Reflection for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - November 19 2017 - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

      The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  People will say “peace and security,” but suddenly, disaster will come.  But, the people will not escape.  Paul wrote these words to the Christian community he founded in the busy Greek seaport of Thessalonica.  The members of that community had converted from pagan religions.  They put aside the other messages that were calling out to them in the world to follow the Way of faith.  Paul had to leave that community abruptly, but he remained concerned for their welfare.  His letter encouraged them in the midst of their trials and persecutions.  Paul told them that Christ’s Second Coming would arrive at an unannounced time, so they needed to be ready at all times.

       Even though Paul wrote those words in the middle of the first century, they still speak to us today.  On November 16, we marked the 28th anniversary of the martyrs of El Salvador, of 8 Catholics who were killed for their faith in that small Central American country.  Since the Church’s early days, martyrs have had a special place in the community of saints. As we remember these martyrs from El Salvador, we might wonder: How do their lives and their stories affect us in our lives here in Mississippi? These killings took place in November 1989 at the height of the Salvadoran civil war.  The military forces in that country were ordered to kill Jesuit Father Ignacio Ellacuría, the rector of the University of Central America, and to leave no witnesses.  They killed him with the 5 other priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter who were all present at the residence on that day.

       Why would military forces want to kill a Catholic priest?  It was out of fear of the message that he proclaimed, a message that reached out to the pain of the people that he saw around him in the midst of a civil war.  That message cut to the heart of the poverty and oppression that afflicted so much of that country.  Why was there so much injustice?  Why is the oppression in society overlooked?  These Jesuit priests asked those questions and those in power felt threatened, taking action to destroy these priests and their message, the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why it is important for us to remember these 6 Jesuits priests and their companions who were murdered.

        We, too, have a lot of complicated issues that face our country and our world. Even though there are no easy answers, burying our heads in the sand and not taking action are not what our faith calls us to do.  How is the Gospel of Jesus Christ compelling us to respond to the reality around us?