We are coming to the end of this present liturgical year. Next Sunday is Christ the King, followed by the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new year. This year we are now completing is year B in the three-year cycle of Sundays and the gospel of Mark has been the principal source for our gospel readings. Next year is year C and the gospel of Luke will be our gospel source. The gospel readings of late have included references to end times, as we see in today’s gospel. In these days we are reminded that God’s salvific plan for us is contained in a framework of time, as is the whole of creation. It begins in time, unfolds for a time, and when completed the end time arrives. That there is to be an end time we know for certain. What we don’t know is when the end of time will come.
The first generation of the Church for the most part believed that the second coming of Christ would be in their time. But this seemed not to be happening and some began scoff at the idea all together. St. Peter addresses this in his Second Letter to the churches. Know this, that in the last days scoffers will come to scoff, living according to their own desires and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation.” The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out. 2 Pt. 3: Down through the ages there have been predictions of the imminent end of the world which aroused many people with fear. The seniors among you will remember the Cuban missal crisis of 1962. For 13 days, from October 16–28, Russia and the United States stared down the barrels of their atomic bombs at each other. Fear of Armageddon was real and palpable. I was in the seminary at the time and some America students studying with us were notified to be ready to be called home for military duty at any moment. Today a new doomsday warning is being issued to the world from the environmental scientist – that we may be destroying the planet we live on. Added to this, the Covid-19 pandemic has shaken our confidence in the security of our ordinary daily living. These warnings must not be taken lightly. Sadly there are religious people who claim that they have been given revelations as to when the end of the world will take place. This is causing some devout people to believe these claims - a direct contradiction to Jesus' words in the gospels; (... no one knows, only the Father) Those who buy into such claims often altar their religious practice in ways that cause them to fail in their vocation to work to bring change to the world, giving it a better future by knowing and following the truth of the gospel. But aside from the question of end times, each of us knows well that our own lives are governed by time and like sands in the hourglass time is passing. For the spiritual direction of these days the Church is counselling us to take to heart the many texts of scripture that exhort us to use wisely our God-given days of time and to live holy lives. “Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit, like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast . . . How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later . . . you, must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.” Lk. 12:35 Take some time during these next couple of weeks to check the progress of your spiritual life. How am I doing? What needs to change? What might I do better? Am I ready for that knock at my door? |
Voices
Voices is a resource for personal prayer and devotion from a Catholic perspective - especially for those beginning the practice of meditative prayer.
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Saturday, 16 November 2024
Thirty-third Sunday - 2024
Saturday, 9 November 2024
Thirty-second Sunday - 2024
For these Sundays of October and November, the 2nd Reading in the Liturgy of the Word is taken from the Letter to the Hebrews. The author’s main theme is the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus; it is meant as a means of restoring the lost fervor happening among the Hebrew Christians at that time and of strengthening them in their faith. Another important theme of the letter is that of the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem. This theme is intimately connected with that of Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The new temple, the new sanctuary is now in heaven and Jesus is the High Priest. The ancient Hebrews also were affected by this world view, but through the prophets were beginning to get a clearer idea of what was really true. Yet, they still had the temple, and altars of sacrifice, and priest making offerings with which they continued to believe they could appease God’s anger – manifested when bad things would happen. Jesus comes with an entirely new understanding; a new understanding of who God really is, of who we are in God’s eyes, and why God created us in the first place, placing us here on this earth . Jesus reveals to us that God is a loving God, and he has a very particular plan for us humans. God wants to share His divine life with us; literally making us divine child of God, clothing us with the glory that is God’s glory. But before this can happen, we must be made capable of receiving such glory. The angels were given a share in God’s glory before us, but some of them, when they saw how glorious they were, began to think and act as if they too were gods. It was necessary for God to strip them of the glory he had given them and expel them from heaven. Not wanting this fate to happen to humans when they receive glory, God starts us off here on this remote planet earth, in the school of "humbling reality". Once humans are convinced of the truth of their humble state, it is safe to cloth them in glory. A quick look of human history makes it abundantly clear that we are very slow learners. True religion happens when we enter the school of holiness by attaching ourselves to Jesus in a personal relationship. True relationship is not simply knowing about Jesus – the devil knows all about Jesus, true relationship happens when we enter into a spiritual communion with the Spirit of Jesus. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20 And who is our teacher in the school of holiness – it is the Holy Spirit, and the school complex wherein we study is the Church. |
Saturday, 2 November 2024
Thirty-first Sunday - 2024
One of the scribes
came to Jesus and asked him, |
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Saturday, 26 October 2024
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