Saturday, November 14, 2015

Homily: 33rd Sunday in OT 2015 - Signs of the End Times



We’ve come to the last two weeks of the liturgical year. The season of Advent begins just two weeks from now.  And our scripture readings return, as they do at this time every year to the last things, the end times—death, judgment, heaven, hell, and eternity.

Our Lord’s discourse with the Apostles from St. Mark’s Gospel today, takes place during the last week of Jesus’ life.  He had entered Jerusalem for the last time, come to the temple and taught there for the last time.  And, after a busy day of teaching and contending with the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Temple, Jesus and his Apostles came to rest on the Mount of Olives. 

There Jesus began to take up some pretty serious subject matters.  He began to discuss the end times:  the tribulations the Church would face from the time of his Ascension to the time of his Second Coming.  He spoke of the destruction of the Temple, and earthquakes and wars and floods, of Christians beings persecuted for preaching the Gospel.  He said, “don’t be alarmed, don’t lose your faith, when these things happen, they are but labor pains.” Labor pains.  They are signs that the old world is coming to an end, and that the second coming of the Messiah is near.

He spoke of these future events with a sureness and clarity that must have been alarming – if not frightening – for his disciples.  He spoke about the end as if it’s right around the corner. But exactly how long it would take, how much time would pass between his ascension and second coming, he did not say.  He just kept repeating over and over, “be watchful, you do not know the day or the hour, be prepared, it can come when you least expect it.”

Will our own earthly life come to an end before his coming again? He did not say.  For both events, our death and our judgment, we must be prepared, by repenting of and confessing our sins, receiving the flesh and blood of Christ as often as we can, and living lives of righteousness, as best we can.
I cannot help but think of last night’s tragedies in Paris.  Normal people, like you and I, went to the theater last night, went out to dinner with friends and family, never expecting that terrorists would strike.  I prayed, and I hope you did too, that the Lord was merciful upon their souls. 

After speaking of the tribulations of the end times, Our Lord spoke of the coming of the Son of Man and the gathering of the elect.  When the Lord comes again, all of the living and the dead from all generations of human history will stand before the Lord and we will be judged.  The elect will be gathered to the eternal kingdom of heaven, and the damned will go to the eternal fires of hell, forever.  When will this mighty event occur? “Of that day or hour, no one knows,” he said, “neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

There have been attempts throughout history to try to figure out the day of the Lord’s coming.  Some have tried to decipher a hidden code within Scripture, or from astrological events, or the events of world history.  The Lord says, the angels don’t know.  Their intellect is as vastly superior to ours, as our intellects are superior to garden slugs. So, if the angels don’t know, it is not something that we can figure out.  So, don’t worry about when it will happen, prepare yourselves, and assume that it could happen any minute—even before the next star wars movie comes out!

Jesus explains not only that he will return, but how he will return.  “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” In Matthew’s Gospel we hear that there will be the blowing of angelic trumpets.  So, what will his second coming look like? It won’t be in a hidden way, like the way he was born in Bethlehem, when he was born into obscure poverty.  His second coming will be a glorious coming.  Nature will resound in a wondrous event that no one still living on earth will be able to ignore.  So don’t worry, even if you are very heavy sleeper and he comes in the middle of the night, you won’t miss it!

There is a great story where St. Charles Borromeo was playing a game of billiards with several other bishops. While the game was going on, one of the bishops posed a question.  He asked the group: “What would you do if you knew that the Lord would return within the hour?”  One bishop said: “I should immediately fall to my knees in prayer, and pray for God’s mercy upon me” Another declared: “I should at once make a confession of all my sins from my whole life.”  Various replies were made by others who were present.  St. Charles kept silent and continued playing pool. Then question was addressed to him, “What would you do if you knew that the Lord would return within the hour?” St. Charles answered: “I should quietly continue the game, because I began it with the intention of honoring God.” 

St. Charles, because he was right with God, his life in order, his priorities straight, his sins confessed, was able to confidently face the prospect of the imminent coming of Christ, not only with peace, but with joy.  St. Charles was not the sort of man to go to bed with a guilty conscience—he did not carry with him the burden of unconfessed sins.  Because he was right with God, in fact, because he began everything he did with the intention of honoring God, he was able to live in the freedom which God wants for all of us. 

St. Charles would have been able to recite right along with today’s Psalm: “Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence?” Does you abide in confidence? Are you prepared? Are your sins forgiven? When was the last time, you made a good confession? Are you in the habit of beginning each of your endeavors with the intention of honoring God above all else?

At the end of history, Jesus’ Second Coming will involve the destruction of the fallen world so as to make way for a new creation.  Now, in the midst of history, we have to be willing to allow his grace to destroy our fallen, self-centered tendencies in order to make way for the new life of grace and charity. We must repent of our sins, and call others to repentance and right relationship with God.
The Lord promises that if we do, we will not regret it; for as the First Reading puts it, the wise will shine brightly, and those who lead the many to justice, shall be like the stars forever. Today, and every day, let us put the Lord first in our lives, repent of our sins, and do everything for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 


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