Today's readings
are scary. The trouble is, they are not
make believe. Daniel says that a time is coming which will be unsurpassed in
distress. Jesus also talks about this.
These sections of Daniel and of the New Testament are written in the literary
genre we call apocalyptic writing. This genre use poetry and prose, and engages
the imagination and emotions. It is
meant to scare people into recognizing the horrors of sin and the devastation
that sin causes[1].
The end of the world is not make believe, and it will
be a scary time. But is it a scary time for everyone? Not according to our
readings. Daniel is told that his people, the people who remain faithful to
God, shall escape. So the question is, “How scared should we be?” The answer is
really another question, “How committed to God are we?” If we are committed to
the Lord, we have no reason to fear the end of time. We know this. In fact,
every day we pray for the strength to remain committed to God no matter what
crisis we face. We do this every time we
say the Lord’s Prayer.
It is not easy to be holy. We live in a society that
promotes self indulgence. Loving God and loving neighbor can’t exist in a self
indulgent society. Neither action adequately answers the question, “What’s in
it for me?” The immoral elements of our
society attempt to dupe us into believing that it is normal to put ourselves
before others.
The self indulgent elements of our society cannot see
the value of another person except as a means for one’s advancement.
People routinely use other people for their own gain. There are so many people in the world who are
suffering; yet so many in society can see no profit in reaching out to help
them. “What good will it do me, here in
America, if I try to help the poor in the Sudan?” they ask within themselves
without daring to voice the question.
The concept of helping others because they bear the image of God carries
with it no personal gain, at least not here on earth. It takes tremendous courage to withstand the
temptation to care only for oneself. It
takes courage to trust God to be with us when we reach out to others. It is counter cultural to truly be
charitable. It is also Christian.
The Lord knows that we can withstand evil. He gave us
free will. We can choose to be separate,
to be holy, to be His. He gives us His Grace. He gives us both the desire and
the ability to see where He can be found and where His image is absent. We cannot allow the self indulgence of
society to convince us that we have no choice but to join in with the evil. We
are not evil. We are good. In fact, all
people are good. This is how God created us. He calls us to holiness, He is
calling us to be true to ourselves. He
is calling us to recognize His goodness
in ourselves and in the world and to serve Him in His creation.
We do not fear the end of time. Nor do we fear the end of our own time, our
death. What we do fear is giving in to
the world and rejecting God. Now that’s scary •
[1] 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Novemeber 15, 2015. Readings: Daniel
12:1-3; Responsorial
Psalm 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32.
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