Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 21:5-19
THE CARTHUSIANS ARE A MONASTIC ORDER DERIVED FROM THE BENEDICTINE RULE, ONLY MUCH MORE STRICT. IN FRANCE ONE MONASTERY MAKES THE LIQUOR CALLED “CHARTREUSE”. ONLY FIVE MONKS KNOW THE SECRET FORMULA. UP UNTIL RECENTLY, IF YOU WERE A YOUNG MAN ENTERING THE CARTHUSIAN ORDER, YOU WOULD BUILD A CASKET, AND THAT WOULD BE WHERE YOU SLEPT UNTIL YOU DIED. THEN YOU'D BE BURIED IN THE CASKET. THIS WAS TO REMIND YOU THAT YOU WERE MORTAL, AND THAT YOU SHOULD LOOK AT EVERYTHING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE THAT YOU WILL DIE SOME DAY, AND THE WORLD WILL GO ON WITHOUT YOU. GOOD ADVICE FOR US ALL, I'M SURE. IF SOMETHING IS ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN, YOU CAN PLAN YOUR LIFE AROUND IT.
TODAY JESUS TELLS US SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN. THE FUTURE WILL NOT BE BETTER THAN THE PAST; EVERYTHING WE THINK IS PERMANENT, LIKE THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM, IS ONLY A FLASH IN THE PAN. IF WE FEEL LIKE WE ARE PRETTY SECURE NOW, PRETTY COMFORTABLE – IT WON'T BE FOREVER. WE THINK WE ARE “CIVILIZED” AND THE BAD OLD DAYS ARE BEHIND US. BUT THAT'S WHAT THEY THOUGHT IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE, WHICH LASTED ABOUT 500 YEARS, UNTIL IT FELL TO THE MOSLEMS; AND THE REMNANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE WHO ONCE MADE UP THAT EMPIRE ARE EVEN NOW BEING WIPED OUT. BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO LOOK THAT FAR BACK. LAST WEEK THE PHILLIPINE ISLANDS WERE STRUCK BY A STORM DESCRIBED AS THE MOST DEVASTATING IN HISTORY. IN ONE BRIEF MOMENT MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WERE RENDERED HOMELESS, WITHOUT LAW AND ORDER, NEAR STARVATION – AND BEFORE ORDER IS RESTORED YOU CAN BET THAT THE SUM TOTAL OF HUMAN MISERY WILL BE GREATLY INCREASED OVER WHAT IT IS NOW.
WE HUMAN BEINGS LIKE STABILITY; WHEN THE WORLD AROUND US IS STABLE AND PREDICTABLE, WE ARE FREE, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. THE STAGE ON WHICH WE ACT OUT OUR LIVES IS ROCK SOLID. BUT WHEN THE STAGE ITSELF IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING, IT'S ENOUGH TO DRIVE US CRAZY.
JESUS' MESSAGE IS TWO-FOLD. YOUR WORLD, HE TELLS US, IS NOT REALLY STABLE. YOU MAY LIVE IN A POCKET OF STABILITY NOW, BUT DON'T BE FOOLED. THAT'S AN ILLUSION. BUT THEN HE SAYS, HIS FOLLOWERS WILL BE PERSECUTED. HE PROMISES TO BE WITH US, AND HELP US SAY THE RIGHT THINGS, BUT DOESN'T PROMISE THAT WE WILL ESCAPE THIS PERSECUTION. ARE WE BEING PERSECUTED RIGHT NOW? IN A SENSE WE ARE, BY OUR FELLOW CITIZENS, BY OUR GOVERNMENT. OUR FELLOW CITIZENS CONSIDER SOME OF OUR BELIEFS AS BACKWARD, HATEFUL, PREJUDICIAL. IF WE BELIEVE THAT SO-CALLED SAME SEX MARRIAGE IS NOT GOOD FOR SOCIETY, IT ISN'T THAT WE HAVE A RIGHT TO OUR OPINION, IT'S THAT WE AREN'T WITH THE TIMES; WE ARE BIGOTS. IF WE BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULDN'T KILL CHILDREN WHO HAVEN'T BEEN BORN YET, WE ARE AGAINST WOMENS' RIGHTS AND BECAUSE OF THAT, SHOULD NOT HAVE A SAY IN THE PUBLIC DISCOURSE. OUR GOVERNMENT PERSECUTES US WHEN IT INSISTS THAT CATHOLIC EMPLOYERS PROVIDE INSURANCE FOR ABORTION AND BIRTH CONTROL SERVICES – AGAINST THEIR CONSCIENCES. WE WILL BE, AND WE ARE BEING, PERSECUTED. OF COURSE, THERE'S A WAY TO AVOID ALL THIS. WE CAN BE SILENT, OR WE CAN DISAGREE WITH WHAT OUR TWO THOUSAND YEAR OLD CHURCH BELIEVES. AND IF WE SPEAK UP TO THE WORLD ABOUT OUR DISAGREEMENTS WITH OUR CHURCH , WE WILL BE WELCOMED AS ENLIGHTENED CATHOLICS. NUMEROUS CATHOLIC POLITICIANS DON'T SEEM TO HAVE A PROBLEM PERSONALLY ADVOCATING THINGS THE CHURCH HAS CONDEMNED, AND STILL INSISTING THEY ARE CATHOLICS. BUT IF WE ARE NOT BEING PERSECUTED, WE NEED TO ASK, ARE WE STILL PART OF JESUS' PEOPLE? HE DID PROMISE, AFTER ALL, THAT HIS FOLLOWERS WOULD BE PERSECUTED AND HANDED OVER, AND SOME EVEN BE PUT TO DEATH. IF WE ARE FAT AND HAPPY AND TOTALLY ON THE SIDE OF OUR PERMISSIVE AND AMORAL CULTURE, MAYBE WE AREN'T PART OF JESUS' FOLLOWERS.
THE SECOND PART OF JESUS' PROMISE TO US IS THAT NOT A HAIR ON OUR HEADS WILL BE DESTROYED; IF WE PERSEVERE, WE WILL SAVE OUR LIVES. JESUS JUST PROMISED THAT SOME OF US WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH; BUT THEN PROMISES THAT IF WE PERSEVERE WE WILL LIVE. THIS IS THE PROMISE THAT SO MANY MARTYRS TOOK SERIOUSLY; THIS IS THE PROMISE THAT THOSE WHO JOIN MONASTIC ORDERS HAVE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR. SO IF HE GIVES US THAT PROMISE, WHAT DOES HE WANT US TO PERSEVERE IN? WHAT IS IT, IF WE TRUST HIM, THAT WE MUST DO?
AS I READ THIS GOSPEL PASSAGE, JESUS TELLS US THAT ALL OF THIS WILL HAPPEN SO THAT WE CAN GIVE TESTIMONY; SO THAT WE CAN WITNESS TO THE WORLD THAT JESUS IS LORD, THAT HE IS THE WAY, AND THAT HIS CHURCH CARRIES OUT HIS WORK EVEN TODAY. JESUS EVEN PROMISES THAT THOSE WHO WITNESS DON'T HAVE TO PREPARE, SINCE HE WILL GIVE THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO BE WITNESSES, SO THAT THEY CAN'T BE REFUTED. THIS OF COURSE IS NO WAY OF MAKING FRIENDS AND WITNESSES OF JESUS WILL BE HATED.
I READ RECENTLY ABOUT A WOMAN NAMED ELIZABETH PILENKO, WHO LED A COMMUNIST CELL IN THE DAYS BEFORE THE CZAR WAS OVERTHROWN. AFTER LENIN TOOK OVER, SHE WAS APPALLED BY WHAT HE WAS DOING, AND SAW THAT THE CHRISTIANS IN RUSSIA WERE RISKING THEIR LIVES TO HELP THOSE WHO WERE DEVASTATED BY THE NEW GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES. SHE BECAME A CHRISTIAN, THEN BECAME A NUN, AND EVENTUALLY WAS THE SUPERIOR OF A CONVENT IN FRANCE. WHEN THE NAZIS CAME, SHE WAS PLACED IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP, WHERE SHE CONTINUE TO WORK WITH JEWS AND GYPSIES AND OTHERS WHO WERE BEING SYSTEMATICALLY WIPED OUT. ONE DAY A MOTHER AND HER CHILD WERE TOLD THAT ONE OF THEM WAS SLATED FOR THE NEXT MASS EXECUTION. MOTHER MARIA STEPPED FORWARD AND OFFERED HERSELF INSTEAD. SHE WAS TAKEN OFF AND EXECUTED, ALONG WITH THE OTHERS WHO HAD BEEN SINGLED OUT.
SHE HAD HEARD JESUS' PROMISES; SHE HAD BORN WITNESS; SHE HAD BEEN HATED AS A RESULT; AND SHE HAD BEEN PUT TO DEATH. SHE WENT TO HER DEATH TRUSTING THAT NOT A HAIR ON HER HEAD WOULD BE HARMED AND THAT SHE WOULD SAVE HER LIFE.
THAT'S ALL THAT JESUS ASKS OF YOU AND I – TO BELIEVE HIS PROMISES. AND IF WE DO BELIEVE, IT WON'T BE A PROBLEM TO STAND UP TO OUR SOCIETY, EVEN IF WE ARE IMPRISONED, EVEN IF WE ARE PUT TO DEATH.