THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

tr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B: (Daniel 12:1-3; Heb 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32) Theme: We are called to attend and embrace the Lord who comes Reflection: We are in the movement towards the end - Recapituation – Parusia – Apocalypse: We are heading towards the end of the Liturgical Year B. Within few days we will be starting the New Year of the Liturgy. The conclusion of every Liturgical Year is with the Solemnity of the Christ, the King which falls next Sunday. In this context, the Church asks us to reflect over the end of times. The Church through the reading of today presents to us what is the final end of the creation. According to the Scriptures and the Christian theology the end of times does not mean the end of the world. The end of times means the recapitulation of whole universe, of whole history and of whole human life in the Lordship of Christ. Recapitulation is the Pauline term (Eph 1:10) used to signify the gathering of every creature under its “Head”, its Lord, its Prince, its King for its final meaning of life. This recapituation has also two connotations in the biblical language: parusia and apocalypse. The first is the Parusia which means the presence: coming of the Lord and its ultimate sense is that “all will be in all” (1 Cor 15:28); everything will find its place and participation in the Kingdom of God; in fact, for this every Christian repeat the words of Jesus in the great prayer of Our Father: “Your Kingdom Come and Your Will be Done” (Math 6:10). The second is the apocalypse which means revelation: God will be manifested in His Ultimate Glory; every veil will be removed and everything will be made crystal clear; every creature will see God face to face and this the fullest of revelation. Our Christian journey is always towards this end: our final meeting with the Lord. - It is a journey with Hope: The biblical revelation provides us the picture of our Christian end. It is to participate in the eternal life that God has promised to us in his project of love. We are already inserted into this participation in the eternal bliss through the sacramental life. But it is still to be achieved in its fullness. Here we encounter the challenge of life: we are given the taste of eternal life but we have to still walk towards it realization. Human life is already made for this: to meet the Lord here and now with the commitment of life in faith and to become one with him at the end of our earthly existence. Here we see the tension between what we are now and what we have to achieve in future. This is the tension in Christian terminology: between “Already” and “Not Yet”. We are already in the Lord but we have not yet seen the final glory. In this context the only redeeming element we have is hope. In the existential tension of humanity the only solution is to hope. Hope will make us live. Without hope we are already dead. Pope Benedict XVI proclaims that the hope sustains the life. His words enlighten and inspire us and keep us walk in faith to live. “it is true that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12). Man's great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God—God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what “life” really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await “eternal life”—the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life. Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), has also explained to us what “life” means: “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). Life in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves: it is a relationship. And life in its totality is a relationship with him who is the source of life. If we are in relation with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we are in life. Then we “live” (Spe Salvi, 27). - Hope recalls for the research and vigilence: Hope does not mean that we keep aside all our responsibities and wait for God’s intervention. Hoping means leading the life with continuous and untiring research for the meaningful life and vigilence to safeguard it from the evil powers. o Research makes us to see God as the source of life and our destiny. It encourages us to follow what is pleasing to Him and thus enpowers us to accomplish it at any cost. It also enables us to distinguish between that which passes away and that which remain for ever: that which is temporary and that which is eternal, that which is accidental and that which is definitive. Today’s gospel presents to us that everything will pass away and disappear and what remain without any destruction is “the word of God”: God and his love. o Vigilance makes us attentive and careful in the every step we put forward. It reaches us safe to our destiny. It illuminates our path and makes us to see well our road towards our communion with God. It allows us to question ourselves: where are we coming from? What is the origin of our life? Where are heading to? And what is our destiny? Vigilance means to keep awake and answer these question with an adequate significance. It makes us look for the better way. It help us to refresh always our mind, heart and the spirit, thus our words, actions and life. It reminds us that we are accountable for every word we speak, every action we fulfill and every testimony we manifest. It first of all indicates the path that is correct and makes us follow it without missing the way: without slipping into the pit of ruin and destruction. Thus hope makes us to live and to live for the promise of eternal life. Readings: Promise of Eternal Bliss for those who keep awake and attentive in faith and in charity - Those who are in dust will wake up again (first reading): We are given a promise of hope through the imaginary description of Daniel. Those who are in the dust will rise again. Who are those that are in the dust? It may have two meanings: first deals with the present life and the second denotes the eschatological meaning. Remain in the dust means to remain without life. o Firstly, it happens often in the existential contexst of man: Man is often desperate and confused with the different forces of life: his life is surrounded by various tensions. He does not live anymore voluntarily. He is forced to live. He is afraid of death, therefore he continues to live. Life is not really a life in his context. He is heavey with the burdens of family incomprehensions, social-economic-political surpress, and spiritual fluctuations of faith. On the one hand, he is dragged to this situation by the passing passions of the world and the flesh. On the other hand, man has given up his capacity to discern what is enough for him. He often blindly placed in the crossroads of the life: he is faced with different directions without knowing what way to take up. Even in the christian life this has taken place. Christian knows and acknowledges what and who is the Truth, the Way and the Life, Jesus. Still he finds himself in the dust of desparation because he has surrendered himself to the modernity of the world. Giving priority to the daily requirements of the world he has pushed back the life of faith. He has lost his Christian dignity and capacity to combat with the evil tendencies. He has fallen into the trap of false prestige, passing power and unnecessary ambitions. His state of life is exactly as in the state of dust: without having true life. Yet, there is a promise to such man and to such christian: a return to life, a coming back to the new life. There is always a way out for him: way of conversion. Infact, the possibility of resurrection from the worldly clutches is offered to him. It is always at the door of his life. He has to only open the door and make it enter. This new life is given to man in and by the mystery of Jesus Christ here and now. As the second reading reminds us: Jesus has offered once and for all a sacrifice of salvation and made whole humanity perfect (Heb 10:11-14). o Secondly, it will take place in the final consummation of the world: the promise of God remains forever. His words remain forever. Daniel proclaim through his visions that all thoso who are in the dust will come back to life. The second meaning of “staying dust” is eschatological. It means that “all those who are dead” ( those returned to the dust) will be resurrected in the end of days for the final judgement. All will see “the day” in which the Glory of the Lord shines. Those who lived according to the faith and love for the Lord will participate in that glory. In stead, all those who refused to accept and to follow the Word will be thrown away into the eternal darkness. - The day will certainly come (Gospel): Although nobody knows when and how, the return of the Lord will surely take place. Jesus himself promises it in today’s gospel and his words will not pass away. The coming of the Lord should not frighten us. The words used, either in the first reading or in the gospel, are “time for anguish”, “judgment”, “the signs from the heavens” – they belong to the apocalyptic language. These words seem to terrorize us, but in reality they are not. They only alert our conscience and our attitude. We need not to fear of all these that will happen in the future. They serve as the guiding steps: they help us to walk in the way of the Lord with reverential fear. In reality, these words and images found in today’s readings, invite us to place our trust in the mercy of the Lord. We need to stand before him not with the terror but with the fear. The fear of the Lord, here, means the reverence, the admiration. It means the gratitude towards God who shows his power not in punishing us but in kindness and forgivenss. A fear which means the hope. The illuminating words of Pope Benedict will encourage us: “A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgment is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope” (Spe Salvi, 44). The words of the Pope remind us that there is a task to accomplish: task of committed faith, unwavering hope and unconditional love. Conclusion: Time to prepare the balance sheet our life - We need to prepare the accounts our life: what is the consequence of the reading we have heard? The readings call for our attention and our vigilance. They invite us to prepare an account sheet of all that we have done in life. One day, we need to stand before Jesus and answer his questions. We need to submit to him the list of the things he has called us to fulfill and the things that we have actually done in life. If there is a correct balance between what he demanded from us and what we have accomplished we are safer side. We will see the glory of the Lord. We cannot in any way escape his questionaire. We cannot in any way bypass his judgment. Especially, in our present situation, we need to examine and see how far we have reached in our journey towards him. We need to observe and make an account of the “walk of faith” we started one year ago. The liturgical year is coming to end. Every year, we need to prepare our progress report. Each word we have uttered is accountable. Each action we have accomplished is accountable. Each moment of testimony of life is accountable. We need to make a careful balance sheet our life. In other words, this is nothing but an assessment of our life: evaluating the good we have done and the bad we are tempted to do. What is the result of this preparation of an account of life? - We need to better our future: the result of an examination of all that have done is the betterment of the life. We can better our words we speak, actions we do and the testimony we give. We will be able to add little more kindness to our words. We will be able to add little more vigor to our actions. And we will be able to add little more truthfulness and faithfulness to our testimony. Human life is always a life forward. Christian life is always a life forward and upward. We need to grow. We need to better. We need to clear our way to reach the Lord. All this will take place effectively with the preparation of account of life. It will provide to us the clear picture of our status: what we are and where we are. It will also serve us as a torching light to show our direction. We will be able to place ourselves in the correct position of faith, hope and love. Once we return to original dignity of being the children of God, we have the possibility of walking straight in his ways this time. Only this way we can do justice to our theme of today: let us prepare ourselves to embrace the Lord who is coming.