Our readings today began with the God of our father Abraham,
and the God of Israel pin-pointing – through His prophet Jeremiah -- the breaking
point between our initial, Christian and Catholic, Abrahamic Faith, and the
Jewish faith of Israel past and present:
Behold, the days are
coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house
of Israel and the house of Judah … I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up
for David, and he shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land.
That righteous Branch -- Jesus of Nazareth -- was indeed ‘sent’
to Israel, but He was to be rejected by the two ‘native’ powers in Israel:
the self-serving, power-conniving, Temple
rulers, and the proud, self-appointed, ‘spiritual spokesmen’ of Israel’s, sinfully-inclined,
people.
Now, it is not possible to speak of the events of those
latter days using ordinary language, for they will be events unseen before and beyond
all human anticipation and imagination; that is why, in the Old and New
Testaments -- even when Jesus Himself is speaking -- the language used is of a special
character, called ‘apocalyptic’ language, full of strange and extreme events:
cosmic at times in their immensity and impact, always awesome, and often
terrifying for mere human beings. Therefore,
because those times will also be times of divine judgement -- when the divinity
of Jesus and the supernatural majesty, holiness, and power of the all-Holy God
are revealed -- they will be times of deep darkness, and, for the ungodly, dreadful times of great personal distress, of
which only nature’s primeval powers can give us any realistic impression:
There will be signs in the sun,
the moon, and the stars; on the earth nations will be in dismay. People will die of fright in anticipation of
what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And
then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
In the first reading therefore, speaking of those who would
hear and obey Jesus’ words, we heard:
In those days Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it (the
righteous Branch) will be called:
‘The Lord is our righteousness' executing His justice and righteousness in the land;
Jerusalem will dwell securely because there will be some of
her children thus clothed with justice -- the supernatural God-given gift of righteousness
-- says the prophet Jeremiah; and that is what St. Paul had in mind in our
second reading:
Finally, then, brothers and
sisters, we ask and urge you in
the Lord Jesus as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God – just as you are doing – that you do so
more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord
Jesus.
Mere human beings, who refused to live in a way pleasing to
God, and who consequently, would not be clothed with the righteousness of the
Lord, would be unable to survive the manifestation of divine holiness on the
day of His coming. We are forewarned
about this, dear People of God, every returning summer for, whether we have good
eyes or weak eyes makes no difference, all of us can be blinded by the direct glare
of the noon-day sun. Likewise, immediately
before the coming of the Lord, personal confidence, courage, riches or ability,
much less overflowing rage and anger, or self-pity, will be of no comfort
whatsoever, when primeval, instinctive, terror strikes the human heart at the
sight of the tumultuous seas, mountainous waves, or the rivers of flaming volcanic
lava in full spate.
Only those prepared by sincere conversion and divine
endowment, fortified by actual prayer and sought-for personal love of God, will
find themselves able to survive those days, as Jesus warned us:
Stay awake at all times, praying
that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take
place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Since this will be the situation when God comes to bring
time to a close and to destroy sin from the face of the earth; and most
especially, when you think that we only have one life, that is only one chance, and whoever gets it wrong
cannot come back and try again, it is surely amazing that many put their trust
in merely human self-appointed and self-opiniated, teachers, gurus, prophets,
and guides! Divine holiness, majesty and power will be manifested; all-seeing knowledge and inscrutable wisdom
will be deployed; and yet, you find some devilishly proud and presumptuous
people saying to others who are, incredibly, foolish enough to listen to them:
“Follow me, do what I am doing, see how I am enjoying myself! It won’t be that hard at the end … we just go
to sleep, there is nothing after that!”
Issues that have exercised human minds and involved human hearts and
consciences from man’s beginning, which have provoked a morally unanimous religious
awareness, appreciation, and response from humankind, are challenged and
called into question by individuals whose pride is overwhelming and whose life but
a fleeting shadow. They spew out
teachings which, seemingly human, are ultimately devilish: sexuality is not
something given by nature but something to be ‘more or less’ genetically arranged
according to personal preference; homosexuality is an equal option for life
alongside marriage between a man and a woman; or again, there is no right and
wrong, there is no truth, it is only a matter of social or political
correctness and human upbringing; what used to be called ‘sin’ is but the
result of genetic disturbance; and human life has no other dignity than what we
accord it.
Dear People of God, life for us believers, is a wondrous mystery: what is its true meaning; has it an ultimate
purpose? Of ourselves, we could only guess. Mysterious too are the essential
elements of the life we experience: what
is love; how can one find happiness and peace of heart? why is life so
tasteless without hope? what is truth? where is justice?? Again, why do we feel, inside, that some
things are wrong; and why – having done such things, even though in secret --
do we feel disturbed, ill at ease, indeed, under threat??? Such questions as these are of vital
importance, because both reason and experience teach us that life is
problematical: money cannot buy happiness, worldly success or renown cannot
guarantee peace of heart, nor can present pleasure foster future hope.
Here then, as we begin the season of Advent, we are urged
by Mother Church to do some serious thinking.
We are urged look into our hearts, to sound those hidden depths that we
so rarely penetrate in our everyday life and activity, for only there can we
find some appreciation and understanding of the mystery of our make-up as
persons, as individuals who have been made in a divine likeness. For all of us do believe that we are special: none of us can tolerate injustice
done against us, and we all hate lies and love truth as they affect our
lives. Who is there that does not know
that life inspires hope, while death, on the other hand, provokes despair? Inexplicably, we feel ourselves made for life,
even though all things else are made and are content to die a natural death.
People of God, we Catholics are Christians -- the original and
authentic Christians -- called to bring the Gospel, the Good News, to the whole
world, throughout time. And the message
we are commissioned to bring is that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the
mystery of human existence and the supreme hope for our human destiny: He alone
can bring peace and hope into our hearts and minds, together with the strength
to live and love aright both in society and as individuals. Above all, we are to proclaim Jesus Christ as
the only One Who can raise us up to aspire to a heavenly destiny; a destiny before
God the Father which will be the glorious and eternal fulfilment of all our
possibilities, powers, and longings. Our
teaching is certain and clear:
Jesus answered, "I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
(John 14:6) I and My Father are One.
(John 10:30)
Because the Father Who calls us to Jesus has committed all
things to Him, so we too, who answer the Father’s call, come to Jesus as His
disciples, commit ourselves totally to His Spirit that He might form us
in the likeness of Jesus as true children of the Father: there is nothing hidden or horrible in our lives
where His presence cannot bring healing and hope, where His rule will not bring
peace and fulfilment.
In all such ways does God’s Providence and Love govern,
sustain, and guide our lives that we might ultimately be made able to humbly accept
and whole-heartedly embrace what is sure to come:
The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (And) when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.
