around doing nothing, waiting for the Lord to come for them.  Paul responds that no one knows when the Lord will come again.  In fact, Paul has come to realize that the Lord’s second coming has been delayed.  So, he gives them some good advice.  Reminding them of the hard work which Silvanus and Timothy and he had done in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, he tells them that the best way to wait for the coming of the Lord is to continue their daily lives and remain involved in their work, even when it is boring or tedious.  As he reminds them, they should keep busy instead of minding the business of others.

            Unlike the Thessalonians, we do not expect the Second Coming of the Lord any time in the near future.  Over the last two thousand years, we have seen lots of people trying to predict the end of the world.  But the Lord has delayed his Second Coming in the midst of persecutions, wars, and natural disasters.  However, we need to be reminded that he will come for us, not only at the end of time, but also when he comes to call each of us home at the end of our lives. 

            The Lord speaks this same word to us every year at this time, whether we want to hear it or not.  Today is the second to the last Sunday in this current Liturgical Year.  The signs of the death of Nature are all around us.  The ground no longer produces life.  The length of light each day gets shorter.  We have been praying during this month in a special way for our deceased loved ones.  Life in this world is transitory.  We cannot expect that those structures which sustain us will last forever.  That is what Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel.  By the time Saint Luke had recorded his words, the Romans had destroyed the magnificent Temple and all of Jerusalem.  The disciples of Jesus were dispersed throughout the Empire.  As they formed themselves into a new family built on the foundation of the risen Temple of Jesus Christ, they were beginning to understand that they were living stones being formed into a new and more beautiful structure.  But, they were also being persecuted, harassed, and even executed.  It is no wonder that they were hoping that the Lord would come again very soon in their lifetimes.

            The Lord does not speak these words to frighten us.  Instead, he wants us to be aware of the truth of our existence.  We do that best by following Saint Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians.  We need to continue the work of our daily lives, as boring and tedious as that work may be.  We need to recognize the Lord’s presence in our daily activities and trust that our work contributes to the Lord’s ongoing work in our world today. 

            The prophet Malachi provides a wonderful image for our efforts to recognize the Lord’s presence in our daily lives.  He speaks of the fire of God’s love.  At every Mass, we light these candles, because the Lord is truly present here in Word and Sacrament.  As baptized disciples, we carry the light of that presence into our daily lives.  The fire of that light can shine through us when we live our baptismal promises.  It can also purify us when we fail.  During November, we are more conscious of the fire of God’s love shining through the entire Church.  That fire shines through the saints in heaven.  That is why the saints are given haloes in iconography.  We pray for those who are being purified by the fire of God’s love, which is the essence of Purgatory.  We are even reminded of those who have completely turned their backs on the fire of God’s love and are being burned by it, which is the essence of hell.  As we continue to be guided by the fire of God’s love on our pilgrimage to the New and Eternal Jerusalem, it is by our perseverance that we will secure our lives.

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 NOVEMBER 2019

          Throughout this Liturgical Year, Saint Luke has told us about Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem.  On the way, he has been teaching what discipleship means.  He has emphasized that he would suffer, die, and be raised from the dead in Jerusalem.  Today, he has arrived.  He is in Jerusalem, teaching in the Temple just a few days before he will be crucified.

            While the crowds may have welcomed him on Palm Sunday, the Sadducees have not.  They are part of the wealthy aristocracy who cooperate with the occupying Romans.  They are the fundamentalists of their day who insist that the only authentic word of God comes from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  They are also the priests of the Temple, and they are clearly threatened by this itinerant preacher from Galilee who does not belong on their turf.

            So they try to trap him in his teaching about resurrection.  Knowing that there is no mention of resurrection in the Torah, they quote the Levirate Law in the Book of Deuteronomy.  That law requires that the brother of a deceased man should take his wife and raise descendants for his name.  They propose the ridiculous situation of a woman who married all seven of the men in the same family and dies childless.  Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?

            Instead of dismissing the Law of Moses, as they had expected, Jesus responds that they do not understand what resurrection means.  They are focusing on the reality of a political earthly kingdom.  He is referring to the reign of God which will be ushered in by his death and resurrection.  Resurrection is life transformed by the God of the living.  As his closest followers will discover, they will not recognize him transformed from the dead on Easter Sunday. 

            At the heart of our Christian faith is the Paschal Mystery:  the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As we walk together to the New and Eternal Jerusalem, we are convinced that death is not the end.  We do our best to trust in the promise of Jesus that if we die with him, we will rise with him.  But as much as we may believe the Paschal Mystery, we sometimes have a difficult time explaining our faith in a clear and understandable way. 

The Second Book of Maccabees provides an insight.  It tells the story of a very difficult time for the people of Israel two centuries before the birth of Christ.  The Seleucids had taken control of the region and decided to ban all religious practices.  The King’s name was Antiochus IV Epiphanes (in Greek “Zeus Revealed”).  In other words, his name meant “just call me god.”  At his command, the Temple in Jerusalem was turned into a gymnasium, and all places of worship were destroyed.  Those who refused to worship him were subject to the death penalty.

            In today’s first reading, a faithful Jewish mother is arrested, along with her seven sons.  They are given a choice:  worship the king (with the big ego) or be killed.  Each of the brothers refuses to worship the king and chooses to die rather than abandon their trust in the one true God.  Each of the brothers is murdered in a brutal way, along with their mother.  They choose death because of their firm belief that God would raise them up again.  Their heroic actions are more eloquent than any theological or philosophical attempt to explain the mystery of life after death.

            What happened to the mother and her sons is not an isolated event that happened a long time ago.  In 2014, members of ISIS captured 20 Coptic Catholics who had come to Libya seeking work.  They dressed them in orange jump suits and marched them to the shore of the Sea.  They gave them a choice:  give up your faith or die.  Each was beheaded in a brutal manner.  A 21^st member of their group decided to join them, even though he was not Christian, because he was so impressed with their belief in life after death.  It is that firm belief in the resurrection which continues to give us hope as we walk to the New and Eternal Jerusalem.

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

3 NOVEMBER 2019

          The book of Wisdom tells us that God loves all things that are.  Even though the universe appears to God as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew, God’s imperishable spirit is in all things.  Even when his creatures turn away and reject him, God rebukes offenders little by little so that they may return to him.  God never gives up on us.

            We see this truth in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, as he travels from Galilee to Jerusalem.  We have been following him every Sunday in the Gospel of Saint Luke.  At one point in his journey, he meets a rich young man.  He looks with love at this rich young man who has been faithful about keeping the commandments.  When the rich young man asks what he needs to do to have eternal life, Jesus shows his love for him by telling him to give away everything to the poor and follow him.  The rich young man goes away sad, because he cannot imagine living without his wealth.  Jesus turns to his disciples who had already given away everything to follow him and tells them that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  Convinced that wealth is a sign of God’s favor, the disciples scratch their heads and wonder if anyone can be saved.

            Today, Jesus meets another rich man.  Unlike the rich young man, Zacchaeus is an older scoundrel.  Not only is he in the business of ripping his own people off, giving the proceeds to the hated Romans, and pocketing the inflated balance.  He is the chief tax collector of Jericho.  Isolated by the citizens of Jericho, he must be looking for some kind of acceptance.  He wants to see Jesus of Nazareth, who is passing through the town.  But he is short, both in moral and in physical stature.  So, he makes a fool of himself and climbs a sycamore tree.  We can only imagine the crowd making fun of him.  Jesus looks up, sees him, and invites himself to stay at his house.  Zacchaeus responds in a truly repentant way.  He is willing to make amends for his selfish and greedy behavior.  He will give away half of his possessions to the poor and will repay whatever he has extorted four times over.  Since he had been in the habit of ripping off the entire town, he is in effect giving away his wealth.  He has responded to the Lord’s mercy given to him even before he repented and is filled with joy.  The disciples have their question answered.  Yes, the rich can be saved.  The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what is lost.

            Jesus loves both the rich young man who had been living a virtuous life and Zacchaeus who had been living a life of greed and selfishness.  Neither had earned his love.  The rich young man cannot take a next step in allowing that love to transform him.  Zacchaeus gladly takes that step and accepts the boundless mercy of the one who loved him first.

            This lesson is very important for us as we follow Jesus on our road to the new and eternal Jerusalem.  Jesus loves us first, and we cannot earn that love.  In his relentless pursuit of us, he is always yearning for us to respond positively.  As the Book of Wisdom notes, Jesus rebukes us little by little so they we may return to him.  Perhaps he looks at us with love, as he did with the rich young man, to remind us that we cannot rely on our possessions for our ultimate happiness.  We need to let go of our dependence on material comfort to be more faithful disciples.  Perhaps he looks at us with love, as he did with Zacchaeus, to call us to repent of destructive behavior or selfishness that isolates us.  We don’t need to climb a sycamore tree to see him.  Walking into those Reconciliation Rooms is much safer and less embarrassing!  Reconciled with him, Jesus wants to stay with us in our houses.  In turn, he wants us to do the same for those who are hurting or in trouble.  We can go a long way toward being evangelizers simply by being present to those who need us and extending the Lord’s mercy before anyone asks.