Thirty-Third Sunday Ordinary Gospel Reflections B

· As we come to the end of the Liturgical Year, the Church begins to reflect
on the end-times statements of Jesus in the Gospel, of which this is one.

Jesus said: "But in those days after that tribulation
· Before this Jesus mentioned things pertaining to earthly events such as wars,
earthquakes, famines. Now he mentions cosmic events.

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. 
· Much of what Jesus is referring to is found referenced in the Old Testament in
the writings of the prophets: Is 13:10;34:4; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15.

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.
· What is your feeling when you read this? Humanly, it may be of fear. But what
do you think Jesus’ intention is for us when we hear this and other similar statements?
· The real key is whether we will be among the elect or not?

"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts 
leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things 
happening, know that he is near, at the gates. 
· What is the message Jesus wants us to hear and act on? Live in the present moment
as if it was your last. Always be ready, not in fear, but in true relationship with God.
 Is this your attitude?

Amen, I say to you, 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. 
· This last statement is very key. No matter how often people try to read the
“signs” of the time and predict the future, especially the end of the world, only the
Father, Son, and Spirit know as God. Jesus is saying that in his humanity he does
not have this knowledge. At the moment he is speaking from his humanity, not
out of his divinity.
· How should this whole passage impact your life today?

Each of us in our own life can easily relate to this petition: “Deliver us from evil”.
We may have many areas of spiritual bondage which may have occurred over the
years, some of which we may not have yet identified as such.  One of the deceptions
of the evil one is to enslave us while at the same time convincing us that we don’t
have a problem. An addicted alcoholic or gambler, drug user or extremely
overweight person may seek to rationalize the situation rather than admit it. We may
have deep resentments, unforgiveness and unresolved anger and hate, which have
festered in our hearts for a long period of time. We may feel inadequate, insecure;
our self-esteem may be very low. We may have some deep fears, which control our
life and limit our ability to cope with aspects of reality. We may find that depression is
more the norm than the exception. In all of these, no matter how hard we seem to try
on the human level, we can’t seem to overcome the effects they have in our lives.

There is a story I would like share dealing with the effect of evil in our lives. It was
advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale,
the tools were placed for public inspection; each tool being marked with its sale price.
They were a treacherous lot of implements...Hatred, Envy,  Jealousy, Deceit, Lying,
Pride, and so on. Laid apart from the rest was a harmless looking tool, well worn  and
priced very high. "What is the name of this tool?" asked one of the purchasers, pointing
 to it. That is Discouragement", replied the devil. "Why have you priced it so high?"
"Because it is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a man's
 heart with that when I cannot get near  him with my other tools. Once I get inside, I
can make him do what I choose. It is badly worn because I use it on almost everyone,
since very few people know that it belongs to me." (To be continued)

The temptation in the desert was not the only test of Jesus in his humanity. 
The scriptures conclude this section by saying as a matter of reality “(The tempter)
departed from him for a time”(Lk 4:15). Recall two other times Jesus is tested.
One was through the intervention of Peter, who didn’t want to accept that for
 Jesus to be Messiah he had to suffer and die. “Then Peter took him aside and
 began to rebuke him, ‘God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to
you.’ (Jesus) turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an
obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do’"(Mt 16:22-23)

Another time was in the Garden of Gethsemani when the reality of his immanent
passion and death became so overwhelming for Jesus. He cried out three different
 times: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but
as you will”(Mt 26:39). From all the test Jesus endured, the author of Hebrews
gives us this faith assurance: “Because he himself was tested through what he suffered,
 he is able to help those who are being tested” (Heb 2:18).

 Paul himself witnessed the faith awareness that Jesus is the one who will deliver us
 at the time of test by the evil one. “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of
 the affliction that came to us in the province of Asia;  we were utterly weighed down
 beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had accepted
 within ourselves the sentence of death,  that we might trust not in ourselves but in
God who raises the dead. He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he
will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope (that) he will also rescue us
 again”(2 Cor 1:8-10). (To be continued)

Jesus confronted the temptations of the evil one in his own humanity. We know the sequence of events well. Jesus, in his humanity, came to the realization of his dignity, his destiny and his mission. In response to the call of the Father he went down into the waters of the Jordan to be baptized by his cousin John as a way of publicly committing his life to do the will of the Father.  Upon coming out of the water Jesus clearly experienced the affirmation of the Father who called him the Beloved Son in whom he was well pleased. He was the new Adam. And with this affirmation came the empowerment in his humanity of the gifts of the Spirit for the work ahead. Afterwards, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert where he prayed and fasted to ready himself for the work of the Father.

Having heard and seen what the Father said and did, the evil one sought to intervene and perhaps thwart once more  the plan of God by putting the new Adam to the test. But in this beloved Son he met his match. No matter the test--from personal satisfaction, to questioning the trustworthiness of God, to the drive for power and importance--Jesus never took his eyes off the Father. He returned love for love. His responses were precise and committed, reflecting his true relationship to God. “One does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God....You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve....You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test” (Lk 4:4,8,12). (To be continued)

The reality of evil is seen as prevalent throughout the OT and the NT. It was part and parcel of the journey of the  chosen people, who struggled with their relationship with Yahweh, the Covenant-Maker.  Even with the Resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, the people of the New Covenant also had to face the reality of evil in their relationship to the Triune God.

But the saving grace of the revealed Word of God gives us God’s answer to evil. For immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve God revealed his plan from all eternity. He would deliver them from the power of evil through and in the person of a redeemer: Speaking to the evil one in the guise of the serpent, God promises: “I will put enmity between you and the woman,  and between your offspring and hers;  He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel" (Gen 3:15). This redeemer is the Word made Flesh, the Word of God who became one like us in all things but sin.

In spite of the fact of Paul’s admission of not being able on his own to be freed from the bondage of sin, from the slavery which sin brings about in all human beings--”Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?” the apostle of the Gentiles came to the faith conviction of the role of Jesus the Messiah. Without missing a beat he responds with joyful acclamation: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 7:25). Yes, only Jesus has won the power to deliver us. For this we praise and thank him. (To be continued)

“The original sin was a refusal of history, of waiting, of growth, for the sake of an illusory desire for immediate fulfillment. It was the refusal to ratify God’s omnipotence by freely contributing to its advent through loving submission to his word.” (Jean-Pierre Batut)

“The sin of our first parents consisted not merely in the violating of an external commandment, but in the choosing of an inferior human order over the divine order which sustains and governs it. Their sin was not that they loved earthly things too much. They loved too little what God had made by loving it in the wrong way, choosing to ignore that all beauty in things rests upon their having been created by the all-good God in an order which must be respected even when this order cannot be fully understood. God alone is the author of the beautiful and by loving His works with a pure heart we return, we remain bound to Him.” (Peter A. Kwasniewski)

The reality of this sin became clear to Paul. He wrote in his letter to the Romans“I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to do but what I hate....So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if (I) do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.  For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self,  but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?” (Rom 7:15-24) (To be continued)