33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

It is difficult to assign a precise time for Malachi. Traditionally, he is thought to have served God some 500 years before the birth of Jesus. His name means “my messenger” and seems inspired by a later oracle about the coming of a messenger to prepare the way before God (Mal 3:1). This prophet’s oracles address a people who seem to have lost interest in serving God. All through the book they are indifferent to religion. Just before this reading, for example, they wonder if there is any advantage at all in keeping the commandments. The wicked, they argue, do not keep the commandments, and yet live prosperous lives. The people, therefore, imagine that God makes no distinction between God’s loyal servants and the unfaithful. God corrects their thinking. The day will come when it will be perfectly obvious there is indeed a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. At the time of Jesus, the Jerusalem Temple was an architectural masterpiece admired by Jews and Gentiles alike. Imagine the shock effect of hearing Jesus declare that this grand building is headed for total destruction. It will end up as nothing more than rubble.

Questions of when and how. Those who heard Jesus make such a startling statement immediately probed him with questions of when this will happen, and what signs will serve as a warning?  Luke’s community knows that the Jerusalem Temple was factually destroyed in 70 CE. So there is a deep sensitivity to any talk related to the end-time and to the events associated with it. Luke portrays Jesus as stressing a sense of urgency connected with moderation.

Do not be deceived. Jesus shows no interest at all in providing a schedule or a timeline for when the final age will arrive. He warns, however, that there will be people claiming to know the day and the hour as well as the event that will bring the final end to a climax. Jesus firmly teaches that no matter what such people predict, or how they interpret trials and tribulations, they have no factual knowledge. This is not to deny that serious conflicts and natural disasters will in fact happen. No matter what they are, they are not pointing to the advent of the end-time.

Be confident and faithful. Luke realizes that followers of Jesus have been, and will continue to be, the objects of persecution by their enemies. These events will require confident strength and faithful obedience. Luke understands all this as the opportunity for Christians to bear witness to their faith in Jesus. He encourages them not to worry about being prepared for such trials. Jesus himself will provide the wisdom and strength necessary to persevere in such circumstances. No one knows how long such sufferings and ordeals will last. While there is no doubt that these experiences are real, there is still no clear indication that they signal the immediate coming of the final age. All of these things are to be understood as preliminary to the advent of the final time. For now, the plan is one day at a time.

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius