Three Tools for Glory - 33rd Sunday, OT Year C

   + J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

The Word of God served up for us by the Church this Sunday is rather daunting, to say the least! We hear from the Prophet Malachi that:

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch…

Lest we think it’s just the angry Old Testament, our Lord Jesus speaks to us in a similar vein in the Gospel:

All that you see here-- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down …. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky….You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name…

What’s going on here! Why all the talk of doom and destruction? We are coming to the end of the liturgical year… next Sunday we go out with a bang, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  The following Sunday the new liturgical year begins with the 1st Sunday of Advent. During these final waning weeks of the liturgical year, we are also in that phase of the natural cycle where the days are getting shorter and shorter, and the winter is settling in upon us. The Church wants to make use of this vivid annual experience, this natural symbol, to invite us to reflect, first, upon death. We who are engaged in the daily battle, the Church Militant, we celebrate All Saints’ Day, remembering the Church Glorious, asking the saints to pray for us, and then on All Souls’ Day we remember the Church Suffering, praying for those in the purification of Purgatory. After that we shift from meditating upon death, both the death of our loved ones, and our own personal deaths, and we pray with the great mystery of the Lord’s 2nd Coming at the End of Time.

Jesus rose from the tomb, He walked among His disciples and Apostles, and then He ascended into Heaven. He has promised that He will come again in glory and power at the end of all created things. He came first, in Bethlehem, in hiddenness, in silence, quietly, leaving each person free to choose faith and belief in Him. When He comes again there will be no doubt, no question, for He will come to judge the living and the dead, and the fire of His love will burn away all falsehood and confusion and doubt.

  We live in this gap between the Lord’s First Coming and His Return in Glory. We live in this gap of faith, hope, and love, where we are offered grace and truth from God, but where we must always make the choice to receive it. God never forces Himself, His Love, His Mercy, His Truth, upon us. God doesn’t work like a SWAT team, breaking down the door, and handcuffing us to His Body, the Church! As a priest, I’m not the trooper whose job is to bundle you into the caged back of my squad car! Rather, serving as the Lord’s minister, as an Alter Christus, another Christ, radically configured to Jesus Christ by the undeserved gift of ordination, head and chaste spouse of the Church, I am to serve you, to teach you, to be in your midst speaking and living God’s word. St. Paul speaks of this in our 2nd Reading, describing his desire to be one among them who gives a good example of hard work and virtue.

And so, in God’s Living Word, and through me, a priest of Jesus Christ, the Church is inviting us to reflect upon Christ’s coming at the end of time. This will be glorious, but it will also follow great struggle and suffering. Following Jesus Christ, far from guaranteeing an easy and comfortable life, will necessarily involve us in His Cross. Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me. “ Jesus says, “The will seize and persecute you… because of my name.” But He also says, “It will lead you giving testimony.” If we are to navigate the storms of life, whether the ordinary burdens of each day or more surprising burdens, sufferings, or attacks, we must have our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, and we must be grounded in the truth of things… Jesus is coming again, He will judge and restore all things, but in the interim, as we await that day, life will be a battle and a struggle, and it will involve great suffering even as it involves great beauty and deep joy. In the midst of those joys and sorrows, we are invited to give witness, to show by our words and lives that we are followers of Christ. In fact, Jesus assures us that if we will trust in Him, if we will wait upon the Lord, if we will listen for His Voice, then, He will give us the words! As He tells us of the battle, He also tells us of His presence with us:

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute…. not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

God’s word is not chained, Christ’s grace is not wiped away by difficulty and struggle, not even by sin and failure. If we will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the defender and perfecter of our faith, He will give us grace and bring us safely to His kingdom. We may suffer, we may die, we may be mocked, we may be ignored or dismissed but if we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us!

OK… so that’s pretty big picture, a bird’s-eye view of our lives. Concretely, practically, how do we fix our eyes on the Lord, how do we open ourselves up to His instruction and guidance and grace? There are many good ways to answer that question, and the Church offers us a rich tradition beyond our full comprehension. Let me, however, propose to you three non-negotiables. If we are to follow Christ as He intends, if we are to avail ourselves of the help He offers we must build our lives on: 1) The Eucharist 2) Regular Confession 3) Daily Prayer! No surprises there… if you’re sitting here in Mass today I’m pretty sure those three are on your radar screen! If you want to rise above the battles you face, if you want to endure unto eternal life, go deeper with one of those, or even all three. Make Sunday Eucharist non-negotiable as the Lord intends… if you can physically get to Mass, you should be here Saturday evening or Sunday every week. The Church requires you to go to confession at least once a year during the Easter Season if you are aware of mortal sin… but the Church encourages and invites you to go to confession regularly, availing yourself of the healing and strength offered there. Every month or two is probably a good goal for most people. I need more help, so I try to get to confession every couple weeks myself. Finally… how much space do you give the Lord in prayer each day? You won’t outdo Him in generosity!

In moments, the same Lord born in Bethlehem, the same Lord who will come in glory, will come down upon this altar and offer us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. May we prepare our hearts now to receive Him with JOY!

   + A. M. D. G. +