Mary, Mother of God 2022

Today we celebrate Mary in her role as Mother of God.  Protestant bible scholars have a very hard time with the veneration of Mary common to Catholic and Orthodox churches.  They may agree, along with the First Council of Ephesus, that Mary is the mother of God, because obviously if Jesus is both God and man and was born from Mary, and you can’t separate his goddess from his humanity, she’s his mother.  But it stops there.  In fact the noted scholar John MacArthur argues that Jesus began going about his father’s business at the age of 12 and when he addressed Mary as “woman” at the wedding feast of Canaan and on the cross, he was indicating  that his time of being subject to his mother was over, and he was now entirely engaged with his Father in heaven.  And he’s right, if the only authority you trust is the bible.  Of course we know as does any bible scholar, that the bible itself was put together by the Catholic Church sometime in the third century.  Books of the bible were accepted if they did not disagree with church teaching, if they could be traced back to the first generation of Christians, and if they were venerated by most of the Christian world.  The gospel of Thomas, for example, has a bit of heresy;  the Gospel of Barnabas was clearly written in the late second century.  So they, and many other writings, were deemed not part of scripture.  

By the time the bible was put together, Christians had developed devotion to Mary.  Protestants who question Marian devotion by Catholics laugh at the idea that Mary can influence God because of the one scene in the bible where it seems she changed Jesus’ mind -- the wedding feast at Cana.  But early Christian devotion was more attuned to the angel who declared her “most favored” or Elizabeth, who proclaimed her “Mother of my Lord'' or even Mary herself who said, “My soul magnifies the Lord” and “all generations will call me blessed”.  People in the early church weren’t asking favors, they were standing in awe of the person God himself had selected to give him humanity, to grow him in her body, to nurse him from her breasts, to teach him to walk and talk and innumerable other things -- and yes, to change a diaper here and there, and wipe a nose and kiss a booboo.  And the church went on to discern, very early, that Mary was free of original sin from her conception -- partly because of the angel’s proclamation -- full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.  To bible-only Protestants, these words mean little, and they grudgingly accept “blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus”. 

Can Mary influence God, get him to change his mind, persuade him to work a miracle?  We have some prayers that seem to say this.  We pray that way sometimes.  But we know deep in our hearts that nothing can happen that is not in some way part of God’s plan for the world.  No one understands whether Mary or any saint, or for that matter you and I, can alter God’s plan in the least, and just as Mary concluded her own encounter with the angel with the words “I am the handmaid of the Lord, do unto me according to his will, our prayers must always end, as Jesus taught us, with the words “Thy will be done”.   Can Mary change God’s mind?  No.  Can Mary help us to see his plan more clearly?  I think so.  And can God, who stands outside of time and space, plan from the moment of creation to answer prayers Mary will make in the future, sure.  However it works, keep asking Mary for her help.  When you get a positive result, you will glorify her, and that’s something God wants from you.  He wants all generations to call her blessed.

Look at our della robbia.  In the upper left corner Mary encounters the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation.  In the lower left, she meets with Elizabeth.  In the lower right, she and Joseph learn of Jesus’ mission when they find him in the temple in Jerusalem.  In the upper right, Jesus is telling the beloved disciple, maybe John the apostle, but most certainly the beloved disciple, who in John’s gospel always stands for you and I -- that he is her son, and she is his mother.  And it says that the beloved disciple henceforth took her into his own home.  And finally, in the center is Mary, the woman clothed in the sun, the queen of the universe, looking out on her children.  

So bring Mary into your prayer life if you don’t already.  And if you do, don’t let it get to be a rote habit.  The wonderful thing about the rosary is that it’s always fresh if we look at those twenty mysteries as telling the story of Jesus' time on earth and the indispensable role of Mary.  Mary offered herself to God and the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in her being.  And if we do the same the spirit will do the same for us.  So ask Mary to help us accept the Holy Spirit as she did, so that you will also be a true son or daughter of God the Father.

Christmas 2022

As I get older, it’s harder for me to remember the joy I felt on Christmas morning when I was a child.  When my children were little some of that joy returned as I watched them get excited as they opened their gifts; and then the day came when it was obvious that giving them money would be more welcome than trying to pick out something for a young adult.  Then the grandchildren came along and we got another vicarious taste of Christmas joy -- but they are now also at the age where money is preferred.  So I guess I’ll have to wait for a great grandchild to see that joy once again.

But I remember one Christmas that wasn’t a very happy one.  I had seen a model gas station in the toy store, and you could take your toy car and pretend to fill up the gas tank or check the tire pressure.  But the really neat thing was that you could put the car in the garage and turn a crank and the car would be lifted up -- just like the lift in a real gas station.  I’m sure I drove my parents crazy talking about all the wonderful things I could do if only I had that gas station.  My sister Diane, on the other hand, wanted a cat.  I think I was five and she was three at the time.  Cats were easy to come by; there were a lot of them on my uncle’s farm and they were semi-tame.  So on Christmas morning as we left the house for church, I noticed under the tree a wrapped present that looked a lot like a gas station, and there, in a little cage was a kitten with a bow around his neck.  I don’t remember anything about the sermon for that particular Sunday.  When we got home, it was time to unwrap the presents.  The cat had beaten us to it.  He had escaped from his cage, torn the wrapping paper off the gas station, and not being overly bright must have mistaken the gas station for a sandbox.  My mother, seeing my distress, tried cleaning the gas station, but since it was made of relatively cheap cardboard, it ended up destroying much of its charm.  So I was pretty despondent until I decided to try the lift mechanism on my toy car.  That brightened my spirits for a while until the mechanism broke.  My sister, after petting the cat a few times, turned her attention to her doll.  I don’t remember what happened to the cat.  I suspect that my parents told my sister that he’d be a lot happier with the cats on my uncle’s farm, and she understood the logic of that.  

Does my story have anything to do with Christmas?  As you know there are several gospels that are available for Christmas; most tell some of the story of Mary and Joseph and the shepherds.  I read the selection designated for Christmas day, found in the Gospel of John.  In the Tridentine rite, which was what I grew up hearing, this was read at the end of every Mass, after the people were dismissed and after the final blessing.  Pope Paul V made the Tridentine rite mandatory in the Western church in 1570, and the Last Gospel was meant to connect what the congregation had just witnessed with creation and the mystery of the incarnation.  With every Mass we believe the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, and we have seen his glory when Father raises the body and blood of Christ at the time of consecration.  But look at this beautiful gospel.  In the very beginning the Word was God. Without him nothing came to be.  He brought life, and this life was the light of humanity, shining in darkness.  And to those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God, born not by our choice but God’s.  

There’s a national park in South Dakota called Jewel Cave.  You can go down there with a guide, and the climax of the trip is when all the lights are turned off and you experience a complete absence of light.  It’s quite impressive.  After a minute or so, the guide turns on his flashlight and it’s just enough light to bounce around the crystals that make up the walls of the cave.  That’s what I always imagine when I read this gospel.  Jesus is light, but there is still darkness.  While we are on this side of the grave, there will always be darkness, but for those who look for it, there will be enough light to make our way; and we can choose to go deeper into the darkness as well, instead of moving toward the light.  And the best way to follow the light is to put yourself in his presence as often as you can; and his presence, we are guaranteed, is in the Eucharist at every Mass.  John tells us that no one has ever seen God; but the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, who is at the manger 2000 years ago, who is on the cross on calvary, and who is here in the miracle of the Eucharist, has revealed him; he is the light that lights the darkness.

I remember that Christmas when I was five -- probably the darkest Christmas I’d ever experienced -- up until my grandparents came over delivering their presents.  I got a scale model Ford Sedan that you could wind up and it would speed around the room.  My day got a lot brighter.  And I still have that toy after 75 years. A light always shines in darkness.  

Fourth Sunday of Advent, cycle A

 Matthew 1:18-24

During the Christmas season we hear little bits from the gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke about the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. When you go to the actual gospels, though, they are two almost entirely different stories. Matthew is about Joseph, the visit of the Magi, the exile and return from Egypt, and the massacre of the Holy Innocents. Jesus is born in Bethlehem, but when the Holy Family returns from Egypt, they settle down in Nazareth. In Luke, on the other hand, it’s all about Mary. The Annunciation, her consent to be the “handmaid of the Lord'', her visit to Elizabeth, the trek to Bethlehem because of the Emperor’s census, Je3sus being borne in a manger, the shepherds and angels, the presentation in the temple and the return to Nazareth. A very different story. I think, though, that all of us remember the birth of Jesus as one story, and what Christmas scene would not have shepherds and magi, as well as animals, all in the same time frame?

We know a fair amount about marriage customs among the Jewish people of Jesus’ time. Matches were made by the parents -- more specifically, the dads, who listened to their wives or ignored them; but the decision was the dads. The kids could refuse to go along, but usually didn’t, because most of the time the parents of the bride and groom were really sincere about wanting the best for their children, and the expectations of the bride and groom were very different from today. So after the engagement, the bride would continue to live in her parent’s home and the groom, who was usually several years older, would set about saving up some money and building a home, or building an addition onto his parent’s home. Then there would be a great ceremony in which the groom collected his bride and brought her to their new home. And that was the moment when the young man became the king of his castle, the lord of the manor. His wife and children would defer to him; he was the father of the family, and in those days, that meant status..

Joseph and Mary had not reached that point; they were betrothed, but not living together. Some people think that Joseph was planning to divorce Mary quietly because she was obviously pregnant and he knew he wasn’t the dad. But there’s another theory -- Mary had told him about the angel -- it says she was with child through the Holy Spirit -- and Joseph, being a righteous man, wanted to get out of God’s way. In other words, he believed Mary. It was only when the angel confirmed Mary’s story in a dream that Joseph felt he had God’s permission to intrude on this most holy event.

Do you wonder if sometimes Joseph had mixed feelings about what was happening? To go from what he expected -- to be the lord of the manor, the king of the castle, if only with respect to his family -- to becoming the one who serves not only God, but Mary and Jesus, the son of God. And the dreams just kept coming. “Take Mary into your home.” “Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt ''. Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel”. And then instead of going back to Bethlehem, being told in a dream to settle in Galilee in Nazareth. Notice the angel refers to them as “the child and his mother” not “your wife and your son”. And for various reasons we are pretty certain that Joseph was out of the picture by the time Jesus began his mission, because we never hear about him again. Mary, at least, would learn that Jesus rose from the dead and she would see the fruits of his passion in the church that he founded through his apostles. Joseph probably died knowing only that this child, so important to God, was a carpenter, which is a good thing, but hardly worth all that Joseph went through because of those dreams.

You know how you do a jigsaw puzzle. You find the corners first, then the pieces with straight edges, and once you’ve formed the frame you gradually fill in the pieces. My wife likes jigsaw puzzles. I don’t see the point. But that’s Joseph’s life. He found some of the corners and some of the straight edge pieces, but never finished the puzzle.

And he’s like you and I. We hardly ever see the point of our lives, or if we do, it’s clearly not the whole story. Disappointments, failures, expectations that never came true -- loss of loved ones -- I suspect Joseph’s story is our story as well. But we never hear Joseph complain. We see him obeying, doing the best he can for the child and his mother. Joseph was snatched out of the life he had expected and given a task by God, and he may have never known what it all meant. And all we can hold on to is that God sees the finished puzzle and will share it with us after we have risen from the dead.

Third Sunday of Advent, cycle A

Matthew 11:2-11

In the Gospels you read a little bit here and there about John the Baptist.  When Mary visited Elizabeth, the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy.  His father, Zachariy, sang a canticle when he regained his speech, prophesying the future for his son who would be the prophet of the most high, who would go before the lord to prepare his way.  If Zachary and Elizabeth had had those experiences, you can be sure that they did everything they could to get John ready for his role.  And John was ready as well.  We don’t know when he went into the desert, but when he came out he attracted a large following, and preached repentance.  And in the Gospel of John we hear him point to Jesus and say, “There goes the Lamb of God”.  Now John is in prison, and probably knows what’s ahead for him.  You don’t cross Herod and expect to get off lightly.  And John is wondering whether he’s been a fool, whether that cousin of his is really the one who is to come.

John has had a lot of success, he’s been a rock star.  And Jesus is starting out in his own ministry.  John at least can point to his ancestry -- he’s the son of a priest, and priesthood was hereditary -- Zachary and John could trace their ancestry back to Levi, one of the sons of Jacob.  Any time you meet a Jewish person whose last name is Cohen, he could probably trace his line back to Jacob as well, and in orthodox circles someone like that can do certain priestly activities, like witnessing marriages.  Jesus on the other hand, seems to be a nobody.  His dad is a craftsman, a carpenter; his Mom had Jesus a little too early after she and Joseph married, and people are still talking.  And while the gospel writers trace Jesus’ ancestry back to King David, it’s not apparent that this means much to the day to day lives of Mary and Joseph.  Is Jesus really the one who is to come?

John asks that question.   And Jesus answers, you decide for yourself.  And that’s what each person has to do.  John was made aware that Jesus was going around doing things that Isaiah the prophet had predicted that the Messiah would do.  But there were a lot more things that had been predicted.  The Messiah was to raise an army and drive out the Romans, and restore the kingdom of Israel.  The Messiah was to bring in the nations of the world to join Israel in the true worship of God.  The Messiah was to restore the twelve tribes of Israel.  He was to lead the worship in the temple.  You can find these prophecies throughout the Old Testament.  But Jesus was wandering around northern Palestine, far from Jerusalem, preaching and healing people.  He didn’t match the expectations.  No wonder John was wondering.  

As John’s messengers go off, Jesus confirms that John is the prophet who is to usher in the Messiah.  There have been no human beings greater than John.  But Jesus adds the disturbing words, “The least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.”

And that’s the question we need to ask ourselves today.  Are we in the kingdom of Heaven?  Did John get into the kingdom of Heaven?  I don’t know the answer to that.  He was a martyr for Christ, and as such, Catholic theology would agree that he’s a saint, just like the Holy Innocents who were children martyred by Herod when Christ was a baby.  John is in Heaven.  But the kingdom of Heaven is not the same thing as Heaven.  Jesus said that the kingdom of Heaven is among us.  It’s not far off, it’s not after we die, it’s right here and now.  Because you can’t get into the kingdom of heaven until Jesus establishes it.  And his whole life, death and resurrection ushers in the Kingdom.  His life is the turning point, the new dispensation.  At that moment in time and space, God became man, and nothing will ever be as it was before.  

I know a lady over at the Jewish nursing home.  I’ve always admired her -- she worked patiently and enthusiastically with patients with Alzheimer’s disease.  She seemed to touch the humanity of these people.  She treated them with kindness and dignity.  She is in the kingdom of heaven.  I know a high school teacher who, no matter how she feels, goes to work every morning determined to make a difference -- and she does, if you go by the enthusiasm with which her students sing her praises.  She changes lives, she’s in the kingdom of heaven.  I know a businessman who helps other businessmen understand that they have a noble and holy profession. He’s in the kingdom of Heaven. i know a person who has a tedious job moving patients in the hospital to surgery and diagnostic studies, and she treats all of them as though they were Christ himself.  She is in the kingdom of heaven. 

John could not enter the kingdom of Heaven, because Jesus had not established it.  You and I can, because we share in his divinity, we are sons and daughters of his Father; and we are given the grace to do what He would do.  And to the extent that we do it, we are in the kingdom of Heaven.  During Advent let’s review our lives and ask whether we are in the kingdom of Heaven.  Are we doing what Jesus would do if he were in our shoes?  

Second Sunday of Advent, cycle A

Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist tells the people who are following him to repent.  To many of us, repentance means that we should be sorry for our sins and resolve to do better.  Of course we should do that, but that's not what John had in mind.  John spoke in Aramaic, but the earliest copies of the Gospels were in Greek, and the word used here is “metanoia”.  Metanoia more or less means “above or beyond one's mind.”  The Greeks used the word to describe the process of thinking a new way or adopting a different way of looking at things.  

So it's not being sorry for your sins that John wants, it's something different.  He calls us to change our point of view.  But to what?  Once I heard a talk in which the preacher said that we had to always repent, repentance was a lifelong project.  But he never answered the question – what is the goal of repentance, of metanoia?  How can we do this if we don't know where we are supposed to end up?

Off the coast of Maryland and Virginia are two barrier islands.  Ever since the sixteenth century there have been horses on these islands.  They think they may have gotten there from a Spanish galleon that sank nearby.  Over the years, these wild horses have gotten smaller and stockier.  They can't get off the islands, and they live on the local vegetation, which is not a very good food for horses; sea grasses and various weeds lack some of the nutrients that horses need, so the wild horses develop soft bones and arthritis.  Sandstorms are frequent, and because sand dust is everywhere, they wear their teeth down faster than horses on the mainland would.  They also get dental problems.  And flies and fleas and various other pests are always biting.  Horses that are plagued by pests will sometimes dive into water to drown the biting insects.  These horses can only immerse themselves in salt water, and when that dries, it irritates their skin even more.  In other words, these wild horses have kind of a lousy life.  

Every summer since 1925, the herd of horses are chased across a shallow body of water onto the island of Chincateague, where several of the foals and yearlings are auctioned off usually to become pets.  In their new lives, they get fed regularly and are given the right kind of diet; their new owners groom them and keep their coats clean; and they have shelter from the wind and the rain, and access to fresh water.  And they are “broken”, a somewhat difficult process in which they learn to obey commands and carry a rider, or pull a carriage. 

In summary, the horse on the island lives for itself, but the horse that becomes domesticated lives for someone else.  

I know that's a silly example, but that is what John, and later, Jesus, means by repentance.  We stop living for ourselves, and we live for someone else.  We quit trying to guide our own lives and we let God guide us.  And that is a lifetime's worth of work, but at least we now know where we are supposed to go, what we are supposed to do when we go through “metanoia” when we change our point of view.  

John's call is not a new one.  The call to repentance is as old as mankind.  Adam and Eve were called, but chose to live for themselves.  Abraham was called, and chose to live for God, to let God lead his life for Him.  And the call continues down through the present day; every person is called, and every person can make the choice – to continue to live for himself, or to allow God to take over his life.  

Think back to those horses for a minute.  We human beings still feel a little uneasy about those horses who get domesticated.  After all, they seem to be giving up their freedom.  Probably this doesn't bother the horse, but we human beings treasure our independence, and it seems as though if we give our lives to God, we give something up.  But that's an illusion.  In some mysterious way that is only apparent to people who have gone through this process, letting God lead your life is real freedom; just ask a Saint.  We like freedom because it allows us to choose what we see as good.  But if God is leading our life, we already have the greatest good.  Like the horse that needs to be broken, to let God live our lives is going to take a little pain and readjustment, and the more we open up to God, the more we have to go through this breaking in process.  

To a domesticated horse, not only is there a great improvement in health, but possibilities are opened up which would never occur to the wild horse.  And the domesticated horse will live about twice as long as he would have in the wild, on the barrier island off the coast of Virginia.  

Repentance, metanoia, changing our point of view; if we stop living for ourselves and begin letting God live in us, living for God, our lives will change for the better; we will find ourselves caught up in a cause greater than anything we can imagine; we will become powerful and able to do what we could never do by ourselves; and we will have abundant life.  It's all there in the words of Jesus.

John called on his followers to repent.  He was a good psychologist.  He knew that many who heard him would desire to repent, to enter into this wonderful relationship so far better than anything they could achieve on their own.  But desire is never enough, desire doesn't make a change.  It's necessary to do more, to produce good fruit.  IF you really want to let God take over your life, if you want to accept the wonderful invitation God holds out to you, you have to live as though you are already there.  One of the consequences of living for God is that God begins to use you to bring about what God wants to happen.  That means good works.  So John tells his followers, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”  We will never get to heaven by doing good things.  But if we begin to act as Jesus acted, we will begin to change, to give our lives to God.  

So accept John's challenge.  Change your life, turn around.  Stop living for your self, and give your whole self to God.  And do good works as evidence.  And your life will be better than anything you have ever imagined.

First Sunday of Advent, cycle A

Matthew 24:37-44

In the early part of the last century, Charles Tate Russell wrote an extensive commentary on the bible, in which he maintained that the return of Christ and the end of history were imminent.  He attracted a large following.  When he died, his successor, Joseph Rutherford, predicted that the end of the world would occur in 1925.  It didn’t.  Another prediction was made, for 1931, but that didn’t work out either, so the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses declared that the end times did occur, but on a spiritual plane.  Predictions aren’t made any more.

About the same time in history Ellen White predicted that the end times would commence in the last few years of the 1800’s.  They didn’t, and now the Seventh Day Adventists don’t make such predictions.  In the 1970’s Hal Lindsey published the book “The Last Great Planet Earth” which, based upon biblical calculations, predicted precisely when the events that ushered in the end of time and the coming of the Son of Man would occur.  He laid out a future history in which eventually there would be two forces, the force of Rome and the force of the Antichrist.  They would be locked in a great battle, in which ultimately Rome would triumph.  Of course, Rome would be led by the returning Jesus. Some of the predictions have not come true, and others have been contradicted by events like the formation of the European Union.  

Predictions about the end of our world, the coming of Jesus, the defeat of Satan seem to fascinate our human minds.  You have similar strains in Islam, especially among the Shi’ites, who anticipate the coming of their messiah in the imminent future.  There are millennial Jews as well, and Buddhists and HIndus.  And even among Catholics there are people who look forward to a near-term coming of Christ preceded by a world that falls into total ruin.  Sister Lucia, the surviving member of the three children who witnessed the appearance of Mary at Fatima, said that before the coming of Christ the whole world would be communist.  It almost seemed like that was possible in those days -- One by one, countries were succumbing to Communism.  But it didn’t turn out that way.

And that brings us to the gospel for the first Sunday of Advent.  Notice that Jesus tells us that we will not know the day our Lord will come.  In another place he tells us that the angels don’t know, the Son doesn’t know, only the Father knows.  You would think that people who study the bible would have heard those words. 

Today’s gospel sounds like another prediction about the end of time, but what it does say is that it will be like the time of Noah.  People will be going about their ordinary lives.  Now when Jesus talks about two men in the field, one being taken the other left, or two women grinding flour, one will be taken and one will be left, that the ones who are taken are the ones brought up to heaven.  That’s another belief that is common among some Christians, the idea that there is a rapture that will occur before the end of time, and the people who are good with God will be snatched up before the terrors of the end of time.  But notice that Jesus says, “As it was in the days of Noah…”  The people then who were spared were Noah and his family.  So, when Jesus talks about one being taken and one being left behind, the ones being left behind might be the ones who will be there for the coming of the Son of Man.  In fact, yesterday’s gospel, the last one of the previous church year, has Jesus saying “Be vigilant…and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations … and to stand before the Son of Man.”  So, no rapture.  It’s better to be left behind. 

Today’s gospel really tells us that there will be nothing that will help us know when the end times are coming.  He emphasizes that.  The conclusion is that we must stay awake.  All through the New Testament we hear words like those -- stay awake, be prepared, be alert -- all the way from the gospel of Matthew to the Book of Revelation.  But that doesn’t mean we drink a lot of coffee and sit anxiously in our basement bomb shelter.  To be in the state of mind Jesus talks about is to be attentive to our every act to make sure it is being done well; to tune in to opportunities to bring the good news to our neighbors, to be sensitive to the needs of others and whether we can do something about them; and to ask ourselves every day, “can I do better? Can I give up bad habits and adopt good ones? Can I open myself up more to God’s grace?”

Saint Francis was asked what he would do if he knew Jesus would return to the world today.  He replied, “I’d keep working in my garden.”  Being alert means that we live lives so that we can say that as well. 

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

Luke 21:5-19

There is a lake in Montana called “Echo lake”.  When I was a kid, my dad liked to fish in this lake, while my sister and I amused ourselves by yelling a couple of words and hearing them come back to us not once, but four or five times.  I think that’s something that all of us need to guard against -- the echo chamber.  I read a lot and when I read something I agree with, I remember it better than if I disagreed with it.  And after a while I know where to go to find something I agree with; and I avoid reading what I know I will disagree with.  I think that is human nature.  And it has something to do with our gospel reading today.

To the people of Jesus' time and place in the world, the temple in Jerusalem was a source of great pride.  Not only was it beautiful and adorned with expensive decorations, but for the Jews it was a sign of permanence -- a massive stone structure sitting on an elevated part of the city so that you could see it from miles around.  So you can imagine how the people who listened to Jesus’ words today must have felt.  Maybe a little bit like seeing the twin towers fall, or the Cathedral of Notre Dame on fire.  Jesus predicts that the temple will be destroyed.  He then cautions his followers that many events will take place which will seem like the world is ending.  False prophets will arise, claiming to be the Messiah, the one who has the answers.  But Jesus gives us a little secret.  All these things that tell us the world is about to end as they know it won’t happen until they undergo persecution, even death, on account of them being disciples of Jesus.  And when they are undergoing persecution, that’s the opportunity to give testimony to their faith.  I like Jesus’ promise that we don’t need to worry about defending ourselves; Jesus will see to it that we will be able to do so. 

So when we read this passage, what implications are there for us?  First, I think, when our world seems to generate catastrophe after catastrophe -- climate change, wars, inflation, scarcity of energy and food -- we have to remember that nothing happens without God’s permitting it, and weaving it into his plan for history.   We human beings should do what we can to take care of what God has given us, to help our neighbors, to bring about peace -- but nothing happens without God’s consent, nothing happens that is not part of his plan.

Second, we can expect to be blamed by others when things don’t seem to be going in the right direction.  The early Christians were blamed for things that went wrong in the Roman empire -- after all, Christians did not make an attempt to please the gods and goddesses who protected Rome.  And Christians have been blamed for many things since then -- even by other Christians.  Today, of course, we are persecuted  for opposing a woman’s right to choose, among other things.  And society tends to paint with a broad brush.  If some Christians oppose uncontrolled immigration, then all Christians are somehow racist. IN uncertain times, people look for scapegoats.  That’s us.

Third, this is the time for testimony.  We human beings like to be safe and secure before sticking our necks out.  We would like to promote our faith to the world, but we would like it to be easy.  Jesus promises that it won’t.  The more we are opposed, the more we are to testify, and we have the promise that Jesus himself will give us what we need.  I think about one of the really great testifiers of our age -- Mother Teresa.  Her words were always simple and you couldn't really argue with her, partly because of the obvious fact that she lived what she believed.   And even though Jesus will give us what we need in order to testify, it’s still important for us to not only know what he teaches, but to live those teachings.  That’s the surest way to testify.  It’s easy to argue with concepts.  It’s hard to argue when someone is living what he or she believes.  And that’s where we have to make sure that we are living according to his teachings, not according to the echo chamber we tend to fall back on

Finally Jesus promises division.  In another place, he even tells us that he will bring division, even within families.  But the ones who stay the course, the ones who keep their eyes on the prize, as it were, those are the ones who will make it to the end.

So here are some questions for this week.  

Am I being persecuted?  Why not?

Am I living in an echo chamber? Or am I living in the words of Jesus?  How well do I know those words?

Are there people in my life who are holding me back in my spiritual growth?  What am I doing about that? I think about Elizabeth Leseur, a lady who married an atheist.  After she died he found her diary, which revealed her prayers and sacrifices for his conversion.  He became a Dominican priest.  Sometimes if someone is holding you back you find a way to pull him along with you. 

Next week we celebrate the coming of Christ the King, the last Sunday in Ordinary time.  How are we preparing for his coming?