Homily: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Friends, as we approach the end of the liturgical year, the readings for Mass always point us towards the “last things”: reminding us of the final judgment and the necessity to be ready when it comes. Following on that theme, today’s readings give us images of what the events leading up to the judgment will look like; and it doesn’t sound like fun, does it? In the first reading, we read, “it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time.” Then, in the Gospel reading, Jesus says, “In those days after the tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” “Greeeaaat… I can’t wait.” 😬
In
light of this, it’s important to remember that one of the great errors of
thinking that we can make as Christians is to believe that because I’m on “Team
Jesus”, everything is going to go well for me in this world. In other words, it’s believing that, “since I’m
on God’s side, and since it’s God’s world, God will certainly pour out favors
on me so that I get through life relatively unscathed”. This is an error for two reasons. First, it makes us vulnerable to question the
goodness of God when the inevitable sufferings of this world come to us. If we believe that being on “Team Jesus”
means we’ll be protected from suffering, then the inevitable suffering that we
will experience will convince us that we had been lied to in regards to the
benefits of following him. Second, this
belief that following Jesus leads us to a comfortable life leaves us unprepared
for the tribulation that will come before the final judgment. If all we do is seek a comfortable life,
believing that it is ordained for us by God, then, when the tribulation comes,
we will be soft and unprepared to withstand whatever that final tribulation will
bring.
Let
me slow down right here and emphasize what I just proposed. What I proposed was this: that God permits us
to suffer in this life in order to prepare us to face the tribulation that will
come just before the final judgment.
Have you ever thought of it in this way?
I can say that quite rarely do I think of it in this way. How often, rather, do we hear people talk
about “the problem of suffering”, by which they mean, “Suffering seems to have
no meaning or purpose, and meaning/purpose is what makes sufferings bearable.” What I just said, however, contradicts
that. Is suffering empty of
meaning? No. Is it a terrible tragedy that all humanity
must experience because of Original Sin?
Yes. But is it empty of
meaning? No. Rather, all suffering has an end for which it
is aimed: Suffering that we experience
as a consequence of our personal sins has “short-term” meaning in that it works
as a corrective to our sinful behavior.
Suffering that we experience because of others’ sins, or simply because
the world is still imperfect, if we bear them patiently, has “long-term”
meaning, in that it is training us how to persevere through trials in
anticipation of the great final trial that will come at the end of time.
Friends,
this is why Jesus constantly rebuked his disciples whenever they betrayed a
belief that following Jesus would mean having comfy positions of prestige above
the people. “Jesus, we would like it
that you would have us sit at your right and your left in the kingdom.” “Huh,” Jesus replied, “You don’t know what
you are asking for. Can you drink the
cup that I will drink and undergo the baptism I will undergo? Indeed you will…” “I must go and suffer at the hands of men,”
Jesus told them. “This will never happen
to you!” Peter replied. “Get behind me,
Satan!” was Jesus’ retort. Because of
this, just before Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time he reminds his
disciples of the coming tribulation and that they should not be fooled into
thinking that they will not have to undergo it.
Rather, he exhorts them to be ready for it: something that he’s been
instructing them to do since day one, right? “If you wish to be my disciple,
take up your cross daily and follow
me.”
What
a blessing it is, therefore, to be reminded of the coming tribulation! Without it, we might be lulled into thinking
that the sufferings of this world are either meaningless or, worse yet, a sign
that God is not who we believe him to be, since he allows his followers to
suffer. To be reminded of the coming tribulation,
therefore, is to be reminded that the sufferings we endure now are a training
ground—a crossfit gym, if you will—that both purifies us from the impurity of
sin as well as strengthens us to endure to the end. Thus, we can make sense of St. Paul, who says
that we should “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thes 5:18), because,
without the sufferings that we experience now, we would be unprepared to face the
tribulation to come. We would likely
find ourselves “freaking out” like the rest of the world and perhaps even lose
our salvation. If we allow our
sufferings to strengthen us, however, we will be like the hero/heroine at the
end of an action movie: bravely charging into the tribulation with the
confidence that we have already overcome it because of Christ who has saved us.
This
message, of course, is for all of us here, no matter the side of the grate on
which you live. For those on this side,
the danger is to believe that God has blessed us with so much that surely he
will sustain us in the trial, even if we’ve avoided daily sufferings in our
lives. Don’t be fooled, less the day
catch you off guard and unprepared. For
those on that side, the danger is to think that, by choosing a life of penance,
you’re automatically safe. Certainly,
there are many safeguards in your rule to prevent that from happening, but it’s
important to remember that they are there because they are necessary. In other words, the danger of complacency
towards the daily work of carrying your crosses is real for you, too.
Friends,
this is why the Gospel is so important!
It’s like the “cheat code” for life!
Through it, God, in his mercy, has revealed the end to which our lives
are aimed (eternal communion with him) and that he providentially arranges the
circumstances of our lives (to the extent that he can while respecting our free
will), both so that this Gospel might be proclaimed everywhere and that we might be made ready to
endure all things—including the final tribulation—so as to enter into his
eternal glory. What a great gift, right? We know where we are going; we know what we’re
going to have to go through in order to get there; and we know what we have to
do in order to get through it. All we
have to do is do it! I mean, the
prospect of having to go through a tribulation doesn’t sound much like a gift,
of course. But the fact that we know
that we will have to go through it and that we are being provided the means to
prepare ourselves to endure it is ample reason to give thanks to the one who
has revealed this to us, no?
Friends,
if we ever lose faith in those facts, we only have to return here, to the
Mass. That’s because here, in the Mass,
we remember that God himself came to live as one of us, that he suffered just
as we suffer in the world (and even more!)—to the point of death—and that he
rose from the dead and lives in eternal glory to make it possible for us to do
the same. Still more, he feeds us with
his divine life to strengthen us now, as we endure our trials, and to remind us
that he will not leave us alone in the final tribulation: fortifying our bodies
and our spirits to trust in the promise of a life to come.
Therefore,
with all of the saints who have already received the reward for their perseverance,
let us give thanks to God in this Mass. Then,
through the strength received from this altar, let us go forth with confidence that
the crosses we carry daily are preparing us to live in peace, free from all
suffering, in the glory of God in heaven.
Given at the Monastery of the Poor Clares: Kokomo, IN –
November 17th, 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment