33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

November 19, 2006

by Rev. Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

On this next to the last Sunday of the Church year, the scripture passages today turn somewhat serious in tone. Today’s 1st reading speaks of “a time unsurpassed in distress.” In the 2^nd reading we heard that Jesus, the high priest, is waiting until “his enemies are made his footstool.” And in the gospel, the Son of Man’s return will be preceded by days of tribulation when, “the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from the sky and the power in heavens will be shaken.” It is at the end of the liturgical year that the Church calls us to reflect on the end times or the “last things,” if you will. These “last things” can very easily be presented in riddle form: three out four and no more. The four being death, judgment, heaven and hell. The first two are sure; only one of the last two we shall endure.

Indeed, these readings of end times and “last things” can sound scary, however, they tell us there will be a generation in history which will experience the “second coming” of Christ. There will be time in history when a person will have but a moment to ask the question – Am I ready? Am I prepared? If our generation is not the one to experience the “second coming,” then we all must still face the day of our own death – whether it will be sudden and unexpected, or through some predictable and natural course. Regardless, we will then still have to ask ourselves the question – Am I ready? Am I prepared?

The motto of the Boy Scouts is to “Be prepared.” It is a good motto for all of us to have in our living and life. It means that we are to be always in a state of readiness for whatever might happen. “To be vigilant at all times,” as the gospel verse today, tells us. But then we might ask – How do I prepare myself? How do I get ready? How can I be sure that the Lord will recognize me? What are the right choices to make in my living and life?

The last line of the riddle was: only one of the two we shall endure – that is, heaven or hell. Near the end of the gospel of Matthew, he speaks of the “Last Judgment,” and says – Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Although we do not know the day or the hour of our death, we have been told how we are to prepare and to make ready. If we hear the Lord say to us – Amen, I say to you, I do not know you – it will be because of our foolishness and lack of preparedness; our lack of mercy and charity, and not because of a lack of mercy or justice on the part of the Lord.

If our image of God centers around God being just and merciful in a legalistic way only, then we end up pushing Jesus to the sidelines, and we stand in mid-field, fearful and frightened that the sky is going to fall on us with wrath and vengeance. With such an image, would we, or could we, ever look forward to the “second coming” of the Prince of Peace? What God asks of us is “mercy, not sacrifice;” mercy towards ourselves by ourselves. We need to be aware that we are sinners, not yet beyond the reach of temptation; but even amidst all the devil’s machinations, we still strive to make progress, and hope to attain at least some virtue, for fear of the judgment that awaits us. But God is always at work, laboring to bring all of us into harmony with ourselves and with those around us. If, by God’s grace, we remain “vigilant at all times,” and can achieve that harmony, then we will be prepared and ready for the Lord’s coming and will have “the strength to stand before the Son of Man.”

Life in this world is only the prologue of our total life story. The complete “book of the story of our lives” must also take into consideration those “last things” spoken of in today’s readings. As sobering as their reality may be, we can also take consolation and encouragement from the fact that when Jesus speaks of the “last day,” he also shares the wonderful news that it is the day on which he will send out his angels “to gather his chosen from the four winds.” Because of our baptism, we are among his chosen ones; and each of us is able to make the words of the responsorial psalm our own: “Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you, who are my inheritance.”

Jesus does not want us to be weighed down with fearful, negative ideas about what his “second coming” will mean. He does not want us to panic at the thought of the “last day” or our own death. Of course it will be a day of judgment, and if our whole life were to add up to a total rejection of God, well then, the Lord respects us too much to force himself upon us. But as we celebrate together at this Mass, which is the re-presentation of Jesus’ great sacrifice, which won our salvation, don’t we have good reason for humble confidence in God’s love and mercy.

The Gospel of John says that God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world,  but to save it. Not to condemn, but to save. That was the purpose for Jesus to come among us, and was the purpose of his death on the cross, and that will be the purpose of his “second coming” again in glory – not to condemn, but to save. And that is why we are able say those words that are prayed at every Mass: “we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”