Jeremiah 33.14-16
Psalm 25.4-5, 8-9, 10+14 Resp. 1b
1 Thessalonians 3.12-4.2
Luke 21.25-28, 34-36
Advent is a time for time-travel, and our time machine is this church and the readings we will have this season. We have prophecies like our reading from Jeremiah that take us back to that time before Christ came. We stand with the Jewish people, in a country conquered by Rome, waiting for a savior. We wait with the shepherds on the hill. We chat with them about the price of wool these days and sit down to a dinner of shepherd’s pie, yet always with an eye toward the sky waiting for some angels to appear, singing Gloria in excelsis Deo.
We stop by a stable with a pregnant Mary and a watchful Joseph. We know what is going to happen, yet we go back in time with them and wait. We listen to a homily in the synagogue about how the Messiah is going to come and how he will be born in Bethlehem, the city of David, how he will be born of a virgin. We sort of nod our head and smile. We fly across the desert and see some wise men pointing at the sky. One of them is saying to another, “There’s something going on up there in the western sky.”
And while we are going back in time we can go further back and see Isaiah and Malachi prophesying the coming of the Lord. We can stop by and see God’s promises to King David that a son of his would reign forever. We can go back to Adam and Eve in the garden and God’s promise to the serpent that:
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.
We also go into the future. The world is ending; stars are falling from the sky. Jesus is coming again in all his power, like lightning that flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other.
Advent is a time for time-travel, and as we do all this time-traveling we begin to see all of history as one grand story. One great play with God as the author and director. For Advent, the idea of the world as a stage and all of history a play in 10,000 acts can be a stunning image. The events of history are not just a random series of unconnected events. All has been foreseen and planned by God before time began; even our sins were taken into account.
Shakespeare wrote:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
I hear that and I think “merely players”? Merely? I am just happy I got the part. What a glorious thing it is to be an actor on this stage in this history, to be allowed to co-write my small portion of this play with God. And I can choose. My character could be very boring or very interesting.
We actors stand on this stage. Right here. Right now. We do not know what the next scene will be, but we have a script of what our own lines ought to be. It is a rather loose script, just basic instructions for some things to do and some things not to do. Still, the director knows that we will not even follow this easy script and his plan is ready for that. And someday the stage directions will say: “enter stage right, Jesus Christ” and he will make his entrance, and what an entrance it will be! The great curtain that is the sky will be raised and we will finally see the audience. Do not get stage fright just now, but all the angels in heaven and all the demons of hell are watching. And then the world will end. And the new heavens and the new earth will replace the current ones. Are you excited for the end of the world? There are some who are afraid of the end of the world.
The end of the world, for us, ought to be like the end of the school year is for children, like the end of a long hospital stay, like the end of a four hour meeting on a Friday night. I do not deny the importance of what is ending, but I affirm the splendor of what is to come. It is not for the hatred of school that a child celebrates the last day, but for the anticipation of the summer vacation.
When the world ends, all will rise again, to the resurrection of the blessed or of the damned. The blessed will receive back their bodies, glorified bodies, capable of the impossible. The joy of being with God will be the answer to every desire that burns now within us. We will be fulfilled and happy in a way that, on this earth, is only possible in fairy tales. We will live happily ever after.
The whole story of the history of the world is a fascinating story, all the more fascinating because we are in it. And when the world ends, I like to think that we will all sit down to watch the encore performance, (remember we will have forever, what would a few billion years be?). We will have our favorite actors, people who today we call the saints. They will be the movie stars. People like John the Baptist in his camel hair clothes will the leather belt. Eating locusts and honey. People will always be quoting his catchphrase to him when they see him in the street: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” If there are autographs in the new earth, everyone is going want to have his.
And what will we think when we see ourselves on stage? How will all our actions look in the light of that new day? I am not saying that there will not be a thousand excuses for why we did what we did, I am just saying that not every performance will be award winning.
But do you know what kind of story everyone always loves? A Cinderella story. Rags to riches. A lost sheep that gets found and carried back to the fold. The story of a person who lived a normal, regular, mediocre life until one day in December they decided to be a saint. It was not easy. They could not do it without the grace of God. They had to keep making the commitment over and over and over again until it stuck, but they finally let God put them on his shoulders and carry them back to the fold. The house goes wild. Standing ovation.
Best of all, there is God saying “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Parousia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parousia. Show all posts
December 1, 2012 - Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Revelation 22.1-7
Psalm 95.1-2, 3-5, 6-7ab Resp. 1 Corinthians 16.22b
Luke 21.34-36
This week we have been reading the book of Revelation. We have heard Jesus say many times that he will return. Today we repeat in the Psalm, “Come, Lord Jesus!” And remember the words, “Behold, I am coming soon.” Jesus warns us that the day of his coming will surprise us unless we stay awake in our hearts. Yet here we are, almost two-thousand years since he made this promise, still waiting. Of course, we ourselves ought to be grateful. If he had come any earlier, we would not exist. But now that we have been around for awhile, the few years of our lives seem like a delay.
When is he coming? Is he really coming? Does he even exist? These doubts invade our minds. Back in the garden, God used to visit every evening, yet even that was not enough for us. We are rather demanding creatures. Like children screaming until their parents come for them, we think God is at our beck and call. Certainly Jesus delays his coming, not because he is unable to come nor because he is not there; he delays until the time is right. Just as our existence did not take place until 2000 years after his, so there are people yet to be born before his arrival.
Every day people are born, and every day people come to conversion. Jesus will come when the time is right. We pray, “Come Lord Jesus!”, but not because we want to affect the time of his coming. He will come at the perfect time whether we want it or not. We pray, constantly asking for him to come, because we need the reminder of what we are waiting for. If we forget that he will come, who will welcome him when he arrives? No matter how involved we are with the things of this world in the present moment, we should always be aware that this stuff is temporary, just until he comes. We work hard at our jobs, but just until he comes. We study and prepare for the future, but just until he comes. We carefully budget our money, but just until he comes. In the meantime, we will not have to wait very long. He might not come for ten-thousand more years, but we will go to him before too many years pass. One way or the other, we are going to see him soon.
Psalm 95.1-2, 3-5, 6-7ab Resp. 1 Corinthians 16.22b
Luke 21.34-36
This week we have been reading the book of Revelation. We have heard Jesus say many times that he will return. Today we repeat in the Psalm, “Come, Lord Jesus!” And remember the words, “Behold, I am coming soon.” Jesus warns us that the day of his coming will surprise us unless we stay awake in our hearts. Yet here we are, almost two-thousand years since he made this promise, still waiting. Of course, we ourselves ought to be grateful. If he had come any earlier, we would not exist. But now that we have been around for awhile, the few years of our lives seem like a delay.
When is he coming? Is he really coming? Does he even exist? These doubts invade our minds. Back in the garden, God used to visit every evening, yet even that was not enough for us. We are rather demanding creatures. Like children screaming until their parents come for them, we think God is at our beck and call. Certainly Jesus delays his coming, not because he is unable to come nor because he is not there; he delays until the time is right. Just as our existence did not take place until 2000 years after his, so there are people yet to be born before his arrival.
Every day people are born, and every day people come to conversion. Jesus will come when the time is right. We pray, “Come Lord Jesus!”, but not because we want to affect the time of his coming. He will come at the perfect time whether we want it or not. We pray, constantly asking for him to come, because we need the reminder of what we are waiting for. If we forget that he will come, who will welcome him when he arrives? No matter how involved we are with the things of this world in the present moment, we should always be aware that this stuff is temporary, just until he comes. We work hard at our jobs, but just until he comes. We study and prepare for the future, but just until he comes. We carefully budget our money, but just until he comes. In the meantime, we will not have to wait very long. He might not come for ten-thousand more years, but we will go to him before too many years pass. One way or the other, we are going to see him soon.
November 29, 2012 - Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9
Psalm 100:1-5
Luke 21:20-28
The readings today are about destruction, above all the destruction of Babylon the great city and Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem happened about 40 years after Jesus spoke about it. The destruction of Babylon is yet to come. There has been a great deal of speculation about what Babylon might be. If it refers to a particular country, America is a likely candidate. Babylon is known for its corporations and entrepreneurs: “Your merchants were the great ones of the world.” The culture of Babylon leads the other nations astray like sorcery.
This reading is either good news or bad news depending on whether our hope is in Babylon or in heaven. Those in heaven sing “Alleluia!” because of the destruction. Why? Because salvation, glory, and strength belong to our God. No technology will bring salvation. No amount of money will bring true glory or strength. If Babylon does not symbolize some particular nation, then it does symbolize the whole commercial aspect of our modern world. This is all going to be destroyed. The new earth will come without money or possessions. Some people will cry and faint as they see everything they have built in this world pass away.
We were not made for smartphones and cars and airplanes. I have some packages coming that I ordered this past weekend during the shopping days of Black Friday. I am sort of anxiously awaiting them. One of these days, they are going to show up at the door. It is sort of like Christmas, when the packages arrive and I get to unwrap them. We know what it is to wait for material goods, or to wait for a paycheck; how much more should we be waiting for Jesus! We need to have the perspective that Jesus talks about in the Gospel: our head raised up, looking at the sky. That is where our redemption will come from. One of these days the Son of Man will come on a cloud with power and great glory.
Material things only help us live in this difficult world, this valley of tears. When Jesus comes, and the time for all that has passed, when we can finally let go of all our possessions and throw away all of our money and watch the world pass away before our eyes, our response should not be sadness at the loss. Our response should be, “Finally!”
Psalm 100:1-5
Luke 21:20-28
The readings today are about destruction, above all the destruction of Babylon the great city and Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem happened about 40 years after Jesus spoke about it. The destruction of Babylon is yet to come. There has been a great deal of speculation about what Babylon might be. If it refers to a particular country, America is a likely candidate. Babylon is known for its corporations and entrepreneurs: “Your merchants were the great ones of the world.” The culture of Babylon leads the other nations astray like sorcery.
This reading is either good news or bad news depending on whether our hope is in Babylon or in heaven. Those in heaven sing “Alleluia!” because of the destruction. Why? Because salvation, glory, and strength belong to our God. No technology will bring salvation. No amount of money will bring true glory or strength. If Babylon does not symbolize some particular nation, then it does symbolize the whole commercial aspect of our modern world. This is all going to be destroyed. The new earth will come without money or possessions. Some people will cry and faint as they see everything they have built in this world pass away.
We were not made for smartphones and cars and airplanes. I have some packages coming that I ordered this past weekend during the shopping days of Black Friday. I am sort of anxiously awaiting them. One of these days, they are going to show up at the door. It is sort of like Christmas, when the packages arrive and I get to unwrap them. We know what it is to wait for material goods, or to wait for a paycheck; how much more should we be waiting for Jesus! We need to have the perspective that Jesus talks about in the Gospel: our head raised up, looking at the sky. That is where our redemption will come from. One of these days the Son of Man will come on a cloud with power and great glory.
Material things only help us live in this difficult world, this valley of tears. When Jesus comes, and the time for all that has passed, when we can finally let go of all our possessions and throw away all of our money and watch the world pass away before our eyes, our response should not be sadness at the loss. Our response should be, “Finally!”
November 18, 2012 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16:5, 8-11
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
God lives in eternity. He experiences everything at once and simultaneously acts upon everything. Every moment in time and every point in space is always equally present to God. Sort of like how an ant crawls along the ground and can only see an inch in front of itself, and we can see the whole yard, all at once. For God, the beginning of the universe and the end and this moment right now and Eve eating the fruit and Jesus dying on the Cross and Jesus rising from the dead and Jesus born in Bethlehem, are all happening right now.
It is impossible to imagine what that is like. We live in time and cannot imagine life without time. The closest we can come is the moment. We imagine one moment in time, and that is the closest we can come to imagining eternity. It is different, of course, because for us a moment takes place in a particular location and before we can really do anything, the moment has passed. We are limited; God is not. We have something more though. We have the present moment, the endless stream of moments. When we choose to patiently participate in the present moment we come as close to sharing in eternity as we can.
For a little while now, try to live completely in the present moment. Forget everything that has happened up to this point. Forget everything that will happen or that needs to happen. Forget how you got here today, and forget the balance in your bank account. For a little while, let go of everything you are trying to keep in balance. Like yesterday never happened, and tomorrow never will happen. Like this morning never happened, and this afternoon never will happen. As if you were created a second ago, fully-formed, here at Mass, without any plans or worries, nowhere to go afterward, nothing to do but to be here.
It is very difficult to maintain that experience of the present without “real life” creeping in from every side, though which is more real: that you are here now or what you might be doing an hour from now? But we cannot live our lives without doing something, and acting in the present moment requires remembering the past and thinking about the future. Our memory and our imagination allow us to imitate the unlimited nature of God in our limited way. Sitting here in Minnesota, we can remember and imagine all the other places in the world, and important things that have happened, and commitments that we have made. In order to decide what I should do right now, I have to think about what I want to be doing in an hour and in a year and in ten years. If I want to be eating dinner in an hour, then I have to start cooking.
To succeed at life, we always have to be thinking about where we want to be in the future and then act accordingly in the present. That is part of growing up. Only a child gets to live in the moment without considering the consequences or the planning how they will achieve their goals. As we grow up the times when we can live completely in the moment are fewer and fewer each year, until we retire and grow old and weaken, and begin living in the moment again. Hopefully, prayer is a time for each of you when you can live in the moment. Mass on Sunday and some time everyday when you can drop out of the world and imitate the eternity of God.
But prayer is also a time of remembering and planning. We remember all the people and situations that we need to pray for. We remember the mystery of Faith: how Christ died and rose again. And instead of planning where we will be in one year or even ten years, we think about where we will be in ten million years. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace. But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the sky.”
I was telling the Kindergarteners about what Jesus says in this Gospel. About how Jesus went up to Heaven but promised that someday, we “will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” How, one of these days, Jesus is going to come back down again. One of the kindergartners blurted out, “Jesus and God are real life?!” He had evidently heard all about Jesus, but the idea that he himself might someday be walking outside and see Jesus come down through the clouds was brand new.
I think a lot of people are in that situation. They know about Jesus, but they would still be surprised to see him coming down through the clouds. Every year around this time we read the promise of Jesus to come back someday, but do we act like we believe it? He left the time uncertain because we need it that way. If people in the past had known that he still would not be back in the year 2012, and if we knew that he will not be back for another thousand years, the urgency would be completely gone. As it is, he may very well come back this afternoon, for all we know.
The point is that, in every present moment, somewhere between figuring out how to get all the bills paid and deciding what to make for dinner tonight, we should leave a little corner of our mind for this promise, knowing that it could happen at any time. This truth, this promise, changes the calculus of everything. Sure, save for retirement, make sure that you have enough socked away, but, you know, Jesus might come between now and then. Work for that promotion, have a ten-year plan at work, but Jesus might come before you get there. Buy the groceries for Thanksgiving dinner, but Jesus might come on Wednesday. If he does, you will not need the groceries or the plans or the 401k. If he does, the only balances that will count for anything are the number of people in need whom we helped, the number of sinners whom we brought back to the faith, how many people we forgave and how sorry we are for our sins, and how much we love God. What is valuable now will be worthless then, and what is worthless now will be our only asset then.
Psalm 16:5, 8-11
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
God lives in eternity. He experiences everything at once and simultaneously acts upon everything. Every moment in time and every point in space is always equally present to God. Sort of like how an ant crawls along the ground and can only see an inch in front of itself, and we can see the whole yard, all at once. For God, the beginning of the universe and the end and this moment right now and Eve eating the fruit and Jesus dying on the Cross and Jesus rising from the dead and Jesus born in Bethlehem, are all happening right now.
It is impossible to imagine what that is like. We live in time and cannot imagine life without time. The closest we can come is the moment. We imagine one moment in time, and that is the closest we can come to imagining eternity. It is different, of course, because for us a moment takes place in a particular location and before we can really do anything, the moment has passed. We are limited; God is not. We have something more though. We have the present moment, the endless stream of moments. When we choose to patiently participate in the present moment we come as close to sharing in eternity as we can.
For a little while now, try to live completely in the present moment. Forget everything that has happened up to this point. Forget everything that will happen or that needs to happen. Forget how you got here today, and forget the balance in your bank account. For a little while, let go of everything you are trying to keep in balance. Like yesterday never happened, and tomorrow never will happen. Like this morning never happened, and this afternoon never will happen. As if you were created a second ago, fully-formed, here at Mass, without any plans or worries, nowhere to go afterward, nothing to do but to be here.
It is very difficult to maintain that experience of the present without “real life” creeping in from every side, though which is more real: that you are here now or what you might be doing an hour from now? But we cannot live our lives without doing something, and acting in the present moment requires remembering the past and thinking about the future. Our memory and our imagination allow us to imitate the unlimited nature of God in our limited way. Sitting here in Minnesota, we can remember and imagine all the other places in the world, and important things that have happened, and commitments that we have made. In order to decide what I should do right now, I have to think about what I want to be doing in an hour and in a year and in ten years. If I want to be eating dinner in an hour, then I have to start cooking.
To succeed at life, we always have to be thinking about where we want to be in the future and then act accordingly in the present. That is part of growing up. Only a child gets to live in the moment without considering the consequences or the planning how they will achieve their goals. As we grow up the times when we can live completely in the moment are fewer and fewer each year, until we retire and grow old and weaken, and begin living in the moment again. Hopefully, prayer is a time for each of you when you can live in the moment. Mass on Sunday and some time everyday when you can drop out of the world and imitate the eternity of God.
But prayer is also a time of remembering and planning. We remember all the people and situations that we need to pray for. We remember the mystery of Faith: how Christ died and rose again. And instead of planning where we will be in one year or even ten years, we think about where we will be in ten million years. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace. But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the sky.”
I was telling the Kindergarteners about what Jesus says in this Gospel. About how Jesus went up to Heaven but promised that someday, we “will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” How, one of these days, Jesus is going to come back down again. One of the kindergartners blurted out, “Jesus and God are real life?!” He had evidently heard all about Jesus, but the idea that he himself might someday be walking outside and see Jesus come down through the clouds was brand new.
I think a lot of people are in that situation. They know about Jesus, but they would still be surprised to see him coming down through the clouds. Every year around this time we read the promise of Jesus to come back someday, but do we act like we believe it? He left the time uncertain because we need it that way. If people in the past had known that he still would not be back in the year 2012, and if we knew that he will not be back for another thousand years, the urgency would be completely gone. As it is, he may very well come back this afternoon, for all we know.
The point is that, in every present moment, somewhere between figuring out how to get all the bills paid and deciding what to make for dinner tonight, we should leave a little corner of our mind for this promise, knowing that it could happen at any time. This truth, this promise, changes the calculus of everything. Sure, save for retirement, make sure that you have enough socked away, but, you know, Jesus might come between now and then. Work for that promotion, have a ten-year plan at work, but Jesus might come before you get there. Buy the groceries for Thanksgiving dinner, but Jesus might come on Wednesday. If he does, you will not need the groceries or the plans or the 401k. If he does, the only balances that will count for anything are the number of people in need whom we helped, the number of sinners whom we brought back to the faith, how many people we forgave and how sorry we are for our sins, and how much we love God. What is valuable now will be worthless then, and what is worthless now will be our only asset then.
September 12, 2012 - Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 7.25-31
Psalm 45.11-12, 14-15, 16-17 Resp. 11
Luke 6.20-26
In the psalm, the princess is told to forget her former life, because she will be building a new life now. She should forget her nation and her father’s house, because she will have sons instead. It is true that she will always be a daughter, but she is crossing the threshold where she will be seen not as the daughter of her parents but as the mother of her children. None of us are likely to be in the position of an pre-modern princess, but we still proclaim this psalm because we Christians are in a similar situation. We are called to leave behind this life and begin building our new life. In the Gospel, Jesus blesses those who lack something and curses those who have everything they want. If this life has all we need, then we will be unwilling to be torn away from it, but we will have to leave it anyway. The rich will weep because their Lexus is no more.
St. Paul assures us that this world is passing away. He recommends a radical shift in perspective, away from the old, toward the new. This is difficult when we cannot be sure of how much time is left. We do not know if this world will be around for another day or another 10,000 years. Since St. Paul wrote these words, almost 2000 years have passed. Would he have expected that a child in his time would grow up, have a family, live a full life, and die, all without the world ending?
But the end of the world is not only true in a literal, general way. It is also true in a personal way. Not merely that we will die someday and that will be our own little end of the world. The end of our world is something we work toward. Every choice we make is either in favor of the old way, or in favor of the new way. We make the old world end when we choose the new world. When the end of the world comes, whether generally speaking or our own death, we will be prepared by whether we chose the new world in our life. If we lived stuck in the old world, death is scary because it is the end. If we lived striving for the new world, death is exciting because it is the beginning.
Psalm 45.11-12, 14-15, 16-17 Resp. 11
Luke 6.20-26
In the psalm, the princess is told to forget her former life, because she will be building a new life now. She should forget her nation and her father’s house, because she will have sons instead. It is true that she will always be a daughter, but she is crossing the threshold where she will be seen not as the daughter of her parents but as the mother of her children. None of us are likely to be in the position of an pre-modern princess, but we still proclaim this psalm because we Christians are in a similar situation. We are called to leave behind this life and begin building our new life. In the Gospel, Jesus blesses those who lack something and curses those who have everything they want. If this life has all we need, then we will be unwilling to be torn away from it, but we will have to leave it anyway. The rich will weep because their Lexus is no more.
St. Paul assures us that this world is passing away. He recommends a radical shift in perspective, away from the old, toward the new. This is difficult when we cannot be sure of how much time is left. We do not know if this world will be around for another day or another 10,000 years. Since St. Paul wrote these words, almost 2000 years have passed. Would he have expected that a child in his time would grow up, have a family, live a full life, and die, all without the world ending?
But the end of the world is not only true in a literal, general way. It is also true in a personal way. Not merely that we will die someday and that will be our own little end of the world. The end of our world is something we work toward. Every choice we make is either in favor of the old way, or in favor of the new way. We make the old world end when we choose the new world. When the end of the world comes, whether generally speaking or our own death, we will be prepared by whether we chose the new world in our life. If we lived stuck in the old world, death is scary because it is the end. If we lived striving for the new world, death is exciting because it is the beginning.
June 5, 2012 - Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18
Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14, 16
Mark 12:13-17
There are a lot of movies that have a plot about the end of the world. Usually, the end is coming, and the protagonists must do whatever they can to prevent the world from ending. St. Peter sees it differently: he tells us to “wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God.” We are not merely supposed to wait for the end of the world, but try and speed up its coming as much as possible. We Christians are looking forward to the end of the world, because God is going to create a new earth and new heavens where righteousness will dwell. For us, the end of the world is not a disaster, but the very thing we have been waiting for for a long time.
So how exactly are we supposed to hasten the end of the world? By being ready for it. St. Peter says that God has been delaying the end of the world out of patience for us. From his perspective, one thousand years is like a day. So this two thousand year delay so far is just God being patient with us. We must not abuse this patience nor presume that it will last forever. The end of the world will come, perhaps soon, perhaps thousands of years in the future. Either way, we should be ready for it. If the whole world were ready, the end would come right away. We cannot control the whole world. We are only in control of ourselves. So we should do our part by getting ourselves ready for the end.
What does it mean to be ready? It means that when God comes, we will be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. If the sky opened up right now and Jesus Christ appeared like lightning from one side of the sky to the other, what would he find us doing? Would he find us preaching the Gospel or wasting time? Would he find us serving the poor or serving ourselves?
When Jesus comes we will all be a little surprised, but we should not be absolutely shocked. He said that he would come back, and he always keeps his promises. Since this universe is merely a temporary home, we should not get too attached to it. When we see the end coming, we know that our permanent home is on its way.
Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14, 16
Mark 12:13-17
There are a lot of movies that have a plot about the end of the world. Usually, the end is coming, and the protagonists must do whatever they can to prevent the world from ending. St. Peter sees it differently: he tells us to “wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God.” We are not merely supposed to wait for the end of the world, but try and speed up its coming as much as possible. We Christians are looking forward to the end of the world, because God is going to create a new earth and new heavens where righteousness will dwell. For us, the end of the world is not a disaster, but the very thing we have been waiting for for a long time.
So how exactly are we supposed to hasten the end of the world? By being ready for it. St. Peter says that God has been delaying the end of the world out of patience for us. From his perspective, one thousand years is like a day. So this two thousand year delay so far is just God being patient with us. We must not abuse this patience nor presume that it will last forever. The end of the world will come, perhaps soon, perhaps thousands of years in the future. Either way, we should be ready for it. If the whole world were ready, the end would come right away. We cannot control the whole world. We are only in control of ourselves. So we should do our part by getting ourselves ready for the end.
What does it mean to be ready? It means that when God comes, we will be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. If the sky opened up right now and Jesus Christ appeared like lightning from one side of the sky to the other, what would he find us doing? Would he find us preaching the Gospel or wasting time? Would he find us serving the poor or serving ourselves?
When Jesus comes we will all be a little surprised, but we should not be absolutely shocked. He said that he would come back, and he always keeps his promises. Since this universe is merely a temporary home, we should not get too attached to it. When we see the end coming, we know that our permanent home is on its way.
May 17, 2012 - Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Acts 18:1-8
Psalm 98:1-4
John 16:16-20
Jesus is talking about his death and resurrection today. He spoke the words recorded in the Gospel: “A little while and you will no longer see me and again a little while later and you will see me.” Then, after a little while, he died on the Cross and was buried in the tomb and no one saw him, and then a little while later, he rose from the dead and his disciples saw him again.
The reason we have this Gospel today, when we finished with our yearly remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection over a month ago, is that these words can be applied to the second time that Jesus disappeared. Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, he ascended into heaven. His disciples did not see him again. Someday, after a little while (but what exactly is a little while for God?), Jesus will come back and we will see him.
In the meantime, while we wait for Jesus to reappear, we “will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices.” This is the lot of Christians. The world rejoices, but we Christians weep. Why? Because the world rejoices in sin. The world rejoices in greed. The world rejoices in lust. The world rejoices in violence. How can a Christian rejoice in sin and greed and lust and violence?
I know that the world rejoices in these things because it is what I see on television and in movies. The world rejoices while Jesus is gone, but are we weeping? We are in the world, but the world is also in us. The world comes knocking at our soul, and we let the world in. “It is only reasonable,” the world tells us, “after all you are in the world.” Are we not going to watch television and movies? Are we going to be like foreigners in the world? Are we Christians just supposed to be weird?
Yes! If the Gospel is foreign to the world, and the Gospel is the standard of our lives, then we should seem strange to the world. The world tells us that normal people act a certain way. We must not give in to this peer pressure. When Jesus comes again, there will be a new normal. When Jesus comes again, the cool thing to do will be to love your neighbor as yourself and God above all else.
Psalm 98:1-4
John 16:16-20
Jesus is talking about his death and resurrection today. He spoke the words recorded in the Gospel: “A little while and you will no longer see me and again a little while later and you will see me.” Then, after a little while, he died on the Cross and was buried in the tomb and no one saw him, and then a little while later, he rose from the dead and his disciples saw him again.
The reason we have this Gospel today, when we finished with our yearly remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection over a month ago, is that these words can be applied to the second time that Jesus disappeared. Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, he ascended into heaven. His disciples did not see him again. Someday, after a little while (but what exactly is a little while for God?), Jesus will come back and we will see him.
In the meantime, while we wait for Jesus to reappear, we “will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices.” This is the lot of Christians. The world rejoices, but we Christians weep. Why? Because the world rejoices in sin. The world rejoices in greed. The world rejoices in lust. The world rejoices in violence. How can a Christian rejoice in sin and greed and lust and violence?
I know that the world rejoices in these things because it is what I see on television and in movies. The world rejoices while Jesus is gone, but are we weeping? We are in the world, but the world is also in us. The world comes knocking at our soul, and we let the world in. “It is only reasonable,” the world tells us, “after all you are in the world.” Are we not going to watch television and movies? Are we going to be like foreigners in the world? Are we Christians just supposed to be weird?
Yes! If the Gospel is foreign to the world, and the Gospel is the standard of our lives, then we should seem strange to the world. The world tells us that normal people act a certain way. We must not give in to this peer pressure. When Jesus comes again, there will be a new normal. When Jesus comes again, the cool thing to do will be to love your neighbor as yourself and God above all else.
May 4, 2012 - Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Acts 13:26-33
Psalm 2:6-11
John 14:1-6
A lot of people have been saying that the world will end in December this year because the Mayan's calendar cycle resets then. It is really nonsense, but people do like getting excited and having something to talk about. As for the end of the world, I am not going to say that the world will not end in 2012. Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” We are indeed waiting for Jesus. He will come. The world will end. It might be December 21st, but it might be tonight or it might be 10,000 years from now. If one fact about the end of the world is clearly written in Scripture it is that we cannot calculate when it is going to be.
The response of some doubters to all this talk of the world ending tomorrow has been rather illogical. They say things like, “people have been saying that the world is going to end for 2000 years now”, as if that were any argument against the world ending. We Christians are clear that the world is going to end, but we also are clear that it is not going to end before it ends.
St. Paul talks about this from another perspective in our first reading today. Moses, speaking the Word of God, told the Israelites that Jesus would come. He said this about the year 1500 BC. During the next millennium and a half, many people doubted if Jesus would ever come. Even up to the day before Jesus came, people doubted. Then he came. As St. Paul says, “We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.”
It has been almost 2000 years since Jesus promised that he would come back for us. Up until that day when he comes, the world is going to go on the way it has been going on so far. Then, one day, tomorrow, today, or 10,000 years from now, Jesus will come. Just be sure you are ready to welcome him whenever it might be. The end of the world is not a cause of fear for us Christians. We are anxiously awaiting the day when the sky opens and Jesus appears.
Psalm 2:6-11
John 14:1-6
A lot of people have been saying that the world will end in December this year because the Mayan's calendar cycle resets then. It is really nonsense, but people do like getting excited and having something to talk about. As for the end of the world, I am not going to say that the world will not end in 2012. Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” We are indeed waiting for Jesus. He will come. The world will end. It might be December 21st, but it might be tonight or it might be 10,000 years from now. If one fact about the end of the world is clearly written in Scripture it is that we cannot calculate when it is going to be.
The response of some doubters to all this talk of the world ending tomorrow has been rather illogical. They say things like, “people have been saying that the world is going to end for 2000 years now”, as if that were any argument against the world ending. We Christians are clear that the world is going to end, but we also are clear that it is not going to end before it ends.
St. Paul talks about this from another perspective in our first reading today. Moses, speaking the Word of God, told the Israelites that Jesus would come. He said this about the year 1500 BC. During the next millennium and a half, many people doubted if Jesus would ever come. Even up to the day before Jesus came, people doubted. Then he came. As St. Paul says, “We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.”
It has been almost 2000 years since Jesus promised that he would come back for us. Up until that day when he comes, the world is going to go on the way it has been going on so far. Then, one day, tomorrow, today, or 10,000 years from now, Jesus will come. Just be sure you are ready to welcome him whenever it might be. The end of the world is not a cause of fear for us Christians. We are anxiously awaiting the day when the sky opens and Jesus appears.
April 17, 2012 - Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
Today's Readings
People love utopias. They have a philosophical attraction for us. So many people in human history have thought that they had the idea that would change everything. They have a poetical attraction for us. Places like Camelot, Atlantis, and Shangri-La evoke powerful feelings just by their names.
The vision we have today of the apostolic community of Jerusalem is a utopia. All of the rich give everything they have to take care of the poor. It does not seem that this community lasted very long. Its very existence suggests that the Christians during the first years after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven expected him to return very shortly. This is a very reasonable belief. He rose 3 days after his death. He ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. He said that he would return, so it was only reasonable of those early Christians to believe that he would return shortly. So all of the rich sell their property which they believe they will have no use for anymore.
From our perspective 2000 years later it is somewhat easier to understand that Jesus might come tomorrow, he might come today, and he might come in 10,000 years. We live somewhat more practically. The utopian ideal is only realized in religious communities among those who choose to live poverty. The rest of the Christian world has to deal with money and economy to some extent. Nevertheless, this Christian ideal is not something we should forget or treat as a mistake of the early Church. As Luke puts it, who wrote this decades after the end of that community, “Great grace was on them all.”
It would not be possible nor is it even desirable to return to a time when all Christians lived together and shared their wealth, but that early community provided formation for the newborn Church. The Apostles would go on to travel the world converting communities everywhere and people like Barnabas would accomplish great things after leaving the Jerusalem community. We should not forget that community even though it ended long before we were born. It is still where we came from and it is the one place on Earth, the one moment in history when life was as like it will be on the new Earth that we are waiting for as it will ever be until Jesus comes again.
People love utopias. They have a philosophical attraction for us. So many people in human history have thought that they had the idea that would change everything. They have a poetical attraction for us. Places like Camelot, Atlantis, and Shangri-La evoke powerful feelings just by their names.
The vision we have today of the apostolic community of Jerusalem is a utopia. All of the rich give everything they have to take care of the poor. It does not seem that this community lasted very long. Its very existence suggests that the Christians during the first years after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven expected him to return very shortly. This is a very reasonable belief. He rose 3 days after his death. He ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. He said that he would return, so it was only reasonable of those early Christians to believe that he would return shortly. So all of the rich sell their property which they believe they will have no use for anymore.
From our perspective 2000 years later it is somewhat easier to understand that Jesus might come tomorrow, he might come today, and he might come in 10,000 years. We live somewhat more practically. The utopian ideal is only realized in religious communities among those who choose to live poverty. The rest of the Christian world has to deal with money and economy to some extent. Nevertheless, this Christian ideal is not something we should forget or treat as a mistake of the early Church. As Luke puts it, who wrote this decades after the end of that community, “Great grace was on them all.”
It would not be possible nor is it even desirable to return to a time when all Christians lived together and shared their wealth, but that early community provided formation for the newborn Church. The Apostles would go on to travel the world converting communities everywhere and people like Barnabas would accomplish great things after leaving the Jerusalem community. We should not forget that community even though it ended long before we were born. It is still where we came from and it is the one place on Earth, the one moment in history when life was as like it will be on the new Earth that we are waiting for as it will ever be until Jesus comes again.
December 23, 2011 - Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Readings
I suppose that many of you are currently in the midst of preparation. Christmas Eve is tomorrow and there are many things to be prepared: food, decorations, last-minute gifts and cards, stockings to be hung by the chimney with care, cookies to be frosted, a turkey to be defrosted. I would bet that some of you have even made a list. You want to be ready. We all agree with the Whos down in Whoville that Christmas is more than presents and roast beast, but such things must still be prepared if they can be. If everyone showed up for the Christmas dinner and nothing was ready, a moral lesson about the true meaning of Christmas would not go over very well.
And if we prepare our homes and tables for honored guests and families, how much more ought we prepare our hearts for the Lord! The Lord is coming, but who can stand on the day of his coming? Will our work and preparations endure? Of course, we are in the position of children, as a mother helps her children make cards for their father, so the Holy Spirit is preparing us for the coming of the Lord. God prepares us for himself, which means that we will have no excuse on the day of his coming if we are not prepared. God will not accept us if we are unprepared, but he will prepare us if we cooperate with him.
There was a time, back in November, when Christmas seemed a long way off. Plenty of time to do what needed to be done. Now Christmas begins tomorrow. From where we stand now, it might seem like the end of the world or our own death is still a long way off, but it will come. On that day, we will stand before the throne of God. We will see Jesus face to face. No excuses will be accepted. We would not even have the courage to offer any. Now is the time of preparation, then it will be too late. Let us make use of this time, good use of this time. We do not have time to kill; we do not have time to waste. The time to prepare is now.
I suppose that many of you are currently in the midst of preparation. Christmas Eve is tomorrow and there are many things to be prepared: food, decorations, last-minute gifts and cards, stockings to be hung by the chimney with care, cookies to be frosted, a turkey to be defrosted. I would bet that some of you have even made a list. You want to be ready. We all agree with the Whos down in Whoville that Christmas is more than presents and roast beast, but such things must still be prepared if they can be. If everyone showed up for the Christmas dinner and nothing was ready, a moral lesson about the true meaning of Christmas would not go over very well.
And if we prepare our homes and tables for honored guests and families, how much more ought we prepare our hearts for the Lord! The Lord is coming, but who can stand on the day of his coming? Will our work and preparations endure? Of course, we are in the position of children, as a mother helps her children make cards for their father, so the Holy Spirit is preparing us for the coming of the Lord. God prepares us for himself, which means that we will have no excuse on the day of his coming if we are not prepared. God will not accept us if we are unprepared, but he will prepare us if we cooperate with him.
There was a time, back in November, when Christmas seemed a long way off. Plenty of time to do what needed to be done. Now Christmas begins tomorrow. From where we stand now, it might seem like the end of the world or our own death is still a long way off, but it will come. On that day, we will stand before the throne of God. We will see Jesus face to face. No excuses will be accepted. We would not even have the courage to offer any. Now is the time of preparation, then it will be too late. Let us make use of this time, good use of this time. We do not have time to kill; we do not have time to waste. The time to prepare is now.
December 4th, 2011 - Second Sunday of Advent (B)
Today's Readings
It is written in the Old Testament that nothing new ever happens and that is basically true. One of the essential steps to maturity is realizing that the world has been going on like this for thousands of years. You meet someone and get married, but billions of people have met and gotten married. You have your first child, but it is not the first child in the history of the world. Each person has many new experiences throughout their life, but Adam and Eve had those experiences too. A child has new experiences every day, but as we grow older these experiences are fewer and farther between, so it becomes easier to reflect and realize that life is just repetitive. Our life repeats itself, and certainly a very similar life has been lived before by some person in history.
Of course, this is difficult to believe in an era of rapidly expanding technology. Something better always seems to be around the corner. Ten years ago, it was difficult to watch movies on your phone. Twenty years ago, it was impossible. What will we be able to do in ten more years? This rapid progression of technology has changed our outlook on the world. It can seem as if something new is always just around the corner. In month or year, we will be able to buy happiness, or at least a small share in it.
Some people have begun speaking about what they call the singularity. It is the point when computers become more creative than humans. Then computers will invent the new computers, and the new computers will invent newer computers, and on and on, until we suddenly advance in one year as far as technology can be advanced. Then we will know how to prevent people from dying, so everyone alive when the singularity comes will not die until every star in the universe burns out. So there are people right now who are anxious to bring about the singularity as soon as possible, perhaps in fifty years or so.
And what if it did happen? What if we manage to not destroy ourselves with another world war before it comes? And if it all worked out, and the computers do not just take over, what then? Will a life have more meaning because it lasts a trillion years? Will we find something new if we can travel to distant planets? We might at first. We would be like children make new discoveries all the time. We might visit every planet in the universe, but then we would discover that some are just like the others. During the second trillion years, we would come to the same conclusion: there is nothing new under the sun, this sun and every other sun.
And if we follow this contemplation to its very extremes and consider ourselves to be weary travelers of the universe, or if we keep our feet on this planet, in life as we now know it and our years on this planet have been enough to produce a kind of world-weariness, then we are ready for the gospel today. We call it good news, and it truly is new. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” Here, finally, is something new. Even though it is 2000 years old, it is new, it is unique. It happened once.
A man appeared in the desert, clothed in camelhair and eating locusts. That is not new. It might be rare, but such men have appeared before. Yet this man is not a prophet, he is a messenger. He is preparing the way of the Lord. So it is something new because it is the prelude to the something new. It is, simultaneously, the last act in the old play and the first act in the new play. If any technological singularity is ever achieved, it will not be as important, as interesting, as the message that this man came to announce: “Someone is coming.”
Who is coming? John tells us that he is “mightier than I”, but that is nothing new. We have seen strong men before. Is there anything else? “I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.” Well, it must be God then. No matter how important a merely human person is, no one could literally be unworthy to untie their shoes. If someone asked you to be the official shoe untier of the pope or some emperor, you might take the job or leave it, but you would not say, “I am not worthy”, not seriously anyway.
But we knew God existed, and while it is interesting, and new, that he will have sandals, which means that he will have feet, which means that he will have a body, which means that he will be a human, what is in it for us? How does it affect our lives? Is God just going to stop by and visit? Surely that is exciting for anyone in that time and place, but how does it affect us 2000 years later? Is the world any different now than before he came? “Yes,” John says, “I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Before, a human could be sorry for their sins; now, we can be forgiven. Before, humans could only love each other a little; now, we can love each other with the love of God. Before, every human lived and died; now, we can live, and die, and live again. Before, it was impossible to please God; now God dwells within us.
I am not sure if the technological singularity will ever come, but I am confident that if it does, we will just use the technology to commit old sins in new ways. No matter what powers we may discover in the universe, we will find a way to use them to be cruel and selfish and powerhungry. But in the Holy Spirit, there is something new. There is power beyond any technology that could ever be developed, and there is wisdom to use it well. And there is another advantage that the Holy Spirit has over any technology. Someday, Jesus is coming again, and when he comes this universe “will be dissolved in flames, and the elements melted by fire.” It says so right there in the second reading. No technology is going to work when that happens.
It is written in the Old Testament that nothing new ever happens and that is basically true. One of the essential steps to maturity is realizing that the world has been going on like this for thousands of years. You meet someone and get married, but billions of people have met and gotten married. You have your first child, but it is not the first child in the history of the world. Each person has many new experiences throughout their life, but Adam and Eve had those experiences too. A child has new experiences every day, but as we grow older these experiences are fewer and farther between, so it becomes easier to reflect and realize that life is just repetitive. Our life repeats itself, and certainly a very similar life has been lived before by some person in history.
Of course, this is difficult to believe in an era of rapidly expanding technology. Something better always seems to be around the corner. Ten years ago, it was difficult to watch movies on your phone. Twenty years ago, it was impossible. What will we be able to do in ten more years? This rapid progression of technology has changed our outlook on the world. It can seem as if something new is always just around the corner. In month or year, we will be able to buy happiness, or at least a small share in it.
Some people have begun speaking about what they call the singularity. It is the point when computers become more creative than humans. Then computers will invent the new computers, and the new computers will invent newer computers, and on and on, until we suddenly advance in one year as far as technology can be advanced. Then we will know how to prevent people from dying, so everyone alive when the singularity comes will not die until every star in the universe burns out. So there are people right now who are anxious to bring about the singularity as soon as possible, perhaps in fifty years or so.
And what if it did happen? What if we manage to not destroy ourselves with another world war before it comes? And if it all worked out, and the computers do not just take over, what then? Will a life have more meaning because it lasts a trillion years? Will we find something new if we can travel to distant planets? We might at first. We would be like children make new discoveries all the time. We might visit every planet in the universe, but then we would discover that some are just like the others. During the second trillion years, we would come to the same conclusion: there is nothing new under the sun, this sun and every other sun.
And if we follow this contemplation to its very extremes and consider ourselves to be weary travelers of the universe, or if we keep our feet on this planet, in life as we now know it and our years on this planet have been enough to produce a kind of world-weariness, then we are ready for the gospel today. We call it good news, and it truly is new. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” Here, finally, is something new. Even though it is 2000 years old, it is new, it is unique. It happened once.
A man appeared in the desert, clothed in camelhair and eating locusts. That is not new. It might be rare, but such men have appeared before. Yet this man is not a prophet, he is a messenger. He is preparing the way of the Lord. So it is something new because it is the prelude to the something new. It is, simultaneously, the last act in the old play and the first act in the new play. If any technological singularity is ever achieved, it will not be as important, as interesting, as the message that this man came to announce: “Someone is coming.”
Who is coming? John tells us that he is “mightier than I”, but that is nothing new. We have seen strong men before. Is there anything else? “I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.” Well, it must be God then. No matter how important a merely human person is, no one could literally be unworthy to untie their shoes. If someone asked you to be the official shoe untier of the pope or some emperor, you might take the job or leave it, but you would not say, “I am not worthy”, not seriously anyway.
But we knew God existed, and while it is interesting, and new, that he will have sandals, which means that he will have feet, which means that he will have a body, which means that he will be a human, what is in it for us? How does it affect our lives? Is God just going to stop by and visit? Surely that is exciting for anyone in that time and place, but how does it affect us 2000 years later? Is the world any different now than before he came? “Yes,” John says, “I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Before, a human could be sorry for their sins; now, we can be forgiven. Before, humans could only love each other a little; now, we can love each other with the love of God. Before, every human lived and died; now, we can live, and die, and live again. Before, it was impossible to please God; now God dwells within us.
I am not sure if the technological singularity will ever come, but I am confident that if it does, we will just use the technology to commit old sins in new ways. No matter what powers we may discover in the universe, we will find a way to use them to be cruel and selfish and powerhungry. But in the Holy Spirit, there is something new. There is power beyond any technology that could ever be developed, and there is wisdom to use it well. And there is another advantage that the Holy Spirit has over any technology. Someday, Jesus is coming again, and when he comes this universe “will be dissolved in flames, and the elements melted by fire.” It says so right there in the second reading. No technology is going to work when that happens.
November 27, 2011 - First Sunday of Advent
Today's Readings
Today we begin the new year in the Church. Today is the first day of Advent. The first thing that can be said about Advent is that it is not Christmas. Though the world thinks that Christmas begins in November and ends on the 26th of December, we believe that Christmas is a season that begins on the 24th of December at the Christmas Eve mass and is celebrated in various ways until the 2nd of February. I cannot too highly recommend that you celebrate in the Church’s way. If you pick the way of the world, you will miss Advent entirely, which would be sad, because Advent is a wonderful season.
It is as question of ticipation and what sort of ticipation we ought to have. The world likes to have anticipation, but we ought to have participation. The world is rushing, rushing, because it is always anticipating what comes next. Our God lives in eternity, and when we choose to patiently participate in the present we come as close to sharing in eternity as we can. The world does not have enough time because the world has made plans months in advance and then rushes to meet those plans. We can have all the time in the world if we make use of it as it arrives.
But what is Advent if not merely pre-Christmas? The word Advent means “Coming”. During Advent we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ. Both comings. We celebrate his coming among us as a man, which is how Advent is related to Christmas, and we celebrate his coming in the future as the judge of the world.
God wanted to reconcile the world to himself, so he sent his Son among us as a man, one like us in all things but sin. The Son of God had to come to us because we were not able to go to him. We could not go up to heaven, so he came down to earth. I say that God had to come down, but of course he did not have to come down. He could have left us in our sinful condition. Advent is above all a celebration of God’s love. He so loved the world that he sent his only Son.
And he will come again. When he comes it will be the end of the world as we know it. The dead will rise from their graves. Then they and we who are alive will go up to meet him in the sky. Then the whole world, every person who has lived since the creation of the world, will go to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and be judged. It will, of course, take a very long time to judge all those people, but we will have all the time in the world.
Some people talk about the end of the world as if it were something to be afraid of, something we would prevent if we could, but we Christians should not. The end of the world, the second coming of Jesus Christ, is something we celebrate every year in Advent. We know that it is coming, and we will be glad to see it come. If we love Jesus, how could it be otherwise? Who is afraid of the coming of one whom they love?
Yet even in this eager expectation, we do not abandon the present moment. Jesus did not tell us when he would return again, only that he would. The reason he kept the date from us was to show us what should be our frame of mind as we work in the present moment. Perhaps he will come next week. If we knew that we would give up all our plans for the coming year. People would stop working. It would be bad because Jesus wants to find us at work when he comes back. Or if he will not come for another thousand years, we would forget to wait for him. The date would seem so far off and unimportant. Instead, because he kept the day hidden from us, the Church has been expecting him for 2000 years and will go on expecting him until he suddenly arrives.
So what is the right attitude? Jesus’ advice to us today, which he repeats over and over throughout the Gospel today (contrary to this translation) is “Stay awake!” Obviously he does not mean this physically. Whether we are awake or asleep physically, we should be awake spiritually. He is telling us to be to the rest of the world what an awake person is among sleepers. It is interesting to be awake while others sleep. To get things done before others even get up or to finish things after others have gone to bed. This can often seem like the most fruitful time of the day, whether early morning or late at night.
The whole world is asleep right now. Most people are merely sleepwalking through their lives. They do not know why they do what they do. They work hard for vanities that disappear as soon as they have them. In the dream world many things seem important that are not important. How often have I had a dream where something seemed so crucial to have or to do, but when I woke up I realized that it was something silly and pointless.
It is easy to be awakened for a moment by a book or a piece of art or a retreat, but the temptation is to roll over and fall asleep again. Many people can remember a time, perhaps only a day, when they were awake, but it is difficult to actually wake up and stay awake. So Jesus tells us, “Stay awake!” He sounds like a man trying to wake up a groggy world.
For the next four weeks, as we celebrate that Jesus has come and that he is coming again, we ought to take this command particularly to heart. Fight off the weariness of this world. Fight against the desire to return to sin like a person rolling over and returning to sleep. For now it seems like so much effort is required to stay awake, but that is only because we are not fully awake. When we have really woken up, washed our face, and gotten to work, nothing could ever convince us to go back to bed.
Today we begin the new year in the Church. Today is the first day of Advent. The first thing that can be said about Advent is that it is not Christmas. Though the world thinks that Christmas begins in November and ends on the 26th of December, we believe that Christmas is a season that begins on the 24th of December at the Christmas Eve mass and is celebrated in various ways until the 2nd of February. I cannot too highly recommend that you celebrate in the Church’s way. If you pick the way of the world, you will miss Advent entirely, which would be sad, because Advent is a wonderful season.
It is as question of ticipation and what sort of ticipation we ought to have. The world likes to have anticipation, but we ought to have participation. The world is rushing, rushing, because it is always anticipating what comes next. Our God lives in eternity, and when we choose to patiently participate in the present we come as close to sharing in eternity as we can. The world does not have enough time because the world has made plans months in advance and then rushes to meet those plans. We can have all the time in the world if we make use of it as it arrives.
But what is Advent if not merely pre-Christmas? The word Advent means “Coming”. During Advent we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ. Both comings. We celebrate his coming among us as a man, which is how Advent is related to Christmas, and we celebrate his coming in the future as the judge of the world.
God wanted to reconcile the world to himself, so he sent his Son among us as a man, one like us in all things but sin. The Son of God had to come to us because we were not able to go to him. We could not go up to heaven, so he came down to earth. I say that God had to come down, but of course he did not have to come down. He could have left us in our sinful condition. Advent is above all a celebration of God’s love. He so loved the world that he sent his only Son.
And he will come again. When he comes it will be the end of the world as we know it. The dead will rise from their graves. Then they and we who are alive will go up to meet him in the sky. Then the whole world, every person who has lived since the creation of the world, will go to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and be judged. It will, of course, take a very long time to judge all those people, but we will have all the time in the world.
Some people talk about the end of the world as if it were something to be afraid of, something we would prevent if we could, but we Christians should not. The end of the world, the second coming of Jesus Christ, is something we celebrate every year in Advent. We know that it is coming, and we will be glad to see it come. If we love Jesus, how could it be otherwise? Who is afraid of the coming of one whom they love?
Yet even in this eager expectation, we do not abandon the present moment. Jesus did not tell us when he would return again, only that he would. The reason he kept the date from us was to show us what should be our frame of mind as we work in the present moment. Perhaps he will come next week. If we knew that we would give up all our plans for the coming year. People would stop working. It would be bad because Jesus wants to find us at work when he comes back. Or if he will not come for another thousand years, we would forget to wait for him. The date would seem so far off and unimportant. Instead, because he kept the day hidden from us, the Church has been expecting him for 2000 years and will go on expecting him until he suddenly arrives.
So what is the right attitude? Jesus’ advice to us today, which he repeats over and over throughout the Gospel today (contrary to this translation) is “Stay awake!” Obviously he does not mean this physically. Whether we are awake or asleep physically, we should be awake spiritually. He is telling us to be to the rest of the world what an awake person is among sleepers. It is interesting to be awake while others sleep. To get things done before others even get up or to finish things after others have gone to bed. This can often seem like the most fruitful time of the day, whether early morning or late at night.
The whole world is asleep right now. Most people are merely sleepwalking through their lives. They do not know why they do what they do. They work hard for vanities that disappear as soon as they have them. In the dream world many things seem important that are not important. How often have I had a dream where something seemed so crucial to have or to do, but when I woke up I realized that it was something silly and pointless.
It is easy to be awakened for a moment by a book or a piece of art or a retreat, but the temptation is to roll over and fall asleep again. Many people can remember a time, perhaps only a day, when they were awake, but it is difficult to actually wake up and stay awake. So Jesus tells us, “Stay awake!” He sounds like a man trying to wake up a groggy world.
For the next four weeks, as we celebrate that Jesus has come and that he is coming again, we ought to take this command particularly to heart. Fight off the weariness of this world. Fight against the desire to return to sin like a person rolling over and returning to sleep. For now it seems like so much effort is required to stay awake, but that is only because we are not fully awake. When we have really woken up, washed our face, and gotten to work, nothing could ever convince us to go back to bed.
November 25, 2011 - Friday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Daniel’s vision is somewhat obscure to us. These beasts are fantastical creatures. They are symbolic of something (that is how Daniel spoke), but whether these beasts have already come or are yet to come, whether they symbolize countries or individuals, we do not know. This prophecy seems like something from the book of Revelation, and like that book, interpretation is often pure speculation and rarely fruitful.
But the last part of Daniel’s prophecy is as clear as day. One like a son of man approaches the Ancient of Days on the throne and receives dominion, glory, and kingship. And “his dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away; his kingship shall not be destroyed.” Even the simplest Christian without any theological education at all can discern that the Ancient of Days is God the Father and the one like a son of man is God the Son. At the time Daniel wrote it, no one knew what it meant, but now we all do. Much prophecy is given simply so that when we see it fulfilled, we will believe.
Jesus tells his disciples the coming of the Kingdom of God is as obvious as the coming of summer. I am sure it was to his eyes. Yet this analogy is apropos to us 21st century people. I am sure that I miss many natural signs that would have been obvious to the disciples, to anyone 2000 years ago. I spend so much time indoors that I do not see the buds on the trees until it is almost in full bloom. Even then I would not be able to tell a fig tree from an apple tree until the fruit appeared.
So too the signs of Kingdom of God are not obvious to those who are not looking, and without experience it would be impossible to interpret those signs. I cannot tell if we are almost at the end of the world. It might be the beginning of the end or only the end of the beginning. There might be ten years left, and there might be 10,000. I have neither the eyes nor the mind to see the signs and interpret them, but I do not doubt that they are there. No one can predict when the end will arrive, but when it has come it will be obvious to everyone that the signs of the coming were everywhere.
Daniel’s vision is somewhat obscure to us. These beasts are fantastical creatures. They are symbolic of something (that is how Daniel spoke), but whether these beasts have already come or are yet to come, whether they symbolize countries or individuals, we do not know. This prophecy seems like something from the book of Revelation, and like that book, interpretation is often pure speculation and rarely fruitful.
But the last part of Daniel’s prophecy is as clear as day. One like a son of man approaches the Ancient of Days on the throne and receives dominion, glory, and kingship. And “his dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away; his kingship shall not be destroyed.” Even the simplest Christian without any theological education at all can discern that the Ancient of Days is God the Father and the one like a son of man is God the Son. At the time Daniel wrote it, no one knew what it meant, but now we all do. Much prophecy is given simply so that when we see it fulfilled, we will believe.
Jesus tells his disciples the coming of the Kingdom of God is as obvious as the coming of summer. I am sure it was to his eyes. Yet this analogy is apropos to us 21st century people. I am sure that I miss many natural signs that would have been obvious to the disciples, to anyone 2000 years ago. I spend so much time indoors that I do not see the buds on the trees until it is almost in full bloom. Even then I would not be able to tell a fig tree from an apple tree until the fruit appeared.
So too the signs of Kingdom of God are not obvious to those who are not looking, and without experience it would be impossible to interpret those signs. I cannot tell if we are almost at the end of the world. It might be the beginning of the end or only the end of the beginning. There might be ten years left, and there might be 10,000. I have neither the eyes nor the mind to see the signs and interpret them, but I do not doubt that they are there. No one can predict when the end will arrive, but when it has come it will be obvious to everyone that the signs of the coming were everywhere.
November 22, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr
Today's Readings
Today we have two prophecies about the future, at least the future from the perspective of when they were spoken. Daniel’s prophecy was about his future, our past, came true exactly. After Babylon came Persia, then Alexander the Great, then Rome. Each empire is exactly as described. Then, in the time of the fourth empire, Rome, God carved a stone from the mountain and cast down the idol of the world. That stone was Jesus Christ, who founded a new kingdom that will never end. Indeed it grows until it fills the whole world.
We can see from AD 2011 that Daniel’s prophecy about the future was fulfilled. Jesus’ prophecy is also not exactly in our future. We are rather in the midst of it. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. There have been wars and earthquakes and famines and epidemics. People have gone around saying that they are the Messiah or that the time for Jesus’ return has come. These things have happened, and they will happen. Jesus tells us that such things must happen.
A skeptic could say that Jesus was not making such a profound prophecy to say that there would be wars and disease, etc. “There always have been, and there always will be”, they might say, but we Christians do not believe that. We believe that there was a time when there were no such things. We also believe that there will be a time when such things no longer happen. When that time arrives, it will never end.
When that time come, Jesus will return. He will not come secretly. There will be no doubt when he has arrived. And he will not come according to the schedule of any self-appointed prophet, no matter how many times they change the date. He will come in power and majesty, riding on the clouds. We will go up to meet him in the sky. Until that happens, believe nothing.
Do not put faith in any such rumors, but place your hope in the sure prophecies given to us in Scripture. Do not believe that Jesus will come next Thursday because some crackpot says he will, but know that he might. He might come tonight. He will come when the Father sends him. Above all, do not be afraid, for when he comes it will be the end of the world as we know it: the end of wars, the end of disease, the end of starvation. The end of the world is nothing to be afraid of, it is our dearest hope.
Today we have two prophecies about the future, at least the future from the perspective of when they were spoken. Daniel’s prophecy was about his future, our past, came true exactly. After Babylon came Persia, then Alexander the Great, then Rome. Each empire is exactly as described. Then, in the time of the fourth empire, Rome, God carved a stone from the mountain and cast down the idol of the world. That stone was Jesus Christ, who founded a new kingdom that will never end. Indeed it grows until it fills the whole world.
We can see from AD 2011 that Daniel’s prophecy about the future was fulfilled. Jesus’ prophecy is also not exactly in our future. We are rather in the midst of it. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. There have been wars and earthquakes and famines and epidemics. People have gone around saying that they are the Messiah or that the time for Jesus’ return has come. These things have happened, and they will happen. Jesus tells us that such things must happen.
A skeptic could say that Jesus was not making such a profound prophecy to say that there would be wars and disease, etc. “There always have been, and there always will be”, they might say, but we Christians do not believe that. We believe that there was a time when there were no such things. We also believe that there will be a time when such things no longer happen. When that time arrives, it will never end.
When that time come, Jesus will return. He will not come secretly. There will be no doubt when he has arrived. And he will not come according to the schedule of any self-appointed prophet, no matter how many times they change the date. He will come in power and majesty, riding on the clouds. We will go up to meet him in the sky. Until that happens, believe nothing.
Do not put faith in any such rumors, but place your hope in the sure prophecies given to us in Scripture. Do not believe that Jesus will come next Thursday because some crackpot says he will, but know that he might. He might come tonight. He will come when the Father sends him. Above all, do not be afraid, for when he comes it will be the end of the world as we know it: the end of wars, the end of disease, the end of starvation. The end of the world is nothing to be afraid of, it is our dearest hope.
October 8, 2011 - Saturday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Are you ready for that day: the day of the Lord? For near is the day of the Lord, in the valley of decision. We will all gather there, in the valley of decision. Crowds of crowds, a hundred billion people, in the valley of decision. The sun will be darkened, and the stars will not shine, in the valley of decision. And God will sit in judgment of all sinners, in the valley of decision. We can make excuses now; we can explain our actions so well, but we will have nothing to say there except the truth, the real truth, in the valley of decision.
We shall know then, even as we are now known. We will all see God, and there will be no doubt any longer. The era of faith will be over because we will see for ourselves what is invisible now. Now there is a curtain between us and the angels, but it will be lifted and we will see everything. We have been visible this whole time. Right now we are like blind people in a world of those who can see. All of our actions, even those done in the dark which we think no one knows about, have already been seen, but only then will we see.
On that day, there will be a land flowing with milk and honey, the mountains dripping with wine, and water flowing in every stream. It will be a garden, like the garden that we lost by our sin, and the people there will live forever and they will never lose their home again. And on that day there will also be a land that is a desert waste, where nothing will grow. It will be a land of constant violence.
When the judgment is over, we will all go to one land or the other. We will all enter into eternal joy or perpetual boredom. Some will blessed, and some will be cursed. The blessed will be those who hear the word of God and observe it. The cursed will be those who only do what they want. This will not be decided on that day; it is being decided today, here, now. Today is the day of salvation. Today we are deciding where we will spend forever. We decide it here and now; it is revealed then and there, on that day in the valley of decision.
Are you ready for that day: the day of the Lord? For near is the day of the Lord, in the valley of decision. We will all gather there, in the valley of decision. Crowds of crowds, a hundred billion people, in the valley of decision. The sun will be darkened, and the stars will not shine, in the valley of decision. And God will sit in judgment of all sinners, in the valley of decision. We can make excuses now; we can explain our actions so well, but we will have nothing to say there except the truth, the real truth, in the valley of decision.
We shall know then, even as we are now known. We will all see God, and there will be no doubt any longer. The era of faith will be over because we will see for ourselves what is invisible now. Now there is a curtain between us and the angels, but it will be lifted and we will see everything. We have been visible this whole time. Right now we are like blind people in a world of those who can see. All of our actions, even those done in the dark which we think no one knows about, have already been seen, but only then will we see.
On that day, there will be a land flowing with milk and honey, the mountains dripping with wine, and water flowing in every stream. It will be a garden, like the garden that we lost by our sin, and the people there will live forever and they will never lose their home again. And on that day there will also be a land that is a desert waste, where nothing will grow. It will be a land of constant violence.
When the judgment is over, we will all go to one land or the other. We will all enter into eternal joy or perpetual boredom. Some will blessed, and some will be cursed. The blessed will be those who hear the word of God and observe it. The cursed will be those who only do what they want. This will not be decided on that day; it is being decided today, here, now. Today is the day of salvation. Today we are deciding where we will spend forever. We decide it here and now; it is revealed then and there, on that day in the valley of decision.
June 27 - Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
It is possible to completely misread the episode of Abraham speaking to the Lord. If we forget that the Lord is God, it seems as if Abraham is teaching him to be merciful, but the Lord is God, so that idea is just ludicrous. Abraham was created by the Lord. His concepts of justice and mercy were put inside of him by the Lord. The Lord invented justice and mercy.
This misunderstanding goes beyond this one episode of Abraham and the Lord. Many people seem to think that they are more just, more merciful than the Lord, the God of the whole universe. “If I were God,” they say, “there wouldn’t be any more suffering. No floods. No earthquakes. No diseases.” They say this as if they have thought of something that God did not.
Their first mistake is in their first few words: “If I were God”, as if the difference between me and God is like the difference between me and the President. If they began by saying, “If I were the number 3” or “If I were the Solar System”, they would be more reasonable.
Their second mistake is considering unlimited power separated from unlimited knowledge and unlimited love. The Lord knows everything, and the Lord is kind and merciful. He does not make mistakes. He is not stumbling through history, trying different things. If I were God, I would do exactly what he is doing, because I would realize what I cannot see now: that it is exactly the perfect thing to do.
So what is going on in our first reading? Abraham is not teaching God; God is teaching Abraham. Abraham is never going to completely understand what God is doing, just like we will never completely understand what God is doing, but in that conversation Abraham learned what Jesus told us later: he lets the weeds and the wheat grow up together, lest the wheat be uprooted when pulling out the weeds.
As we consider the history of the world, we mostly see a disaster, but we also see, sprinkled throughout, a few righteous people, the saints. If God had destroyed the world in the year 1000, there would be no St. Thomas Aquinas. If he had destroyed the world in the year 1500, there would be no St. Therese. If he had destroyed the world in the year 1900, there would be no Blessed Mother Theresa. There also would be no us. At some point he will destroy the world. It will be the end of world history, and the beginning of new world history. Are you one of the reasons he waited this long before destroying the world? Are you one of the ten righteous in all of Sodom?
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