Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
We’ve seen it in many TV shows and movies. Maybe we’ve even experienced it in our own lives. It’s a long car ride. There are kids in the back of the car. “Are we there yet?” “No.” “How much longer?” “No too long.” “Are we there yet?”
This is the same type of question that the disciples are asking today, although, rather than asking about a car ride, they’re asking about the end times: “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” And as disciples two thousand years later, we’re still wondering the same thing. We are very curious about the end of the world; about when and how it will happen.
Of course, if you believe Hollywood or the Mayans, we only have about two years left. Secular culture is so convinced that if we just do the right math we’ll figure it out. But to secular culture and to us Jesus says, “‘See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, “I am he,” and “The time has come.” Do not follow them!’”
What do we know about the end? Well, from what we heard in today’s first reading, it will be a day when the wrath of God is revealed in its full power against sin and its agents as “all the proud and evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch.” For those who, in this life, have opposed God, it will not be a happy day. “But for you who fear my name,” continues to prophet Malachi, “there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” So for those who have not opposed God, who have done His will; who have loved God above all things, and their neighbors as themselves; who have not separated themselves from God by mortal sin, it will be a time of healing and peace. For those who have been already perfected in this life and have lived as saints, heaven will immediately await. For those who, although they have not separated themselves from God by unforgiven mortal sins, still have some attachment to sin, they will be purified by Purgatory, so that they can, after their purification, deign to see God face to face.
This should cause us to wonder, if it were to happen right now, what would be my eternal destiny? Would I be considered a sheep who attended to the Lord’s hunger, thirst, nakedness, and loneliness through my care for those least brothers and sisters of His? Or would I be considered a goat for ignoring the Lord’s needs through ignoring the least brothers and sisters of His? Have we worked in the vineyard of the Lord, truly caring for others? Or have we been the people that St. Paul admonished in the second reading, those who conduct themselves in a disorderly way, “not keeping busy but minding the business of others”?
But in discerning how we have lived our life, we should not be led to despair. The call of the Lord, and the call that He is making through these readings is not to give up. We are not to be like children, who, knowing that the trip might take 4 hours, might never go because “we’re not there yet!” Rather, we are called to a deeper conversion, to turning back towards the Lord and to getting to know him better.
But conversion is not just about doing the right things so the big policeman in the sky (the way we can sometimes view God) won’t lock us in the prison of hell. Conversion is about being truly happy. I firmly believe that all of us want to be happy. But, ironically, we can sometimes act against that happiness by simply seeking pleasure. But by letting our pleasures rule us, we very quickly becomes slaves to our pleasures and passions, and do not enjoy the freedom that comes from denying ourselves pleasures from time to time in order that we might be truly happy later.
And I’m not saying that we deny ourselves all the pleasures that life licitly offers. God save us from dour-faced saints! Truly we can enjoy friendship and fellowship with others at parties, as long as those parties don’t lead us to drink in excess or don’t lead us to neglect our responsibilities as students, employees or employers, or whatever our avocation is. Truly we can enjoy the romantic companionship of another, as long as we or they are not married to another person, and as long as that romantic companionship does not lead to sexual activity that is not fitting to our state in life (i.e., single or celibate, or married). Truly we can enjoy the great taste of food, as long as we do not become gluttonous and eat too much, or, on the other extreme, eat but not take nourishment from that food because of a lack of a good body image. We can enjoy the many gifts that the Lord has given to us and have pleasure in our life, but we must be sure that our pleasures are truly leading us to happiness.
If we are responding to the Gospel in real ways and following God’s Law, then the end of the world is not something we will fear or try to calculate, because we will be living lives constantly prepared for the Lord to come. Christ will return to reign as eternal King on earth when it is the appointed time and will bring His divine wrath to those who opposed Him, and His divine justice and mercy, which heal, to those who were united to Him by their actions. May we, by the way we live, be ready to inherit the happiness that awaits those who remained faithful to the Lord, and be ready to say at all moments of our life: Come, Lord Jesus!
