STEADFASTNESS IN HOPE.
November 14, 2021
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
A Turkish proverb says: “Hope won't be cut from the soul
that has not expired.” And an Ivorian proverb adds: “Don't lose hope no
situation is permanent.”
You can let people take away from you everything that you
have, everything you do, and even everything you say. But may no one ever take
from you your hope. For, hope is what keeps man moving despite the adversities.
As long as there is life, there is hope, it is said.
We are exhorted, on this 33rd Sunday in the Ordinary Time,
to keep firm our hope in a new world to come. All the storms in man's life end
with a new beginning. As says the proverb, “After the rain comes the beautiful
weather.” This, however, requires a firm hope for the people to keep dreaming
of a better tomorrow, and a better life.
The liturgy today has an apocalyptic taste. It is all about
the end of a time, of trial, of suffering, and the coming of a new dawn, the
era of the reign of God. We are a week before the closing of the liturgical
year B. And the readings are with that color. Time is coming for the righteous
to be united with the Lord, while the unrighteous will harvest what their
unrighteousness deserves. The ‘Consummatum est’ is at hand.
“For man, this consummation will be the final realization of
the unity of the human race, which God willed from creation and of which the
pilgrim Church has been "in the nature of sacrament." Those who are
united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, "the holy
city" of God, "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." She will not be
wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly
community. The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible
way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and
mutual communion.” CCC 1045.
The Prophet Daniel, in the first reading, has a vision of
that time that is coming. So, he prophesies that some will wake to everlasting
life, and others some to shame and disgrace. God's chosen people, with the help
of Michael, the Great Prince of Heaven, will at that time, escape from
destruction and be saved.
The Lord Jesus, in the Gospel, announces something similar.
He speaks of the coming of the Son of Man in his glory. There will be a time of
great tribulations, darkness, and drought. But after all these, a new light
will shine and redemption for the righteous will come.
All these apocalyptic signs and messages are not to scare us
or lead us to lose hope and courage, but rather a call for us to stand firm in
our faith and to price righteousness. For, it is the righteous man that will be
saved, the one who lived as God's fearer and his friend.
Signs of this coming are overflowing today. Many events and
happenings tell us that the end is near, that judgment day is at hand. It will
be the time where the enemies of Christ, our High Priest, will be made his
footstool. Could we try to be prophets, reading the current pandemic of the
COVID-19, and all that surrounds it, lockdowns, quarantines, social death due
to social distancing, economic crises, the famous vaccine, and its protocols,
and the so many policies related to the pandemic… Are all these not forerunning
signs, calling for conversion for, the end is at hand?
But beyond that, however, this message about the end is not
a call to despair, but to be steadfast in hope. There is a great message of
assurance that springs from Jesus’ warnings and predictions. It is a sign of
hope for newness. So, the Lord says: “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.” The new leaves symbolize the renewal of life that predicts a new
fruitfulness and new harvest.
If plants get renewed after losing their leaves in the
trying time of drought, so too, life will be renewed at the coming of the Son
of Man. But what no one neither the Angels knows is, when will that time come.
So, the call for hope and vigilance. The surety here is what Jesus says:
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
To get back with our prophecy about the pandemic. This trying time will also end. The COVID-19 will be forgotten just as the Plague of Justinian in 541, which claimed the life of an estimated 30 to 50 million people has been forgotten; the Black Death, in 1347, which took nearly 20 million lives in just four years has been forgotten; the Great Plague of London, in 1665; the Smallpox, the Cholera, the Russian and Spanish flu, and even the HIV/AIDS, and SARS have been forgotten. Everything that has a beginning will assuredly have its end. It may last, have hard and painful consequences, claim lives, destroy, and even more. But it will end. And life will anew spring. Hope is what must keep us moving. In the end, Christ alone reigns forever.
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