HOMILY FOR 33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME--11/14/10--BY PATIENT ENDURANCE WE WILL SAVE OUR LIVES

 

33RD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR--11/14/10

READINGS: Mal 3: 19-20; Lk 21:5-19

November--a time of endings

A. November is just that kind of month that makes it seem possible that the end of the world is just around the corner.

1. I hate November--I was thinking of that as I watched that wretched wind and rain chase away the warm weather,  knock the leaves off the trees, take down the old and diseased trees, and basically do what frost and cold haven’t already done–strip the land bare and make it ready for winter. The storms to our north and the rain around here are a cold slap in the face to those of us who thought the warm autumn weather would continue. Not so fast said the wind and the rain–winter’s coming home.

2. And for some of us, with the closeness of winter comes the realization that everything comes to an end sometime. Maybe it’s a relationship that’s in trouble, maybe a death in a family, maybe having to move or lose a job, maybe you yourself are dying. Maybe you look around and see the world going to hell in a handbasket, all your values that you grew up with thrown to the winds. This is a dangerous time for despair and depression. But don’t give up, give out, give in--the Scriptures have the cure for this.

B. The gospel deals with endings too. Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem, and how the Christians will be persecuted and filled with doubts as the end of their world comes to pass. In many ways the Jewish world ended less than 40 years after Christ's resurrection when Rome marched in, destroyed the Temple, when Rome crushed the Jewish rebellion. To them it was as bad as if a foreign power came and leveled Washington D.C. to the ground.

1. Pius XI, Pope who lived just before WWII said that we must all be spiritual Jews, each of us in our lives must relive the experience of Judaism. Our own Temple, i.e., that things we hold most precious and sacred in our lives, will one day come crashing down on our heads--how will we survive? How will we recover?

　

　

 

2. At times when our world comes crashing down, God will seem silent, Jesus dead in his grave, our lives dry and barren. The Sacred Place, the Temple which you call your dating relationship, your marriage, your family, your career; what I would call my priesthood, my friends--these relationships which you or I would term our Sacred Place, our Temple, may see torn down and desolate. We may feel useless and full of despair because all the things we love, all the people we treasure have left or been destroyed.

II. Beware and Be Patient

A. When our world turns upside down, listen to Christ: "Many will come in my name saying 'I am he or she, or it, or whatever you want or are looking for. Be careful, do not follow them!" Sometimes when we are hurting, we look for comfort for easy answers for solutions from people or things that call us away from our responsibilities, our vows, our promises.

B. These are the times in our lives when life seems to reach an ending--how will we respond in such a crisis? We can't plan for things like that. How can we continue on when life seems meaningless? Jesus says, "By patient endurance, we can save our lives." What is this patient endurance? How can we save our lives?

1. Our relationship with God can give us patient endurance--touching God through the Eucharist, even when we find it hard to pray, receiving Christ here can give us the edge we need to overcome troubles--come to Mass, not just on weekends, but weekdays, stop in Church and pray, The Blessed Sacrament is reserved here, Christ is always present. These next few weeks, try that.

2. Our relationship with others can give us patient endurance--in other people, we meet Christ and the more we develop relationships with others, the more we learn about people and when we have problems with them we will have the knowledge, wisdom and experience to persevere in trying to heal that relationship rather than just calling it quits.

3. Our relationship with ourselves can give us patient endurance. The more we understand ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, our talents and our needs, the more we come to see the essential holiness and goodness of our lives. We must never allow the tragedies, and sufferings or our own failings and sins to destroy our grasp of the fact that we are good, that we are destined for greatness. By having a respect for ourselves, we will have the patient endurance to overcome troubled times.

C. What’s the patient endurance that’s going to get us through the tough times? Right relationship with God, self, others–that’s what’s going to see us through the tough times, the times we think our world will end. Only one thing remains: we've got to believe that the main way people learn about God is through us, by us--Eucharist, friendship, personal experience in prayer--these are people things, things in which we are all involved. We have to share what we have experienced--The real end of the world is probably a long time away, but for those endings that happen in people's lives and are so difficult, we can be Christ for them, we can be their sign of hope, we can lift them up, we can show them that even in the little deaths, the endings that we suffer, there is new life.

D. In this time of November, when the cold comes and life dies on the earth, remember the strength you have, remember the faith that has been given you. If you are tormented or depressed be full of hope, if you see others bent down with care and worry be signs of hope to them, for as the prophet Malachi says in the first reading, On that day when things are ending, in that time of death and destruction, those who honor God, those who walk with the Lord need not fear, for there "will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays." We who are Christian, we are the survivors, we are carried through the troubles of life by our faith in Jesus. Look to him, look to Jesus, look to the sun of justice who heals us from our pain, who takes us from our darkness; look to Christ who carries us to the dawn.

acknowledge for ideas and paraphrase of I,B and II,A to Carroll Stuhlmeyer--Biblical Meditations

 

         by Msgr. Eric R. Barr, STL

Comments

[Brenda Mitchell]

Thank you Msgr. Barr, I love that you post your Homilies. It's been so helpful during my relocation process. It is great to stay a little connected. I love the web page and all the information you give. May our Good and Gracious God continue to Bless the wonderful St.Mary/St.Patrick faith community..