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.
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