We’re in the middle of November right
now, which means that we’re preparing for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks and
we’re getting ready for the end of the Church year the weekend after Thanksgiving. On Sunday, December 2, Advent will usher in
our new liturgical year, starting our 4 weeks of preparations for the coming of
Christ’s birth at Christmas. Our
readings today set the tone for the end of our liturgical year and for the
beginning of Advent season, but perhaps the harshness of the readings is a bit
of a shock for us, with Jesus foretelling the destruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem. Jesus warns us not to believe
the alarmists and false prophets in our midst.
Ever since Christ’s resurrection, the
faithful have been anticipating the end times that Jesus foretold. Even though in today’s Gospel we hear Jesus
telling us that the end times would not occur immediately, that 1st generation
in the early Church certainly believed that the end times were imminent based
upon other teachings they heard from Jesus, that the end times would certainly
happen in their own lifetime. Well, here
we are, almost 2000 years later. We are
still awaiting the end times. Yet, in
the centuries that have passed since the Gospel of Luke was written, we
continue to witness many of the events that Jesus told us about: wars and
insurrections; earthquakes, famines, & plagues. Perhaps as we hear this reading today, we are
reminded of the destruction of the hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, of the 9/11
terrorist attacks, and even more recently, the typhoon that hit the
Philippines.
Some scholars think that Luke’s Gospel
was written soon after the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, so
Jesus’ message of persevering through trials, tribulations and persecutions
would have resonated with the believers in the early Church. We don’t face the same sort of persecutions
today, but in other ways, our faith and our religion also come under
attack. Perhaps indifference and apathy
are the greatest enemies of our faith today. Many believers can take the Church and their
faith for granted, thinking that it will always be there for them, thinking
that they don’t have to do much more than the minimal effort, that others will
take care of the preparations, the hard work, and the sacrifices that the
practice of our faith requires. We now
have a mass on Sunday evenings. One of the ladies that I know in Jackson told
me that her sons in high school and college call the Sunday evening mass in
their parish in Jackson the “last chance mass,” meaning that if they couldn’t
fit mass into their busy weekend schedule, they could always somehow make it to
the last mass of the weekend as a last resort.
I compare that to the attitude of a prisoner I once visited in one of
the state prisons. He had not been able to receive the Eucharist for about 4 or
5 months due to his incarceration. Tears
of joy streamed down his cheeks for being able to receive the body of Christ as
a sign of encouragement and hope in such a difficult time in his life.
It’s important for us to always
remember that the kingdom of God has a two-fold dimension: it is already here
with Jesus and his ministry, with the presence of the Holy Spirit and the body
of Christ of the Church and the faithful that is here among us. Yet, there is a fulfillment of God’s kingdom
that is not yet here, that will be fulfilled at the end times when Christ will
come again. We do not know when he will
come, but we can proclaim with certainty that he will come again just as he
foretold.
We prepare for the coming of Jesus in
the practice of our faith – we will prepare for the coming of Jesus into the
world and into our lives as we journey through the holy season of Advent in a
couple of weeks. Perhaps the message
that we can take away from this stern Gospel warning is one of trust: trusting
in Jesus, trusting in our faith, trusting that we will persevere through all
the trials and tribulations that we have to endure. We are not to wait for the end times to come
in order to find the courage we need to endure – we are to learn from Jesus’
wisdom and teaching. We are to testify
and witness to Jesus and his ministry as we travel along our journey of faith.
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