The Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, November 30, 2022

Matthew 4, 18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

St. Andrew was a young man when he met the Lord Jesus.  He followed John the Baptist at that time and took John seriously when he taught that the people should look for the one who would come after him and follow him, that he, John, as greatly as the people esteemed him, was not worthy to untie his sandal strap.  Upon hearing John gesture to Jesus and pronounce that he was the Lamb of God — a title none of the Prophets has been given — Andrew went to see him.  He spent the rest of that day with the Lord, simply talking.  His experience was that of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus three years later: “Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke” (Luke 24, 32).  As a result of his experience, he went to tell his older brother, then known as Simon, about him.  Because Andrew was the first of the Twelve to know Jesus, he is described by the Orthodox Churches as “the first-called”.  In the Gospel reading for today’s Feast, Jesus calls Andrew and his brother to follow him in a definitive way.  Both brothers get up from their boat, where they had worked all night, and followed him.  That first day was a hard one, and foreshadowed all the hard ones to follow since they had worked since sundown and they would not sleep again until the following night.  But it would be a day never to be forgotten.

We know that Andrew was younger than Peter since he is living in Peter’s house.  This fact also tells us that he was not yet married, meaning he was probably only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time he was called.  His and Peter’s parents were dead, too, for Peter has his own house and Andrew is living in it and not at his parents’s house.  After Pentecost, Andrew remained in Israel for a time, probably returning to Capernaum where Peter’s house became a church where the Galilean Christians worshipped.  After some years, he went abroad, preaching in the region around the Black Sea, and tradition has it that he was crucified there for the Faith.  His words at the time of his crucifixion have come down to us and are used as the antiphon for the first psalm of Vespers in the traditional Breviary: “Hail, O precious cross!  Receive the disciple of him who hung on you, my Master, Christ!”

The traditional prayer for this Feast:

We humbly beseech your majesty, O Lord, that as your Apostle Andrew stood out as preacher and ruler of your Church, he may always intercede for us in your presence.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 Tuesday in the First Week of Advent, November 29, 2022

Luke 10, 21-24

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”  Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

“Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.”  The incarnate Son of God marvels before his disciples at the Providence of his Father, who revealed his Son not to Aristotle and Plato but to Peter and Andrew and Martha and Mary.  This revelation is the most stupendous we have ever received as a species, for by reason alone we can conclude that God exists and that he must be be infinite in extent and power, but without him telling us, we could never have guessed that he is a unity of three divine Persons, and that one of these Persons would join himself to a human nature in order to die for our redemption from sin.  When the Lord Jesus says, that his Father has “hidden” these things from “the wise”, he means simply that he chose not to reveal these truths to these people, but did choose to reveal them to others who lacked formal education, and had never studied philosophy or theology.  We are reminded that God’s gift of the knowledge of the truth truly is a gift and that we we did earn it or merit it.  God revealed this to some and withheld it from others.  

No one deserves this revelation but God makes it to the simple.  He does this to manifest his glory, and also to convince others of its reality.  When we see a well-groomed, expensively dressed person walk up to a piano, sit at it, and play a Chopin nocturne with great skill, we are impressed, but not really surprised.  The person’s appearance leads us to think that he or she has reached a high level of education and is certainly highly skilled in some particular field.  Now, if a child dressed in rags and smeared with dirt walked up to the piano and looked at it as though he had never seen one before, then sat on the bench and played the same nocturne with the same level of quality, we would be amazed.  So it is with the people to whom God reveals the wonders of himself and his love for us.  They may not seem impressive, but they can know that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They can know how to obtain eternal happiness.  They know how to live happily now.  They know how to speak to the Creator of the universe.  There are very large numbers of very educated people who do not understand the meaning or purpose of life, but any believer in Jesus, even a child, does.

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.”  The Lord is speaking specifically to and about the people before him two thousand years ago, but this pertains to every generation of believers since then.  You and I today see the Lord and what he has revealed to us with the eyes of faith.  We have before us the Holy Scriptures, especially the Gospels, and sacred tradition to help us see him.  And, in fact, anyone can see him.  The Lord Jesus worked openly during his Public Life: “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort: and in secret I have spoken nothing” (John 18, 20).  But there are many people, and always have been, who do not want to see.  For them, the truth remains “hidden”.

 Monday in the First Week of Advent, November 28, 2021

Matthew 8, 5-11

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”

“ ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.’ He said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ ”  There are four things to recognize here: that the Gentile centurion called Jesus Kyrie, that is, not “teacher” as the Jews usually did, but “Lord”; that Jesus allowed a Gentile to speak to him; how readily the Lord answered in the affirmative, with hardly any apparent thought; and that Jesus did not say, I will go pray for him, but “I will come and cure him.”  The Gentiles (and Jewish outcasts) who came in contact with Jesus called him “Lord” while the Pharisees, who scrutinized  his ever move, including his cures and exorcisms, would only call him “teacher”.  St. Matthew includes this detail in his account to shame the Judeans and Pharisees and to help the Galilean Christians understand why the Gentiles were converting.

Jesus allowed the Gentiles to approach him and converse with them.  The Jews loathed the Gentiles and considered them the source of all the wrong that had happened to Israel.  They were also uncircumcised, unclean outsiders.  But the Lord Jesus mixed with the Gentiles even at the time of his Birth when the Magi from Arabia came to him.  The Lord even says at the end of today’s Gospel reading, “I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus heard the centurion’s request and stated his readiness to go and cure the servant.  The Lord does not hesitate.  He does not ask questions or set conditions.  He even seems ready to enter the centurion’s house, which the Jews were not permitted to do.  If the Lord can praise the centurion later for his faith, we should praise Jesus even more for the abundance of his mercy.

The Lord said, “I will come and cure him,”  He knows what he will do: he will cure the servant immediately.  That is, he will not offer him gradual healing or partial healing, which was the most a physician could do.  He will cure him the instant he sees him.  The servant, lying in his death bed, will stand up right away and go about serving as though he had never been sick in the first place.  This was the case with St. Peter’s mother-in-law.  

All of this speaks to the great love of Jesus for everyone, and his power to show that love in healing us, whether from physical illness or from sin.

 The First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2022

Matthew 24, 37–44

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”  We all go through shocks in which the seemingly impossible has suddenly occurred: a sudden death or terminal diagnosis, the loss of a long-held job.  We think to ourselves that this was not supposed to happen.  So was the shock of what the Lord was telling his disciples about the end of the world, which they thought he meant would happen within their lifetimes.  Decidedly, this was not supposed to happen.  The kingdom of Israel was supposed to be reestablished long before any judgment.  But the man who healed the blind and the lame, who drove out demons and raised the dead, was speaking.  The Lord’s reference to the “days of Noah” had special significance: the first end of the world was brought on by the excessive sinfulness of the people of the earth.  Their behavior became so extreme that the author of Genesis remarked that God “regretted” creating the world.  Only a few people were saved.  

“Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.”  Certain Protestant groups interpret this as what will happen during  the rapture”, a doctrine the Lord most certainly did not teach and which only was thought up around the year 1900.  The Lord uses a figure here in order to show the suddenness of his return to judge the living and the dead.  Two men near each other will be engaged in work and one “will be taken” while the other has no idea what has happened.  

We might wonder what will be the timeline of the final days before the end and what will happen then.  In the years before the end, a great persecution waged by the Antichrist and his followers will put Christians to death throughout the world.  It will be worse than any persecution the Church has ever suffered.  It will end rather suddenly when the Antichrist is killed, either by St. Michael or by the Lord.  An early transition has it that the Lord Jesus will kill him on the summit of Mount Sinai.  Following that will come a short time of peace during which the Jews will convert to the Faith.  And then the End will come.  In an instant, the Lord will come in glory on the clouds with his angels.  All alive at that time will see him no matter where they are on the earth.  In the same instant, the dead will rise.  Angels will reconstitute the bodies of the deceased, these will be joined again to their souls, and they bodies will be glorified, that is, spiritualized and made immortal.  Those alive at the time of the Lord’s coming will die in that same instant and will then be raised again, for we must all die.  The Angels will separate the just from the wicked in front of the Lord.  And then all the people who ever lived will be shown their good deeds and their sins; the results of their decisions and what would have happened if they had decided otherwise.  Saints will see how nearly they could have become the worst of sinners, and the wicked will see how they might have become great saints.  Various traditions locate this judgment in various places.  Through the Prophet Joel, Almighty God said: “Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about” (Joel 3, 12).  This is a valley in Israel near Jerusalem.  This would accord with the tradition that the Lord will appear over Jerusalem.  

The Last Judgment will provide not so much a judgment, though, as a public sentencing, for each person will be judged for his or her deeds upon death and will go straightway to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory.  The purpose of the judgment, then, is to manifest the perfect justice of God, which redounds to his glory.  The righteous will hardly believe that the Lord has declared them to be so because of the immensity of the reward they receive for comparatively little work in such a brief time;  the wicked will cry out in despair, unwilling to believe that they could have been so wicked as to deserve their dire fate.  

 Saturday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 26, 2022

Luke 21, 34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The Lord Jesus spoke these words in person to his disciples two thousand years ago, and he speaks them to us today through the Church, who gives us the Gospels.  He tells us to take care not to become “drowsy”, that is, complacent, to three dangers: carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of daily life.  By “carousing” he means abandonment to the pleasures of the flesh; by “drunkenness”, through escapism of any kind, especially that which becomes addictive, as alcohol and drugs; and our daily anxieties.  The first two of these we can safely avoid altogether.  The third, not so easily, for we are all beset by the cares of life.  Yet, the Lord tells us not to be: “Do not be anxious therefore, saying: What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knows that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6, 31-33).  That is, serving God comes first, and he will take care of his servants.  We do this by following the vocation to which he calls us and performing well the work within that vocation.  In doing so, we edify those among whom the Lord places us by our virtues and are afforded opportunities to spread the Gospel.  

“For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.”  The Greek word translated here as “assault” actually means “come upon” or “overtake”:  That day will overtake everyone who lives, etc.  The Greek does not imply violence, only motion.  The Greek future tense, though, is much more emphatic than the English, as in, That day will most definitely come upon everyone, etc.  “Pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent.”  We are exhorted to pray for spiritual strength so that we may hold onto our faith with an unbreakable grip.  If we do not pray for this we will put ourselves in the position of those who do not study before taking a critical exam.  These tribulations are imminent: they were imminent for the Lord’s disciples two thousand years ago, and for all his disciples since, even for us today.  Some of these imminent tribulations may be very apparent and some may not be.  We pray to be ready for all of them so that we may stand before the face of the Lord not in fear, but in joy.

 Friday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 25, 2022

Luke 21, 29-33

Jesus told his disciples a parable. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

When the Lord Jesus teaches his disciples about the coming of the Kingdom of God we should keep in mind that the disciples understood this very differently from how we do.  For them, the Kingdom of God meant the rule of the Messiah in Jerusalem.  This is what the Pharisees taught.  For us Christians it means the Kingdom in heaven to which the Lord will admit his faithful followers at the end of the world.  Now, the Lord often emphasized to his followers that the end would come soon, and in the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass he does this again.  He says to them that they will see signs that the end is near: “When you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near.”  He also says, “Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.”  And yet, we still await the end, two thousand years later.

The Lord says “soon”, using a relative term with no set limits.  He does this to prevent his followers from becoming complacent, but also because, when we consider the earth’s age or the age of the universe, two thousand years is a blink of the eye.  And he speaks of the end coming within the current generation because it will.  This generation will come to an end with the second coming.  Both the Hebrew and the Greek words for “generation” mean “age” as well as “generation”.  The Jews considered that creation existed within six generations, with the seventh as the great Sabbath in heaven.  This generation, then, has not yet passed.  What Jesus explains is that there will be no further age after this one, no other Messiah to expect.

People have found the words of the First Reading, Revelation 20, 1-4; 11—21, 2, confusing as well.  And they are a bit difficult if we are not careful when we consider them.  St. John tells us that in a vision he saw an angel who “seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years.”  He did this so that “it could no longer lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed.”  The Book of Revelation is not only about the end of the world but is a history of the Church from its beginnings until it is safely in heaven as the New Jerusalem.  The thousand years is meant to indicate a certain time that has a certain beginning and end.  It is not to be taken literally.  In fact, this thousand year period in which the devil is restrained is the period in which we live now.  From the time of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord, the devil has been “bound” or restrained so that his influence is much less than before the Son of God came into the world.  These days, he has power only over those who allow him to have power over them.  John also tells us of another “thousand year” period, but it is the same as this one.  During the time in which the devil is restrained, the Lord reigns on the earth and his saints reign with him.  This is that time.  We may look about us st all the horror and violence of the last few centuries and wonder how we can believe the devil is restrained and that Christ reigns, but the violence is caused by those who give themselves to the devil.  Through their free will they can throw off the gentle yoke of Christ and wreak havoc in the world. Still, they have not destroyed the world or hindered the growth of the Faith for very long.

It is when the Lord comes and the dead rise that this age ends, and in order to emphasize that the second coming occurs only after the age closes, John says, “Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them.”  the “next” is critical.  The thousand year reign of Christ is through his Church here and now, not through his setting up a kingdom in the world in the future, as some Protestants think.  Then comes the judgment.  

We live in the final age.  While we ought not to panic, we ought to keep vigilant and to pray to be ready when our Lord returns.

 Thursday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November, 24, 2022

Luke 21, 20-28

Jesus said to his disciples: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city, for these days are the time of punishment when all the Scriptures are fulfilled. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”

In this reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, the Lord Jesus teaches about the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans and also of the end of the world.  For us, these are two separate events, one of which came to pass long ago.  For the Jews listening to Jesus and for the early Christians, this appears to have been one event: the fall of Jerusalem must mean the end of the world.  It seems to me, then, that this is the reason the Evangelists (Matthew and Mark do this too) put these teachings together the way they do, without any editorial remarks to show that Jesus was moving on to a new subject when he spoke of the end of the world.  The unwary reader would be confused by this and consider signs meant for the end of Jerusalem as signs for the second coming of Christ, as that there would be one great, final war.

“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand.”  This may seem logical enough for us, but the Jews of the time believed that Jerusalem would be delivered from her enemies.  Indeed, at the beginning of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, the Christians still living there did get out in time, heeding our Lord’s warning.  “For these days are the time of punishment when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.”  That is, God withholds his protection of the Jews from their enemies as a result of their faithlessness.  The destruction of the city should also have finished off their false idea of a military Messiah and caused them to reflect on their preconceptions, leading them to reconsider Jesus as their Savior.  It did not.  “Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days.”  These women and their babies suffered particularly during the siege when the food stores ran out.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.”  With this verse, the Lord begins to talk about the end of the world.  One line of interpretation  has the sun signifying the Church, and the moon signifying the earth (its changeability indicating our imperfect world).  The signs in the sun, according to this interpretation, meant scandals in the Church such that people would lose their faith.  The signs in the moon meant increased instability between nations.  The signs in the earth means the disruption of nature.  “People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”  This, again, refers to scandals in the Church, heresies, schisms, and apostasy even by bishops and popes. 

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”  The Lord’s words are quoted as immediately following his words about the great loss of faith that will occur towards the end, but some period of time may elapse between these two events.  What is clear is the suddenness with which the Lord will come, and this coming will be unmistakeable.  “But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”  Those who remain faithful to the Lord should not fear but rather rejoice at the time of the turmoil and tribulation in the Church since the Lord’s coming will take place “soon” afterwards.

Every age since the Ascension of our Lord into heaven has seen the sorts of signs the Lord describes in these verses, but at the end it will be especially pronounced.  This will be part of the final terrible, worldwide persecution against the Church.  We ought to begin praying now for the perseverance we will undoubtedly need later.

Wednesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time, November 23, 2022

Revelation 15, 1-4

I, John, saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues, for through them God’s fury is accomplished. Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name. They were holding God’s harps, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, or glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

The Book of Revelation is  collection of seven visions received by St. John the Apostle.  In that way, it resembles the books of the Prophets, which contain their various prophecies and utterances.  Revelation, then, is a sort of anthology and the visions that make it up share the theme of the history of the Church and the end of the world.  The visions overlap and often tell of the same event from a different perspective or in a different way.  This is one of the biggest reasons people have a hard time reading it.  We tend to read a book expecting it to have a straight-forward narrative flow, and that is not how Revelation was written.  

The section of the Book of Revelation used for today’s First Reading appears in its fourth vision, which begins with chapter 12 and runs through the end of chapter 14.  It tells of the beginning of the Church, of the birth of believers in the Church, their struggle against temptation and trial, their persecution, and their overcoming the evils at the end of the world.  It is here that the events in the First Reading take place.

The “seven angels” are to inflict the last seven plagues upon the earth.  That is, in an orderly way, Creation is being dismantled.  It will be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth.  God is seen to work through angels in the dismantling.  This begs the question as to whether the angels assisted in the original ordering of Creation — not in the actual creating, but in setting what God had created into its proper place, according to his direction.  Through the work of the angels we can gain some appreciation for the power and grandeur of Almighty God.  We can understand something of the power of earthquakes and of other natural disasters.  An angel is set over various types of these disasters, giving us some notion of the power of that particular angel.  But then we have to reckon that God created and commands all these angels, and countless myriads more.  

“A sea of glass mingled with fire.”  This image is hard to form for ourselves.  The sea should probably be understood as the surface of the crystalline sphere that was thought to divide heaven from the earthly atmosphere.  Fire mixed in it might show up as a blazing glow that appears just beneath or within it.  “Those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name.”  That is, the faithful who had been martyred rather than give up their faith.  In all, three particular foes threatened believers in the vision in the Book of .Revelation: the devil, in the form of a dragon; a beast summoned by the dragon; and the image made of the beast that adherents worshipped and which was brought to life.  Each of these possessed terrible powers and killed enormous numbers of believers.  In the end, they were disposed of rather quickly and without drama.  “The song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”  The Song of Moses sung after the Red Sea swallowed up the Egyptian chariots.  This song of triumph would befit the Lamb of God, who overcame suffering and death to rise again.  “Your righteous acts have been revealed.”  At the end, all eyes will see how God worked through human history for the salvation of the elect.  We will all see how every event in our lives makes sense and aided in our being saved. 

 Tuesday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 22, 2022

The Memorial of St. Cecilia

Revelation 14, 14-19

I, John, looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a Son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.” So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.  Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came from the altar, who was in charge of the fire, and cried out in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury.

The First Reading for today’s Mass (as well as the Gospel) pertain to the end of the world.  This small portion from one of the visions in the Book of Revelation tells how the the Lord Jesus, shown sitting on a cloud, as a sign of his divinity, will swing his sickle and reap the harvest of the earth.  He only needs to take a single swing to accomplish this.  His action here signifies how quickly and without warning the end will come.  It will happen in an instant.  All the people of the earth will be gathered together by the angels.  The wicked will be herded into hell, signified in this vision by the angel who cuts earth’s vintage and throws it into the “wine press” of God’s fury.  

An angel explains that the just become “fully ripe” so that they may be reaped — judged.  This is a great mystery.  Some people “ripen”, that is, complete their growth in holiness, more quickly than others.  St. Cecilia, whose feast we celebrate today, was martyred will probably still in her teens, for she died shortly after she was married.  Others, like St. Antony of the Desert, lived to great old age.  This tells us that in addition to their own growth in holiness, the measure of a saint’s influence is also a factor.  St. Cecilia showed, by her example that a young woman could defeat her persecutors through her faith.  St. Antony’s long life showed the example of perseverance in the Christian Faith over the course of a full lifetime. In our fallen world, babies die too, living very briefly.  They give us the example of innocence which we ought to preserve in our lives.  Their work on earth is accomplished quickly, they “ripen” quickly, but they will pray for us in heaven until we join their ranks in glory.  

The wicked ripen too, and go rotten.  God gives them continuous chances to repent but they do not.  They “fill up the measure” of their fathers (cf. Matthew 23, 32), that is, of the devil.  They will know the horror of the wine press.

We pray that we will fill our lives up with good works so that we may fully ripen and be brought into the storehouses of heaven by the One who sits on the cloud with the crown of victory on his head. 

 Monday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 21, 2022

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Luke 21, 1-4

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

The Church commemorates on this day what has come down to us in tradition, that the Virgin Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, brought their little daughter to the Temple in Jerusalem and left her in the care of some women there to serve God.  They did this out of gratitude to God for granting them a child after many long years of marriage, and out of their belief that this child was meant to do great things for him.  The tradition comes down to us through one of the earliest sources of Christian tradition, the so-called Proto-Gospel of James.  The Feast arose in the East, and by the ninth century it had spread to southern Italy, and first was incorporated into the Roman calendar in the fifteenth century.

While this Feast does not now have proper readings assigned to it, the Gospel reading for this day in Ordinary Time that coincide with it (and are therefore used) reveals something of its mystery to us.  The reading is the familiar one of the Widow’s Mite.  The “poor widow” in the account can be understood as the Virgin Mary’s parents bringing their “all” to the Temple — to God.  She was their only child, and at their age they could hope for no more.  Her conception, after all had been a miracle.  They left her at the Temple in the care of women like the Prophetess Anna of whom St. Luke informs us (cf. Luke 2, 36-38).  We can also see this as a sign of how the Virgin Mary have herself to God throughout her life.  She gave her entire self to him, putting herself in the Temple treasury, that is, into a life of unstinting service for him.  

The First Reading for today’s Mass, Revelation 14, 1-3; 4-5, tells us that the elect will sing “a new hymn before the throne”, one which no one but the elect could learn.  St. John tells us that those who sing it are “the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes”.  The Virgin Mary sings a hymn in heaven which only she can sing because she dwells in heights only our eyes can follow due to her great virtue and faith.  She began this hymn here on earth, singing it in her heart will serving God.  May we profit by her prayers so that we may join the elect, those who are unblemished and without deceit.

 The Solemnity of Christ the King, November 20, 2022

Luke 23, 35–43

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”   Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, is set on the last Sunday of the Church year.  In this way, the feast day looks forward to the new year, and back on the year about to be completed.  Thus, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is signified as on a throne that overlooks all time and all space.

The way to understand the kingship of the Lord Jesus is the same as it is to understand the Father’s fatherhood.  Jesus is THE King, as the Father is THE Father.  Those to whom kingship or fatherhood pertain only share in the Kingship of Christ or the Fatherhood of God the Father.  Jesus is not like other kings; to one extent or another they are like him.  We should, then, be prepared to see that Jesus as King far surpasses others who are kings.  Jesus, the King of the universe, possesses supreme authority so as to be the supreme servant,  As he himself said, “Even as the Son of Man is not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a redemption for many.”  

“If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”  The Lord revealed himself as the King of the universe when he reigned from the throne of the Cross.  He came to earth precisely in order to lay down his life for us.  He had, quite literally, lived for this.  While the soldiers and Jewish leaders jeer at him with a title he never claimed for himself, he is the One who does not need to be redeemed, for he is God.  They also say that “He saved others” as though this work was done.  In fact, it was only beginning.  (By the way, one of the odder aspects of the mockery of the Jewish leaders is that they admit freely that Jesus did save others from their diseases and from demons, and yet they worked for his crucifixion to make him stop saving others.  It never dawns on them that if he did possess the power to save others he could save himself, but his choosing not to do so pointed to his having some greater purpose in dying).

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  This pray by the Good Thief reveals real understanding of who Jesus was.  Rejecting the idea of the Lord ruling an earthly kingdom, as the Pharisees imagined the Messiah would do, he appeals to Jesus as the King of a heavenly realm.  Not even the Apostles had shown this level of understanding.  We must suppose that as the Father had revealed the divine Sonship of Christ to St. Peter (cf. Matthew 16, 17), the Father had revealed this to the Good Thief.  The Good Thief, in agony and struggling to draw breath, prayed to Jesus, acknowledging him as his King, and the Lord made a promise we each hope one day to hear: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  We will hear this, too, if we acknowledge Jesus as our King and live by his commandments and according to his will.

 Saturday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 19, 2022

Revelation 11, 4-12

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses: These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.

The Book of Revelation tells us that towards the end of the world two witnesses or prophets will arise, preach fearlessly, perform miracles, and be killed.  Their lives will thus follow the course of the Lord’s earthly life.  These two witnesses counterbalance the two beasts which come out of the sea to dazzle the world with amazing feats, but lead it away from God.  From before the fifth century Church commenters have tried to say who these witnesses would be, since they seem to be two definite people.  One of the more inspired ideas is that these will be the Patriarch Enoch, father of Methuselah, and Elijah.  Both of these men are recorded by the Scriptures to have been carried off to heaven before dying.  The reasoning is that that since all humans must die because of sin, these two were sent back to earth where they carried on their lives of righteousness, and that they died at the hands of the wicked just as the Prophets and Apostles had before them.  St. John calls them “two olive trees” in that the olive branch was the sign of peace between God and the human race after the Flood.  Also, olive oil was used to anoint the newly baptized and those ordained to the Priesthood and so is a sign of the Holy Spirit and grace.  John also calls them “lamp stands” because they light the way to Christ.  These two witnesses will have powers similar to Moses for inflicting plagues, which they will do in order to convert the most obstinate sinners.  Sadly, not all will convert, just as Pharaoh resisted Moses until the killing of the first-born. 

“Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names ‘Sodom’ and ‘Egypt,’ where indeed their Lord was crucified.”  These names for Jerusalem carry much irony.  Sodom, of course, was the city of great shame and sin that was obliterated by God after Lot fled from it.  To call the holy city Jerusalem “Sodom” was to charge it with terrible sins of immorality.  Perhaps the main reason for doing so came from the Lord’s prophecy of its future utter destruction.  Jerusalem is called “Egypt” because just as Egypt oppressed the Hebrews who were living there, so too did Jerusalem oppress the Christians in the early years of the Church.  

“Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried.”  The corpses were kept unburied so as to refuse them the care usually given to the dead and also so that all people could see that the Beast had conquered them, so great was its power.  “The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.”  This verse describes very well the fevered atmosphere that shall prevail in the last days, when virtue is deemed vice, and vice, virtue.  The gloating over unburied corpses particularly illustrates the twisted thinking in those days to come.  The number “three and a half” comes up regularly in the Book of Revelation.  Considering the timeline of the Lord’s Public Life in St. John’s Gospel, it seems that our Lord preached for three and a half years.  Also, according to this Gospel the Lord rose from the dead after three and a half days.  If this is so, then the two witnesses are especially described as doing the Lord’s work, a fact made clear by the timing of their own Resurrection: “But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them.”  

“Come up here.”  The witnesses rise up and ascend into heaven in a very public way which ought to drive their murderers and opponents to penance, but it does not.  This shows the hardened hearts of the people at this time.  The witnesses rise very much as we read the Lord rose in the Acts of the Apostles so that we may wonder if the Lord Jesus heard the Father say to him, “Come up here,” at the time of his Ascension.  This would be in keeping with how the Father did speak audibly to him on other occasions.

The two witnesses give us a good example of the courage and persistence with which we ought to live out our Faith.  Let us, in the concrete circumstances of our lives, give such an example as well.

 Friday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 18, 2022

Revelation 10, 8-11

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me. Then the voice spoke to me and said: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.” I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

The Book of Revelation contains many signs that occur earlier, often in the Books of Ezekiel and Daniel.  These signs of which the Prophets spoke find their fulfillment in the Book of Revelation as God brings human history to its close.  For instance, the sign of the scroll that must be eaten is first found in Ezekiel 3, 1-4: the Prophet is being commissioned  by God to speak God’s word to the Jews. In both instances, the eating of the scroll that comes from God signifies the incorporation of his word in the one who is to speak.  That is, the Prophet and the Evangelist are not simply carrying out a task or performing a job.  They must first know and understand the words that are given them, they must be transformed by them, and they must make them part of their very being.  This is done by deep meditation inspired out of love for God and for his words and through performing the works the words inspire.  This is not accomplished in a day or a week.  It is done over the course of a lifetime, as we continuously receive his words.  For us, it means to read the Holy Scriptures regularly and to see what God speaks to us through them, for they are not dead words: “For the word of God is living and effectual and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow: and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4, 12).  His word, once inside of us, goes into depths within us that we did not know we possessed.  The Holy Spirit fills these words so that they live and speak to and within us.

St. John relates that the Angel told him as he took the scroll, “It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”  The word of God is delightful to meditate upon but requires work to put it into practice.  John, knowing this, eats the scroll.

When, in the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, we see the Lord Jesus casting out the money changers from the Temple precincts (Luke 19, 45-48), we should remember what St. John said of the thoughts of the Apostles on the first occasion he did this: “His disciples remembered, that it was written: The zeal of your house has eaten me up” (John 2, 17).  The Lord Jesus was literally consumed by his zeal for the place where’s God’s presence had existed on this earth, the building containing the Holy of Holies in its innermost recesses, where the Ark of the Covenant containing the manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tablets of the Ten Commandments had once lain.  This Holy of Holies is now set deep within each baptized person and it is not empty: the presence of God is truly there in his grace.  St, Paul tells us: “Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God?” (1 Corinthians 6, 19).  The Son of God has this zeal for us, he is consumed by his zeal for us and for our salvation.  May we likewise be filled with this zeal for him, consumed by it, and so serve him in all things, living out the word of God within us.

 Thursday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 17, 2022

Luke 19, 41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

St. Matthew records that the Lord Jesus lamented over Jerusalem in a similar way, but places the action on the first or second day after he entered Jerusalem in triumph, and the wording differs significantly from this lament, which St. Luke records and places just before Jesus enters the city on Palm Sunday.  Thus, we have the Lord grieving for the city throughout his remaining days on earth, for on the day before the Last Supper, Wednesday, he also spoke of how the city would be destroyed in war.  Knowing this helps is to understand the strength of his feelings behind his rebukes of the Pharisees and the high priests that both Evangelists record.  Both of these laments ought to be read as presented to show the Jewish and the Gentile readers that the Jews had largely rejected the Gospel and for that reason it would be preached afterwards to the Gentiles.  These accounts also tell us that during the last week of his life on earth, with betrayal, mockery, torture, and death very near, the Lord is not thinking of himself.  He does not lament his fate or curse the city for what it is about to do to him.  Instead, his heart breaks over the impenitence of Jerusalem.

“As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it.”  He wept for Jerusalem while all around him a large crowd was rejoicing: “And when he was now coming near the descent of Mount Olivet, the whole multitude of his disciples began with joy to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: Blessed be the King who cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory on high!”  Luke reports this just a couple of verses before he tells us of the Lord weeping.  It makes a strange scene, and only a very close eye witness would have been aware of what was happening because of the continuous uproar of the crowd.  We ought to wonder at how the Lord Jesus wept.  Apart from his weeping for Jerusalem on these two occasions, we are told of only one other occasion on which he wept, at the death of Lazarus.  He have convulsed to have been noticed as he was making his way into the city.  We can picture the strange scene: the Lord on a donkey slowly making his way down the road, broken down in tears; his Apostles surrounding him and then the enormous crowd, also making their way in.  A festive atmosphere prevailed, with the shouting, the proclamations of Jesus as the King, the Son of David, people waving palm branches, strewing the road with their cloaks, the sun shining in the sky on this warm Spring day.  The King weeps as he is acclaimed, thinking of how the city he has come to save will be destroyed within a few decades and all the people around him then living, and their children, would be dead from hunger or the sword, or enslaved.

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”  He could have said this to Judas, who, in a way, personified the city in its rejection and betrayal.  The Lord had given Jerusalem many chances to repent and it had remained unmoved.  So he would give Judas multiple opportunities to change his mind, but he continued on, determined to carry out his wickedness.  Repentance, which “makes for peace” is “hidden” from the eyes of those who who lost their consciences through repeated vice.  “For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.”  This too pertains to any sinner.  The days will come when “your life will be demanded of you” (Luke 12, 20).  On that day the sinner will be surrounded by death and the demons who have come for him and there will be no escape.  “They will smash you to the ground and your children within you.”  “Your children”, that is, any excuses or pleas that the sinner utters at the time he sees death closing in on him.  “They will not leave one stone upon another within you.”  So complete will be the destruction of the wicked city of Jerusalem, the wicked world at the end of time, and the wicked man or woman at any time.  “Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”  The time of our visitation is now, while the words of the Gospel ring in our ears.

 Wednesday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 16, 2022

Luke 19, 11-28

While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’ He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came and reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’ And to this servant too he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’ Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’ He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.’ And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.’ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten gold coins.’ He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.’” After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.

“He was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.”  The people who believed Jesus to be the long-awaited Messiah expected the Lord to march into Jerusalem and proclaim himself king, thus ushering in the Kingdom of God.  They were convinced that the Kingdom would come in a matter of days.  We can try to imagine their excitement.  He would throw out the Romans, banish corruption in the Temple, and rule the people in justice.  Throughout the three years of his Public Life he taught the people that this vision of the Messiah, contrived by the Pharisees, was a false one.  Many people clung to this idea, though, even after his Resurrection, as we see at the time of the Ascension: “They therefore who were come together, asked him, saying: Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?” (Acts 1, 6).  

He tells the Parable of the Ten Gold Coins in order to teach these folks that he was not going to do this.  “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.”  Of course, he is the nobleman.  The “far country” here is heaven.  The time between his departure and the time of his return is the present time.  The ten servants in the parable signify the faithful throughout the world and down through the ages.  Each of us is entrusted with gold coins.  These signify our vocations as believers.  Our mission is to increase the gold coins we have, to work for the conversion of the world.  We each do this in our own way and according to our vocations and the circumstances of our lives.  Just so in the financial world: no two independent investors are going to invest money in the same way, but our basic tools are fasting, praying, and alms-giving.  When the nobleman has returned after receiving the kingdom, that is, when the Lord returns in glory, he will call for an accounting.  Those who profited with the coins allotted to them will be rewarded while those who did not — who did nothing at all to save souls — will suffer eternally.  This does not penalize people with little talent for this work because anyone can make money by putting it in the bank.  To not save souls means to refuse to try.  It amounts to a rejection of the King.

There were and are those who actively work against the King: “His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ ”  These were those Jews who rejected him during his lifetime as well as all those who have rejected him since.  They are the Lord’s “fellow citizens” in that the Lord Jesus assumed our humanity in order to live among us.  Their endeavor to prevent his becoming king was foolish to begin with since the decision to raise him to the head of the kingdom had already been made.  All that remained was formality.  They were blinded by their hatred and acted against their own best interests.  After the accounting of those who had been given coins, these enemies are brought forward.  To their guards, he said, “Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.”  We see here two levels of opposition to the Lord.  Those who made no profit with their coins signify believers who fail in their responsibilities.  Those who worked against him becoming king are the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, and all those who actively reject the Lord’s teachings and even in belief in his existence.

Those who heard the Lord’s parable would have understood that he was speaking of himself as the nobleman who went on a long journey to a far country.  They would have understood that he would come back as their King.  But they did not accept that the Messiah could be or do anything other than what the Pharisees had told them, not even if the Messiah himself laid out what he was going to do.  

 Tuesday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 15, 2022

Revelation 3, 1-6; 14-22

I, John, heard the Lord saying to me: “To the angel of the Church in Sardis, write this: “‘The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: “I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you. However, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy. ‘The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels.
Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the church’s.’ ”

“To the angel of the Church in Laodicea, write this: ‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Many of the Lord’s acts recorded in the Gospels are signs of the end of time.  In today’s Gospel Reading (Luke 19, 1-10), Jesus visits the tax collector Zacchaeus.  In outline, we see the approach of the Lord; Zacchaeus, who wants to see Jesus, climbs a tree; the Lord speaks to Zacchaeus; the tax collector repents of his sins; the Lord eats in his house.  This shows us how the Lord came once in history, many people repented and climbed the tree of virtues in order to see the Lord in heaven; the Lord eats with them in the eternal banquet in heaven.

So important is the message of the last days that the Lord goes beyond what he teaches in figure and in word in the Gospels by giving us an entire book of visions that tell us in deep and sometimes searing images of the times in which we live now and the times to come, during which all of creation will be disassembled in a way that mirrors how it was all assembled in the first book of the Holy Scriptures, Genesis.  The Book of Revelation continues to mirror Genesis.  Human history is shown to begin in Genesis and end in Revelation with humans in Paradise.  The devil tempts the first humans to sin and they are expelled from Paradise; he is totally defeated in Revelation and humans enter Paradise.  The central character in Genesis, Abraham, leaves his homeland in obedience to God, who makes a covenant with him; in Revelation, the central character is the Beast which comes out of hell to fight against God.  This mirroring can be shown to continue further.  There are also signs in Revelation that we can use to check ourselves to see how faithful we are to God’s words.  These can be found in the form of the Letters to the Churches found in chapters two and three.  While these were actual letters dictated by the Lord to John for him to forward to their respective destinations, we can also see them as telling us about ourselves.  Various of these letters pertain particularly to certain times in Church history.  The First Reading for today’s Mass contains two of these.

The first is directed to the Church in Sardis, a city in western Asia Minor.  The Lord speaks very directly to the people there: “I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”  That is, they have done much charitable work but have not maintained their faith.  They work out of the desire for praise from other people but not from God.  All they are doing then is mere social work.  The Lord tells them, “Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”  How did they come to this state?  It is simple.  They wanted to be like their fellow citizens. They began as stalwart Christians, living a radically different life from their countrymen, and then began to allow themselves to be re-assimilated by their society.  They sold out.  They have “fallen asleep” in the complacency which their newfound security within the community allowed, but the Lord’s return will catch them flat like “a thief in the night”.  A very few have continued to live the radical life of Christ, and these the Lord promises to acknowledge “in the presence of my Father and of his angels.”

The second letter is directed to the Church is Laodicea.  The believers there have also become mediocre: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot.”  That is, they are not cold as though done by unbelievers, but neither are they hot as done by those on fire with the Faith.  These will be very difficult to resuscitate because they do not see anything wrong with what they do.  They go to Mass, they baptize their children, they do a good work now and then, but their belief in Christ overall does not affect their public behavior.  They are not converting their fellow citizens.  They do not pray.  Their condition is dire: “Because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth,” the Lord tells them.  Their belief that they can take care of themselves masks their vice: “I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”  They are wretched in their inability to know how far they have slipped from God; they are pitiable because once they thrived as Christians; they are poor in that they do not have lasting treasure in heaven; they are blind in that they only see the things of this world and do not look up for heavenly realities; and they are naked and not clothed in good works.  The Lord does not give up on them: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”  He stands at the door of their souls and st the door of their Church, and seeks entrance.  

How many parishes have given way to existing merely as social clubs, therapy centers, or social welfare societies!  This has happened even on the diocesan and national level.  The worship of God has turned into self-reliance and worship of self there.  But this can be turned around through the desire to serve God: “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.”  

Let us take stock of ourselves and of our parishes so that instead of being vomited out of the mouth of the Lord, so that we will be victors in heaven, having overcome the world as he did before us (cf. John 16, 33).

 Monday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 14, 2022

Luke 18, 35-43

As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!” Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

“As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.”  The road to a city the size of Jericho would have been lined with beggars of all kinds, a pathetic lineup of human suffering and neglect.  In the cities of Mexico the innumerable beggars, mostly people from the countryside, each keep up a chant of “Peso, peso, peso . . .”  This goes on all day.  It is very mechanical.  Their eyes, wide and empty from lack of sleep and hunger, look out on the world without noticing it at all.  Perhaps this was the case of most of the beggars on the road that day.  The blind, the lame, the deformed, the widows, simply begged, and could not see beyond them.  This is us, too, for we do not look up beyond our schedules, our struggles.  We go from day to day and do not pay attention to anything beyond our immediate vicinity of self-interest.  We beg too, perhaps without realizing it.  We beg for attention, for assistance, for patience.  Few of us today pray and ask the only One who can give us what we need for help.  

This is what the blind man on the road did.  He stops his begging to ask a question.  He wants to know what the commotion is about. He is told, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”  We might ask what is different about this beggar so that, of all of them, he asks this question.  He has not given up hope that something will happen so that he will be able to see again.  Hope makes us aware of our surroundings and allows us to look for the help we can receive only from another.  He did not allow years — perhaps a lifetime — of blindness to make him blind to the goodness of God.  

“Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”  He knows who he is.  He has listened to people talking about him.  Perhaps he expected, all along to meet up with Jesus when he finally came that way.  He stayed awake and alert, hoping that he would come.  Any time a commotion erupted on the road, he asked what the cause was, and time after time it was not the arrival of Jesus.  But here he was, passing by.  And here was his chance to be saved.  He had waited long outdoors in all weather, and this chance might never recur.  Some in the crowd told him to be quiet.  The triumphant Messiah could have nothing to do with him.  These acted as demons, impeding the conversion of a soul they considered theirs.  But the man cried out the more, and louder with each cry, his hope giving him strength.

“Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him.”  The Lord involves others in this man’s saving.  We can understand these assistants as the angels, or the prayers of the saints.  The Lord, in his Providence, has assigned several people and also an Angel and the saints in heaven to assist each of us and to bring us to the Lord.  “What do you want me to do for you?”  This phrase is echoed in the ritual for baptism, when the priest asks the parents what they seek for their child from God’s Church.  They answer, “Baptism”, or, “Faith”.  Formerly, the priest would ask this question of the child, no matter how tiny, and the godparents would speak for him.  The Lord asks this question here so that the crowd can know what is happening.  Not all can see because of the crowd.  But the Lord is also giving the man a choice.  He could ask for whatever he wanted.  But he stays true to his greatest need: “Lord, please, let me see.”  This also echoes the answer of the parents at the time of baptism: they want their child to see the Lord.

“Have sight; your faith has saved you.”  He believed that the Lord could do this for him.  He believed, even before the coming of Jesus that God could heal him, and he never let this go.  His belief in God led to his unyielding hope and his faith in Jesus of Nazareth.  “He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.”  Let us pray for the virtue of hope so that we may traverse this fallen world in the certainty that at the end of our earthly world we will come to the New Jerusalem.  And let us not let Jesus pass us by but to cling to him with all our might.