Persevere and Look Forward in Hope

11-17-2019Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

As we reach the end of the liturgical year (next week will be the last Sunday in the liturgical calendar when we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, and the following Sunday will be the First Sunday in Advent) and as we conclude the Lukan account of the public ministry of Jesus, the Word of God today speaks to us about "the end". On this second last Sunday of the Church's liturgical year, we are called upon to reflect on the Day of Judgment and the end times and the importance of the endurance.

So, what is all this 'end' about? I hear the Word of God on this Sunday telling us the following: The gospel text of today begins with the comments of Jesus about the Temple. "When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, he said, 'All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed'" (Lk 21:56). The implication of this is that my own faith and confidence in salvation should not be based on anything external – any Temple, of the Jews and the Christians: structures and institutions. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… But the hour is coming – indeed is already here – when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (Jn 4:2123).

Today's gospel points us in a direction. Jesus says, "By your perseverance you will save your lives." Jesus is saying that when we enter a new world we must be willing to persevere. But what do we mean by perseverance? You can define perseverance in a lot of different ways, but the understanding I am suggesting to you today is one which is most common and most practical. This is the understanding that I hear over and over again in ICU units and at wedding receptions, in funeral homes and at baptism parties. It's the understanding of perseverance that most easily and commonly comes to our lips: perseverance is living one day at a time. Perseverance is refusing to be overwhelmed by all the things that we do not understand and cannot control in the new world in which we must live. Perseverance is choosing to take one step, the next step—choosing to take that step as best as we can and to keep taking the next step until we end up where we ought to be.

Today's gospel is a gospel of hope. But we might not recognize it. We can be distracted by thinking that the gospel is predicting the future, what will happen at the end of time. But actually, by the time Luke was writing this passage, the things that he was describing had already taken place. The temple was already destroyed. Wars and earthquakes were occurring. False teachers were leading people astray. Persecutions had begun. So far from predicting future events, Luke was describing the crises and turmoil of his own time. It is in those contemporary challenges that Luke's call to hope becomes clear. Today's Gospel Reading is prophetic in nature and was applied to the days of Jesus. But it is also applicable to us in today's situation. It invites us to be prepared to receive the Lord worthily without any fear. We are still called to persevere in our living faith and look forward in hope.

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