Homily for 33d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
33d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Nov. 14, 1982

Mark 13: 24-32
Dan 12: 1-3
Don Bosco Tech, Paterson, N.J.

Readings speaking of a time of great distress, and persevering in faith thru that time, are appropriate for THIS time in which our Church, especially in this country, is in such distress, and many feel they've been tried beyond endurance and are sorely tempted to abandon priests and bishops and the Church, if not Jesus himself.  This old homily doesn't address 2018 specifically, but the reader might so apply it.

I like the way the readings began this morning:  “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince” (Dan 12:1).  How the passage continued, well, that’s something else:  “It shall be a time if unsurpassed distress.”  I hope that having 3 Michaels in our midst at DBT isn’t too distressing.

The church year is ending.  The Church has always mirrored the history of salvation thru her yearly cycle of Sundays and feasts.  As the year ends, she sets before us a reminder of the end of history, the 2d coming of Christ, the judgment.

Last week’s reading from Hebrews threw us the first hint of the approaching end-time.  The author reminded us that Christ will appear a 2d time to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Heb 9:28)—a phrase echoed in every Maas in the prayer that follows the Our Father, “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

This Sunday, next Sunday (which will be the feast of Christ the King), and the following Sunday (which will be the 1st Sunday in Advent) concentrate on the themes of judgment, final salvation, the 2d coming, the lordship of our Savior.

The first reading today and next week comes from the book of Daniel.  This book, historically, comes from the middle of the 2d century before Christ.  God’s people, the Jewish people, were undergoing an intense persecution form their pagan masters, “a time of unsurpassed distress.”  Encouraging his readers to persevere, the author of this apocalyptic book promises that deliverance is near at hand.  Today’s passage is the first in the Old Testament clearly to teach about the resurrection of the dead and eternal life for the just.

Almost 2 centuries later, Jesus used much of the same imagery as Daniel and other apocalyptic books had used:  disastrous times, heavenly catastrophes, the sudden appearance of the Son of Man.  It is believed that the words of Jesus were recalled and incorporated into Mark’s Gospel during another bitter persecution of God’s people, his Christian people—possibly Nero’s persecution when Peter, Paul, and hundreds of other believers were crucified, beheaded, thrown to wild beasts, or used as living torches to light the imperial gardens.  

Mark recalls for us the words of Jesus. When the whole scene is at its darkest, then will deliverance appear.  Then will the Son of Man, the Risen Lord Jesus, return “with great power and glory,” the power and glory of his heavenly Father.  Then will his messengers, the angels, scatter over the earth to bring in the elect, the chosen, those who have been faithful, to bestow on them eternal life.

Jesus curses the fig tree (James Tissot)

Most New Testament scholars believe the section that follows—the one beginning with the parable of the fig tree—is a loose collection of Jesus’ sayings about watchfulness.  Whether it’s a miscellaneous collection put here by Mark, or whether Jesus actually spoke these words in connection with his glorious return doesn’t matter.  The sayings urge us to be watchful, to be alert.  In difficult times—open persecution or an age of materialism that mocks spiritual values—in difficult times we struggle to remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus and his Church.

Throughout Mark’s Gospel, being faithful is the point.  The words of Jesus are worthy of faith; they will not fail; they will not pass away even when all things created do fade and disintegrate.  He lives, he shares in his Father’s power and glory, and he is going to come again to save and deliver those who try to imitate his faithfulness.

In a time when public prayer is virtually outlawed, when religious schooling is double taxed, when human life is sold for a handful of silver, when the family is desecrated—all in the name of freedom—it’s easy to be discouraged, to give up, or worse, to compromise our beliefs by the way we speak and act.

Don’t.  Treasure your faith.  Hang onto it, practice it, proclaim it without compromise.  “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:3).