33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Gospel
Mk 13:24-32
Jesus said to his disciples: “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. “And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. “Learn a lesson from the fig tree.
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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. “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Homily
Many years ago a friend of mine was unjustly dismissed from his place of employment. He had had a very important job in the organization which employed him but due to the internal politics of the organization and the people whom he had run foul of because of his integrity he was fired. As he said to me later on, persons whom he had helped 2 days before passed him on the street without looking at him. He had just built a fine home but without a job could not pay the mortgage. He lost his home, his vehicles etc. As can well be imagined his world came apart. He was afraid of the future, he was worried about his wife and children and his ability to provide for them. In every sense, that stage of his life was over. Fortunately this family was well constituted and disaster brought them together in an extra-ordinary way. They sat together, discussed, and refused to allow this disaster to determine their future. Today fifteen years later, they own a family business and they are much better off than they were when the father lost his job.
As I read the Gospel for this weekend I remembered that story because the Gospel story, written in the apocalyptic genre is a story of destruction and resurrection in which out of disaster a totally new reality comes into being.
The gospel story describes the end of the cosmos as we know it and the coming into being of the new heaven and the new earth in which the Son of Man gathers his elect into the Kingdom, the new reality for which we all yearn but this story is just a symbol of the many “destructions” and new beginnings (resurrections) which take place in the world and in our lives. The important thing to remember however is that new beginnings (resurrections) do not occur by magic. New beginnings come about because of the efforts of individuals. In the Gospel passage reference is made to God “sending out the angels and gathering his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” These elect are those who have worked to bring God’s Kingdom of peace justice love and harmony into being. They are the ones actively engaged in working for the “new beginning”. In the story with which I began this homily, the man who had lost his employment and his whole family worked actively to bring about the new reality of their lives. It did not come by magic. This is in fact the reality of the world in which we live. All peoples and the whole world long for new beginnings but these new beginnings come about only if we set about trying to achieve it. It took two world wars to bring the United Nations into being. It is not a perfect institution but it creates a forum in which nations can work for peace and harmony amongst themselves.
If this is true on the world level, it is true at every level of society and if it is true on the material level it is also true on the spiritual. All of us have known the experience of sin, of infidelity to commitments, of selfishness and often enough we have experienced these in grave forms. The Gospel tells us however that there can be new beginnings in our lives; that we can live in more altruistic ways; that we can be faithful to commitments. It all depends on our wanting it enough. That is what the lives of the saints tell us and if we are able to imitate them, then the new beginnings in our lives will influence families, communities, neighbourhoods, states and nations. Then indeed the new heaven and the new earth will come into being and God will “send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” This Gospel reading then must fill us with great hope for it tells us that what we live now is not the final word. The final word depends on our desire for new beginnings and God’s grace. God we know is always faithful to his promises so his grace will be with us. We must put our desire and our effort.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, the reality of imperfection in our lives makes us all yearn for new beginnings but we are often discouraged by our weaknesses and our constant failures in spite of trying. Give us the grace not to give up. Help us to believe in your power to save and to transform. Help us to rely on You for you are our strength. Give us the grace of constant hope for without hope there can be no new beginnings. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
