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“If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has his foot on the tail of the mouse and you say you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The 33nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Malachi 3:19-20a

Psalm 98:5-6, 7-8, 9

2 Thessalonians 3:7-12

L uke 21:5-19  And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, Jesus said, (6) "As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." (7) And they asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?" (8) And he said, "Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, `I am he!' and, `The time is at hand!' Do not go after them. (9) And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once." (10) Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; (11) there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. (12) But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. (13) This will be a time for you to bear testimony. (14) Settle it, therefore, in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; (15) for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. (16) You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; (17) you will be hated by all for my name's sake. (18) But not a hair of your head will perish. (19) By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Meditation by Larry Gillick

PRE-PRAYERING

We are in the final days of the liturgical year. Two weeks from today is the First Sunday of Advent, believe it or not. The readings for today’s liturgy invite us to reflect on the coming of the “Final Days”. We want to be “in that number” when the saints go marching in to His Kingdom. We are praying in preparation for hearing these readings by reflecting upon how we get into that “number”.

What centers our lives will be the most precious. What is most precious as we near the “final days” of our lives is what centers the life worth everything else. Things which were the center at one time might not be there as we advance in age and wisdom.

As we advance towards Advent and the “Coming Days”, we are invited to reflect upon what holds us personally together; what takes us into our futures. Those who are “in that number” have purchased their tickets for entry through faith and the works of justice.

REFLECTION

M alachi, the Prophet whose name means “My Messenger”, has been carrying on a question-and-answer oracle about how God is dealing with Israel now and in the past. The prophet has been revealing that God knows the questions and worries of Israel. They have been wondering about how the wealthy seem to prosper without living the laws and customs of the Jewish tradition. Those who are faithful do not seem to get much of the pie of prosperity. They are grumbling and God speaks through Malachi about those who do not tithe or take care of the orphans and widows within the Jewish community.

What we hear today is God’s prediction about what is going to happen to those who will be burned up like stubble and all their possessions as well. Fire is the symbol for God’s punishing anger, especially aimed at those who refuse to acknowledge God’s holiness expressed in Torah.

We hear also a comforting prophecy that for those who reverence God, and in that way “fear” God, a warm sunshine will bathe them with the justice due them for keeping God’s law of love. The call of the Promise-maker has to be trusted during the times of not-having so that in the “next-time” there will be an eternal prosperity. Faith then is the ticket.

The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador

T wenty-one years ago this coming Friday, six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her young daughter gave “testimony” in their courtyard in El Salvador. The Jesuit priests had been given the “wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” Their adversaries were the El Salvadorian government and its military. These Jesuits were educators in the Ignation mission of the Catholic University. Their wisdom sprang from the Gospel and their love for and commitment to, the poor and powerless of that Central American country.

For their brilliance of mind and dedication of soul, they were dragged out of their beds in the early morning and shot one at a time. The cowardly act was executed out of fear on the part of the government.

On the part of the Jesuits, they were executed, because they were companions of Jesus and the apostles. They had read the Gospel in its totality of meaning. They had prayed often this passage to which we are invited to listen and with which to be touched. The seven were martyred not merely for their Faith, but for how they had listened to and prayed with such passages. They were executed for their beliefs which moved them to speak the “wisdom” of Jesus which called them to prophesy against the “possessors” and on behalf of the “dispossessed”. Their faith moved them to speak out and live that “there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” 

This entire chapter is about bad times coming soon. It begins with the picture of the poorest widow putting all her savings in the temple collection basket while the wealthy gave from their surplus. She, by putting her money in the treasury, places her treasure in the good times coming later. These few verses set up the discussion about how beautiful, powerful, eternally present, the temple stands.

J esus makes some prophetic and attention-getting statements about the temple and the consequences of putting their little lives into companionship with Jesus. It will cost them plenty to “be in that number”.

Someone once said that if we don’t stand for something, we’ll fall for anything. The Church as a company with Jesus has, is, and will stand with Jesus as He speaks the words of justice. If we do not we will fall for the voices which say, “I am he” and “The time has come.” Jesus invites the disciples not to be deceived by those who urge avoidance of the Cross and those people of the world hanging on it.

Next week we celebrate the feast of Christ the King and the Gospel will offer us Jesus, putting His whole life on the line of the Tree. This Sunday we are offered the time and grace to commit ourselves to the Gospel’s invitations to faith in His Kingdom and our working for the Widows and Orphans and against the possessors who are “oppressors” of such poor. The heavens and earth and all its temples may and will pass away, but for those who accompany Jesus during their days on earth, they will pass along “in that number.”

“It is good for me to be with the Lord and put my hope in him.”

PS: “If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has his foot on the tail of the mouse and you say you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu 

GOD BLESS US ALL!

O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.

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