Preparing for the End

Last Sunday after Pentecost

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  No small number of people spend no small amount of time trying to figure out exactly when the end of the world will come.  It’s like the meme on the Internet of the Pepe Silvia conspiracy board from the show, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”  I’ve never watch the show, but from time-to-time I’ll see the meme with this office worker who has a stressed look on his face as he points to numerous sheets of paper push-pinned to the board with red lines going between the papers.  
    We ourselves may sometimes go down a rabbit hole or two as we hear these passages and then think of how the world seems to be spinning out of control.  Our Lord talks about false messiahs, the darkening of the sun and moon, stars falling from heaven, and the like.  Elsewhere Christ talks about wars, earthquakes, famines, plagues, and other calamities, all of which we have seen all too frequently.  And certainly we know that the return of Christ in glory is closer today than it was yesterday.  
    But the temptation can be that we’re so focused on trying to figure out if it’s now, or tomorrow, or next week, that we miss out on opportunities for growth in holiness, that will make the end times less problematic for us.  St. Paul tells us in the epistle that God desires us to grow in wisdom and spiritual understanding, to allow our good works to bear fruit, and to grow in knowledge of Him.  We know from Christ the God desires that we love Him with all of who we are and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Christ tells us that our judgement won’t go easier just because we had a passing familiarity with Him (“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”).  And He tells us the way we treat the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, ill, and those in prison will determine our judgement because the way we treated them were the ways we treated Christ.  What Christ doesn’t say is that we will go to heaven if we can decipher on what day and at which hour the end will come (which, point of fact, Christ one earth even said that He does not know).
    Christ does say that the end will be difficult.  He reminds us in the Gospel that if He did not shorten the tribulations, not even the elect would be saved.  But, for those who follow God to the best of their ability, they will survive the tribulations and shine like the stars in the heavens.  Christ uses the image of a woman in childbirth for how painful the end will be, but then the joy of having the newborn child makes the nine months of carrying the child and the pains of delivering the child worth it.  Or, for men, the pain and suffering from a man-cold, and the joy that comes when it finally ends.  
    But if we remain faithful to God, no matter what trials and tribulations come, we will enjoy eternal happiness.  It is as our gradual said, “You have delivered us, O Lord, from those who afflict us.”  The end will be difficult because God will be setting everything right that was wrong.  And just like setting a broken bone, the healing begins with some pain.  It will remain painful for those who persist in their brokenness and rejection of God, because God will respect their free choice and allow them the pain and suffering that come from rejecting God and His eternal happiness.  But for those who reached out for the mercy of God, the healing, though painful at first, will result in great joy and wholeness as we finally fulfill the purpose of our lives: eternal worship of God and having our loves ordered correctly.
    So what do we do?  Maybe it’s better to say what we don’t do.  Don’t waste time wondering if this world event, or if this situation in the Church, or if that natural phenomenon means the end is about to come.  Don’t stress out about things beyond our control.  Worrying and trying to determine the exact signs and times doesn’t help us grow closer to God.  Yes, we may mourn that Christ is so opposed in the world and the evil seem to thrive and calamities seem to multiply.  But rather do live a holy life as a husband or wife, father or mother, child or sibling, employer or employee.  Care for your family; show them the love of God; instruct them in the faith.  Treat people justly and as you would want to be treated.  Love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you.  Be harsh on your own sins, but merciful, patient, and understanding with others’.  Take up your daily cross and follow after the Lord, even if it’s not the cross you want to carry.  
     Christ will return, and His return is closer today than yesterday.  But if we do our best to follow Him with all our hearts, we have nothing to fear and everything to gain.  Christ will make the world right and usher in an eternity of joy, peace, truth, and love as He creates a new heaven and a new earth where all the elect will worship God: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

Waiting...

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Modern society does not make waiting easier, though, for many, myself included, it already seems difficult enough.  If I order something on Amazon, not only can I track the package to see when they will deliver it, they even sometimes will show me where the driver is in the city.  On election night, too, it frustrated me that the results of States couldn’t be called immediately.  I wanted to know the results immediately, or shortly after, the polls closed.  But I had to wait.
    Unlike Amazon deliveries, and more like the recent elections, we don’t know when the end is coming.  We know Christ will return.  We know, as Daniel prophesied, that “those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.”  But we don’t know when.  Many have tried to read certain passages of Scripture and match them to current events to determine when Christ would return, but Christ Himself assures us, “‘of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’”  So what are we supposed to do?
    Well, we wait (thanks, Captain Obvious!).  But how do we wait?  We wait in joyful hope, but we wait as those awaiting the imminent return of the Master, waiting in such a way that we’re not caught off-guard.  What do I mean?  Don’t live in such a way that you think you have more time, because you never know.
    We do have a very young parish.  I would guess that the average age of parishioners is somewhere around 40-45.  And one of the downfalls of being young is thinking that we have more time.  Those who are more senior know that their days are limited, and the end is likely closer than the beginning.  So they tend to make decisions differently than those who think they have a long time.
    I think about when I was younger.  I know I’ve told this story before, but when I was old enough to be left at home, but still under the age of eighteen, my parents would often give me some sort of chore to do before they returned home, like washing the dishes, or sweeping the floor.  There were a few times where I neglected to do those chores earlier, and then remembered that I had not done what they had asked me to do as the car started down the driveway.  In case you’re wondering, that’s not the way we should approach the return of Christ.
    Living as disciples should be something that pervades all our life.  It’s not a part-time job, or a chore to accomplish at the last minute, or a hobby.  It’s a relationship with Christ, that should define who we are, much like marriage defines a man or a woman who is married.  The couple who treats their relationship like a part-time job, or a chore, or even an enjoyable hobby, does not stay together for long.  Instead, their marriage affects their work, their choices, their vacation plans, and all of what they do.  It may not be explicit, but it at least implicitly modifies all their life.  
    And if that is how we live as Catholics, then whenever the end comes, it will not catch us off-guard.  When Christ returns in glory, and He raises all the dead for the universal judgement, we will find it the consummation of the way we have lived our lives, rather than a shock and awe event.  It will be like the husband who has served overseas in the military for years, who finally gets to see his wife when he returns home.  They will hardly be able to contain their joy at reuniting after those long days, months, and years.  Their days, months, and years of remaining faithful to each other; of not living like a single person, though they were separated from their spouse; of not going out to the bars at times because the temptation to stray would prove too strong; of choosing to send and email home rather than playing cards with the guys would all prove worth it, because they remained faithful, even when it was difficult.
    Emilio, as we welcome you today into the Catholic Church, you are not done.  Yes, you don’t have to meet with Amanda each week to help discern if you are ready to join us.  Yes, you will have access to the entire sacramental life of the Church from this day on, and not only be joined to us through Holy Baptism.  But you are beginning a new part of life where Christ desires and deserves your fidelity.  Your relationship with Him should guide how you work, how you invest, your friendships and relationships, your actives, your vacations, and all of life, just like the same should be true for all those here who are already Catholics.  But, because you are joining with us, you have all the aides that Christ has provided through His Holy Church to make sure that you are living for Him, and stand ready for His return.  We rejoice with you today, but we also recommit ourselves as we help you live like a Catholic each day until the return of Christ.
    Because we know neither the day nor the hour.  We don’t know when St. Michael will begin the final battle, when the trumpet will sound, when the angels will gather the elect from the four corners of the world.  But we do know that, if we are doing our best to stay faithful to the relationship we have with Christ, then, as the Protestant hymn says, “what a day of rejoicing that will be!”

More Enduring than a Maytag

Last Sunday after Pentecost
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  I don’t feel that I’m that old, but more and more the cultural things that seem part and parcel of my life are more and more disconnected from the youth today.  For example, I remember the Maytag commercials, with the Maytag repairman sitting in his office, waiting for the phone to ring.  For me, when I think of things that last and that don’t break down, I think of the Maytag man.  I’m not sure young people today would even know who the Maytag man is.

    Our Lord today focuses on a lot of things that will happen at the end, or as the end approaches.  There are things that will come, and things that will go.  There will be great trials and tribulations.  False messiahs and false prophets will arise and do great wonders.  “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven.”  Then the angels will accompany the coming of the Son of Man, with a trumpet and a loud voice.  These are the things from which itinerant and television preachers make a lot of money and gain lots of fame.  They are all sure that they know that the end is coming very soon, even though our Lord Himself says that only the Father knows the time, not the angels nor even the Son. 
    But the last words of the Gospel today remind us, that while things will come and go as the end approaches (and the end is approaching; it’s closer today than it was yesterday), there is one thing that will not change.  “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” Christ says, “but my words shall not pass away.” 
    The word of God is enduing; it lasts forever.  It does not come and go based on empires and nations, based upon fads and societal norms.  It endures forever.  And if we wish to survive whatever trials and tribulations will come, whenever they come (which they will), we need to be grounded in the Word of God, which is the rock foundation upon which our house should be built if we don’t want it to be swept away with the floods.
    When Catholics use the phrase “Word of God,” we can use it in different ways.  We use it to describe the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ.  He is the Word through whom all things were made, the eternal Word of God, whom we profess every time we say the Prologue of the Gospel of John.  Christ is the expression of the Father who reveals to us who the Father is.  He is the Divine Word who speaks words that help us know the way to the Father, which is the desired destiny for all those whom God has created in His image and likeness.  So when we talk abut the Word of God, we use that phrase par excellence to refer to Christ.
    We can also use it to refer to the words of writing that were inspired by the Word of God.  We speak of the Word of God as the Scriptures, the privileged communication of God throughout the centuries.  Most religions are humanity seeking after God.  In Judaism, and its fulfillment in Catholicism, God seeks after us, and communicates who He is, how He made the world, and how we are to find true and lasting happiness.  While we are described by Muslims as people of the book, we are really people of the Word, who treasure what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures.  The public revelation of God through the Scriptures leads up in the Old Testament to the coming of the Messiah in the Gospels, and then opens up the consequences of what the Messiah did for us through the rest of the New Testament.  We find a sure guide in the Scriptures of understanding God and knowing how we are to live as disciples of Christ.
    But the Scriptures need unpacking to help us understand which parts are to be taken literally, and which parts are different literary expressions of deeper truths.  Sometimes the same grammatical structures express two different types of truth.  For example, in the Gospel according to John, our Lord says that He is the Bread of Life.  And that is what we believe He is, especially in our understanding of the Eucharist.  We take that quite literally.  In another place, Christ says that He is the vine, and we are the branches.  But we don’t confess our Savior to be a plant.  Same grammatical structure, different interpretation.  And so the Word of God can also mean the authentically and authoritative interpretations of Scripture that we find in the teachings of the Church.  From the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, God’s word is also made manifest when the Mystical Body of Christ the Word, also known as the Church, teaches something as necessary for true faith or morals.  Official Church teachings are also God communicating to us for our salvation, and are sure guides to being the disciples and saints that God calls us to be in baptism.  Ecumenical Councils, and magisterial teachings of the Pope and the Bishops continue to open up the Word of God and help us to know who God is in Himself and in His works. 
    The Word of God does not change, and we can safely build our houses on it, really, on Him, since Christ is the Word of God.  We don’t have to know exactly when the Son of Man will return.  But we do need to be attentive to the Son of Man and what He revealed to us.  And if we do, then we will be part of the elect who will survive the trials and tribulations that the Savior mentions in the Gospel.  If we build our life on the Word of God–Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and the official teachings of the Church–then the end is not a fearful time, but the consummation of our Lord’s love for us and our love for the Lord.  If we build our life on the Word of God, and do our best to follow it each and every day, then it doesn’t matter when that great and glorious and terrible day of our Lord’s return is, because we are ready each day for Him to come back and take us to Himself. 
    Maytags were advertised as washing machines that were so reliable, that their repairmen had nothing to do.  But even more as something that lasts is the Word of God, which is the same yesterday, today, and forever, because the Word of God is Christ the Son, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign forever and ever.  Amen.  

On (St.) Mike's Team

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I was in Catholic elementary school we had this kid named Mike who was an amazing athlete, even then.  He was great at soccer, hockey, and swimming, and he wasn’t bad at basketball, either.  Most days at lunch we would play soccer on the parking lot, and if you were on Mike’s team you were usually going to win.  So, of course, everyone wanted to be on his team, because everyone wanted to win.

In these last weeks of our Church year (Advent begins the new year for the Church), we take time to focus on the end of time and the return of Jesus, what we often call the Second Coming.  Our first reading and our Gospel definitely have that as our focus today.  Jesus focuses on the end, what will happen, how to read the signs of the times, and yet also affirms that nobody knows exactly when it will happen: not the angels, nor even the Son of God, Jesus, when He was on earth.  The choice belongs to God the Father.  And Daniel, the prophet, in our first reading describes how a great battle will take place, but that St. Michael the Archangel will lead God’s people through the “unsurpassed…distress.”  

I’ll be honest with you: it feels like we’re going through an “end times” right now.  The world seems like it’s always one step away from another world war; there is what we might call a mass apostasy, a large exodus of people who are giving up their Catholic faith; hedonism, the philosophy that states that the most important thing in life is personal pleasure, seems to be the prevailing view of many people, even from some inside the Church; Christ’s Church seems to be under constant attack from outside forces; and, to paraphrase Pope St. Paul VI, the smoke of Satan has even entered and seems to have taken hold within the Church at the highest levels.  Things are not good.

To be clear, I’m not saying that these are the end times.  No doubt many people in Rome and beyond felt like the end was coming when the Roman Empire, which had existed since 753 BC and had helped Christianity spread, collapsed in the West in AD 476.  No doubt many people felt like the end of the world was coming when Islam swept across the Middle East, North Africa, and even into Spain.  No doubt, many people felt like the end of the world was coming when Europe started to break apart during the Protestant co-called Reformation and the religious wars that followed.  No doubt, many people felt like the end of the world was coming when Christian nation battled against other Christian nations in World War I and perhaps around 19 million people, civilian and military, died in the “War to end all Wars,” whose centenary the world just solemnly remembered on Armistice Day, 11 November.

As Jesus says, we don’t know when the end of the world will come.  And as we go through these trials, it can be easy to forget that the war has already been won.  Christ has conquered Satan, and all that is with him, sin and death.  Given all the bad news, it can, in fact, feel like we’re losing, that there’s no hope.  But there is hope, and even certainty, that Jesus has won and all that is wrong with the world will be made right, and the forces of evil have lost and will lose in the end.  And that should give us comfort and courage in the midst of these trying times.

But, the trials and tribulations that we are undergoing now should also encourage us to choose the winning team to join in our day to day life.  We should want to be on Mike’s team, not Mike from St. Mary School in Williamston, but St. Michael the Archangel.  He is God’s warrior who defeats evil and will lead the forces of God through the failing forces of evil.  We should want to be on Jesus’ team, for whom St. Michael fights, so that we win at the end.  And that is what is so sad about all those who are walking away from their faith.  I’m not the judge, so I’m not hear to judge their culpability, but we certainly don’t show that we want to be on Jesus’ team by not spending time with Him each week at Mass.  We certainly don’t show that we want to be on Jesus’ team by not following His teachings that He gives us through His Church.  We certainly don’t show that we want to be on Jesus’ team by not making Him the most important aspect of our life, rather than sports, pleasure, or following the culture that has set much of itself against God.  Each day we show by our actions on whose team we want to be.

I don’t know if the world will end soon; no one does.  But in these difficult times of trial and tribulation, when more and more of the world sets itself against Jesus and against His Church, it can be easy to be despaired, to want to quit.  What comes to my mind is a quote from a story told by a Catholic, JRR Tolkien, in his trilogy, Lord of the Rings.  Frodo the Hobbit says, “I wish the Ring had never come to me.  I wish none of this had happened.”  Gandalf the wizard replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.  There are other forces at work in the world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.”  Choose to be on Jesus’ team.  Make that choice evident by how you live your life one day at a time.

Country Club of Heaven

First Sunday of Advent

Ever since 24 June, the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, there has been less and less daylight in our part of the world.  That changes right around 25 December, the Solemnity of the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.  But until we get there, it’s dark.  And with daylight saving’s time having ended, it gets dark pretty early.  Today the sunset around 5:05 p.m.  Even though 5 p.m. is not late at all, with the early darkness, it just seems gloomy, especially with the usual Michigan winter cloudiness.

In the midst of this gloom, we can long for the long, warm days of summer, when all was bright and the sun was out until 9 p.m. or even later!  But it can be hard to think that those days will ever be here again when its dark so early, and certainly not as warm (though it is a warm weekend!).  

We get a sense through our weather of what the Jews were going through as Jeremiah was prophesying.  At this point in the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, the city is under siege by the Babylonians, who are about to take Jerusalem.  This will be the beginning of the Babylonian Exile, which exiles most of the Jews from Judah and Jerusalem until 587 B.C.  Those days were certainly dark, and not because of daylight saving’s time!  

In the midst of that darkness, Jeremiah speaks for the Lord a word of hope: “I will raise up for David a just shoot;…In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure.”  God promises that the dark days will not last forever.  He will give them new life, and a new king from the line of David, the idyllic king, who will be just.  Judah and Jerusalem shall not be besieged, but shall be safe and secure.

Jesus’ words in the Gospel do not sound so calming and hopeful.  Jesus is speaking to His disciples just before His Passion, and is warning them about the end times.  They will be so horrible that people will die of fright simply anticipating what will happen.  “‘But,’” as Jesus says, “‘when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.’”  For Jesus disciples, who are following Him and His will, the terror of the end is like the birth pangs which bring about new life.  So, maybe we can breathe a sigh of relief.  After all, we are Jesus’ disciples, and we have nothing to worry about.  We go to Mass each Sunday, so we’re good.  Right?

Well, Jesus’ next words should give us a little more trepidation.  Jesus warns His disciples not to become lax so that the end catches us off-guard.  And he tells His disciples to be vigilant “‘and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.’”  

Being baptized and attending Mass each Sunday and Holyday is a big deal.  It shows at least a minimal attachment to Jesus and a desire to work at our relationship with Him.  But baptism is not a membership card in the Heavenly Country Club.  It’s not like if we sign up to join (baptism) and pay our weekly dues (going to Mass) that Jesus has to let us in.  Being a disciple of Jesus is not about going through the motions.  Being Catholic is not about the rules.  Being a Catholic and a disciple of Jesus is about growing in our friendship with Jesus and making our lives more like His.  That is the sign that we have accepted God’s friendship, which is offered to all, and that we are going in our friendship with Jesus.  We cannot rest on the laurels of our past good deeds.  We are never at a point in our relationship with Jesus where we can say, “I’ve done enough; I can just coast from here on out.”  Imagine if you treated your friends that way: “I’ve spent enough time with you for a while.  I’ll see you sometime in June.”  You probably wouldn’t be good friends.  Or imagine if you treated your spouse that way (so many saints and even Jesus talk about our relationship in marriage/wedding terms): “I spent every day with you so far in 2015; I’m going to live with someone else for December, but I’ll see you again in January.”  I’m sure that marriage wouldn’t last long.  

St. Paul encourages us to conduct ourselves in a particular way, as friends of Jesus.  We see that in the love that we share with others, but especially in the love we have for God, which overflows into our love for others.  As Pope Benedict said in his Encyclical, Deus caritas est: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”  If we love God, then we don’t simply go through the motions of the sacramental life of the Church and weekly Mass attendance, but we allow those sacraments and the Mass to propel us in loving God and our neighbor in daily life, that is to say, in growing as friends of Jesus.  

Things may seem dark during this time of year.  Things may seem dark in our lives at other times.  But God has a vision of hope for us: the hope of new life in growing in our relationship with Jesus.  That relationship gives us the true Light, Jesus Christ, and prepares us for the unending Day of the Lord in heaven when Jesus returns.

Marathon Mindset

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

            Before the beginning of the school year, all the Catholic School teachers from the Diocese of Lansing met at Lansing Catholic for an in-service.  One of the teachers from Queen of the Miraculous Medal parish in Jackson texted me in the middle of the in-service and wrote, “We were just in the gym at Lansing Catholic, and I saw school records in track held by Strouse.  Are those yours?”  I had to reply, “No.  While I did run track, I never broke any school records.  Those are my sisters.” 

            Allison, my youngest sister, graduated from Lansing Catholic in 2006 and holds records in the 200 and 400m dash, and the 400, 800, and 1600m relay.  Amanda, my other sister, also ran track, but really excelled in cross-country.  In fact, one of the awards at Aquinas College is named after her, based upon her skills on the course and in the classroom.  Amanda was always a really good long distance runner, and she just completed her first marathon a few weeks ago in Grand Rapids.  I think she get it from my parents, both of whom ran cross country, and both of whom have run marathons, including Boston.

            Marathon runners have a different way of thinking about things.  They’re in it for the long haul.  They don’t have to accomplish everything in a short period of time.  They have a long ways to run, and they know that if they just keep a good, steady pace, they’ll make it to the end.

            There’s no evidence that the wise virgins were marathon runners, but they certainly had that way of looking at life.  They were most concerned about being ready when the bridegroom was coming.  They knew it wasn’t simply about getting their first.  They had to make sure that they had enough oil to make it to the end.  The foolish virgins, on the other hand, were not thinking about the end, but expected the bridegroom to come shortly. 

            It doesn’t take a Scripture scholar to recognize that this parable is about the return of Jesus at the end of time.  In these last weeks of Ordinary Time we pay particular attention to the end of the world as a reminder that what we have now is not always going to be here.  The world will not continue forever.  Jesus will return to usher in a new heaven and a new earth, where the sinful will go to their eternal punishment of separation from God, as their actions while on earth showed they wanted, while the just will go to their eternal reward of perfect happiness with God in heaven, as their actions while on earth showed their wanted. 

            Recently, there has been no small number of people claiming the world is going to end soon.  It’s as if they forgot to read our second reading today, where St. Paul has to calm the Thessalonians down because they’re worried about the short term: some of their friends and family members have died before Jesus came again, so what’s going to happen to them?  St. Paul takes the “marathon” approach, reminding the people that, although Christ hasn’t yet returned, he will, and those who have fallen asleep in death will be raised first, then we who remain will be caught up with the dead “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”  In other words, St. Paul is telling them to be the wise virgins who are keeping oil for their lamps so that, whenever the Divine Bridegroom comes, they will be ready.

            Our Divine Bridegroom, Jesus, is Wisdom incarnate, the Wisdom we heard about in the first reading.  If we love the Lord, then we will receive Him; if we seek Him, then we will find Him.  If we wait for Him at the dawn, then we shall not be disappointed.  Our entire life: marriage, family, work, school, recreation: all of it has to be entered into with the mindset of the wise virgins or the marathon runners.  If we are living life each day in a Christ-centered way, waiting for the return of our Lord and Savior, then the coming of Christ will not shock us, or confuse us, but will be the finish line to the steady pace we’ve been keeping.  It means that we strive, to the best of our ability, to be ready at any moment for the Lord to return and welcome His faithful disciples into his Heavenly Kingdom.

            Otherwise we are like the foolish virgins, the ones who figure, “I’ve got time; I’ll have my fun today, doing whatever I want, and then, when I’m older, I’ll be sorry and change my ways.”  What happens to those people is that the coming of Christ, whether in death or at the second coming, catches them off guard; they are not prepared.  And then they have to go and get more oil for their lamps, and while they are gone, the doors are locked, and, no matter how much we cry to be let in, the Bridegroom will say, “‘Amen I say to you, I do not know you.’”

            Keeping that steady pace means keeping a daily habit of prayer, communication with the Lord Jesus, of brining our faith into all that we do, rather than compartmentalizing our lives into different segments, some of which we use our faith, but others of which are purely secular, where we feel Jesus has no place.  Keeping extra oil means that we live a life of regular repentance through personal acts of penance like giving up certain foods or certain good things, not just in Lent, but each month and each week, to train ourselves to be focused mainly on Jesus.  Being ready for the Bridegroom to come means that we prepare our hearts and souls through the Sacraments to welcome Him who is communicated though the Sacraments.  For, “whoever for [Wisdom’s] sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care.”

"Are We There Yet?"

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!

Food or Jesus?

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

            Now that we’ve passed Halloween, it’s that time of the year again: we hear many familiar themes, and we’re all getting ready for that one day that puts an end to the year.  I’m not talking about the wave of commercials crashing over us that are trying to get us ready for Christmas.  I’m talking about the end of the Liturgical Year at the Solemnity of Christ the King, and the readings that prepare us for that celebration by preparing us for the end times when Christ’s reign will be made totally manifest to all.

            The question that the readings pose to us this week is one that we should not take lightly.  Sure, we might have a quick answer, but if we really start to think about it, perhaps we would not answer so quickly.  The question is: what are you willing to put aside in order to enter in heaven?

            The question comes to us in the first reading, when we hear what a mother and her sons are willing to give up in order to remain faithful to God and share in the heavenly rewards, rather than break the Law given by God through Moses and eat pork.  Now, I’m sure that we’d all like to say that we would certainly rather go to heaven than eat a particular food.  Very few of us would probably admit to preferring bacon to Jesus.  But, if we take a moment, and think about what happens in Lent on Ash Wednesday, and all the Fridays of Lent, we may not be so quick to answer.  How many of us enter into that mental debate on those days, of whether it’s really serious to eat meat, and whether it will make that big of a difference.  Maybe some of us have even given in at one point or another in our life (and I’m not talking about the occasions where we just forgot, but where we freely made a choice to eat meat, rather than obey God and His Church).  While eating meat on Fridays during Lent may not necessarily cast us to hell, it is interesting to think that, at times, we might prefer eating a particular food and satisfying our taste buds than being obedient to God through the apostles and their successors, who have, by divine mandate, the ability to loose and bind sins.

But, even tougher than giving up meat, is the decision that the same family in the second book of Maccabees has to make.  It would have been quite easy simply to taste a little pork, to disobey God’s law, all with the mindset: “Well, I wouldn’t do this if I were free, and I just want to protect my family, so I’ll give in.”  While there may be times where, because the kids are acting up, we would have no problem sacrificing the kids in order to go to heaven, still, I think that most, if not all mothers and fathers, when faced with the decision to save their kids life, would do almost anything in order to protect their children.

            But of course, as Jesus says in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, “‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,’” that is, hell.  Heaven is worth even more than bonds that bind us as a family, and we must be willing to put obedience to God and His truth that He has revealed to us even over the good of our family.  Nothing is more important than union with God.

            And in the Gospel, Jesus tells the Sadducees that they have missed the point of heaven if they simply assume that heaven is earth version 2.0.  Even the bonds of marriage, a sacrament which shows forth Christ’s fidelity to His Church to all the world by the fidelity of the husband to his wife; a love which shows the fruitfulness of God’s love by the fruitfulness of the marital act either through openness to children or, for those who, through no fault of their own cannot have children, through helping to communicate God’s love to those who so often do not receive it by works of charity; even that love is not the most important love in heaven, for those who “‘are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age…neither marry nor are given in marriage.’”

            Does this mean that we won’t recognize our spouse in heaven?  I don’t think that Jesus means that we won’t recognize each other.  But the unique, intense love that marriage is supposed to witness here on earth, will most perfectly be directed to God, whom we should love above all things and all people, even a spouse.

            So how do we prepare for making such a big choice?  How can we practice what the mother and sons in the first reading practiced, and prepare for eternal life when the sacramental system will no longer be necessary, because God will be all in all to those who have entered into heaven, and will communicate His grace, His inner life, His love, directly to us?

            I’m certainly not suggesting that we abandon all family responsibilities and move into a monastery, no matter how tempting that might sound from time to time.  Rather, each day, in very little ways, we have choices which can confirm us in choosing God over others, or confirm us in choosing others over God.  Whether it’s unnecessary work on Sunday, putting sports above our worship of God, laughing at crass jokes that insult the faith so that we can make it farther in our profession, and many other ways which only you will know as they face you, God provides us many small ways in which we can show our love and our loyalty to Him above all else. 

            God loves us, and wants us to share eternity with Him in heaven, where Jesus will reign as eternal king.  But God loves us enough to respect our free choice to return that love or reject that love.  Let’s show, by our daily sacrifices and fidelity to the Gospel, that we do love Him, and want to be with Him forever, faithful subjects of Christ the King.