[1]It’s been
a rough week for me. We recently buried three good men from different times in
my life. Each who loved God, were family men, and dedicated to service to
country and community. Shortly after the last funeral, I hosted a family Zoom session
to discuss the to care of our aging parents. I’ve had to watch from afar as my
siblings experience the many stages of stress knowing the end time is nearer as
they care for mom and dad. All this has helped me put into perspective this
weekend’s scripture readings as we come to the end of another liturgical year.
Today’s first reading reminds us
what will happen on that day: you know the last day, the end of the world as we
know it. When we hear these words, each of us must examine ourselves to see
what they mean to us. They may fill us with fear, but they should also fill us
with hope. As I converse with those who walk with the aging and the dying,
there are a couple of dominant emotions. The first emotion is often fear. The caretakers want their loved one to survive,
to cheat death, to recover, because they just can’t imagine themselves living
without them and they’ll spare no expense to achieve this end. The other emotion
is pure hope. Where the caretaker’s love,
loves them through the aging process and when the end time is near they provide
the assurance that everything will be alright. And there’s a great peace in
that.
The Gospel tells us, “Of the day or hour, no one knows,” (Mk
13:32) when “heaven and
earth will pass away.” (Mk 13:31) It
reminds us while we won’t know when Christ will return, it also encourages us
to be vigilant. Maybe it’s hard to envision the end,
our Lord does describe some of its elements. He tells his disciples: after the
tribulation there will be darkness (Mk
13:24). I believe we each will experience this, as individuals, as our earthly
life comes to an end. Jesus not only encourages us to be vigilant but to
persevere because in the tribulation, he will be close, right at our “gate.”
So, let us be vigilant in
contemplating the end times, because a little healthy concern keeps us on our
toes, but let’s also be full of hope because even though there’ll be these final battles,
Jesus has already won the war.
Pope Benedict XVI made this point
powerfully in his 2007 encyclical, Spe salvi, speaking
of the great Christian virtue of hope. Pope
Benedict calls the final judgment a “place of hope,” a “setting for learning and practicing
hope.” Here's how he explains it: “From
the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgement has influenced Christians in
their daily living as a criterion by which to order their present life, as a
summons to their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice.
Faith in Christ has never looked merely backwards or merely upwards, but always
also forward to the hour of justice that the Lord repeatedly proclaimed. This
looking ahead has given Christianity its importance for the present moment.” (Spe
salvi, #41)
The fact that we know Jesus is
coming again, to set all things right, makes a huge difference in how we look
at ourselves and the world around us - if we let it.
In practical terms, what does
living with this clear awareness of the end really mean? What does it mean to “be vigilant,” or, as
today’s Psalm puts it, to “set
the Lord ever before” (Ps 16:8) us so
that we will not be “disturbed?”
First, it means making our
personal relationship with God a true priority through daily prayer, ongoing
study of His word, our faith, and frequent reception of the sacraments. This is
what we can call keeping a healthy “God-life.”
Second, it means loving one
another. Starting with self and our family. This love then splits into our
relationships within the parish and into the community. If we still are not sure
what this looks like, feels like? Look no further than the cross, the ultimate model
of self-giving love. Allow yourself to enter fully into His passion, death and resurrection;
trusting and hoping in the grace of this Eucharistic we are about to enter into.
Jesus died not only for those of us who are here today, but for all of God’s
children. This is the table of plenty!
Third, it means following Christ’s
example in our daily lives. Jesus was honest, merciful, courageous, gentle,
patient, forgiving, humble, pure, faithful… Every single day he gives us the opportunity
and the choice to
learn be to witnesses of his love and mercy, getting our souls ready for the
great adventure of heaven.
As I remember my friends who passed, their love of God, family, and community and as I continue to walk with my family in loving our parents into their heavenly reward, I recall the prophet Daniel’s words, “the wise shall shine brightly…, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars in heaven.” Let’s promise to do our part to put this knowledge, of the end times as a “place of hope” to work by living a determined life of love and service to glorify the Lord by our lives.
[1] New American Bible, Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14,
18; Mark 13:24-32
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