Thirty-Fourth Week

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord invites the disciples to read the signs of the seasons, not just the signs of the times, to know that the Kingdom of God is near. In describing the signs of summer drawing near he is directing our attention to spring: a period after a long season of cold and apparent death followed by new life starting to bloom. In this contrast between spring and summer Our Lord is teaching us about one of the characteristics of the end times, described by some theologians as “now and not yet.”

The Kingdom of God is established “now”: it was near, and those who believed in Jesus and his preaching became the first signs in the world of that Kingdom, and he entrusted his disciples with the mission of continuing to announce that it was near. All disciples of Jesus are signs and members of the Kingdom of God. The springtime of new life starting to bloom has come with our baptism and Christian life. Saint John Paul II expressed the desire that the third millennium be a “new springtime” for Christianity. The time of the Church, until Our Lord’s return in glory, is that springtime.

At the same time, the Kingdom of God is “not yet” complete. It cannot be until every person throughout history has had an opportunity to welcome it or reject it, and that won’t happen until the end of time. The Kingdom of God is “not yet” a complete conquest and exile of all the evil influences in the world; that will come at the end of time with the Last Judgment. The Kingdom is “now” and “not yet”: let’s live our faith as a spring with an eager anticipation of the beautiful summer to come for those who welcome it.

Readings: Daniel 7:2–14; Daniel 3:75–81; Luke 21:29–33.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday

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In today’s Gospel we catch a glimpse of an evangelist who was not an eye witness to everything Our Lord said. Luke’s account of Our Lord’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple takes into account not only what Our Lord taught, but how the first generation of Christians understood it when it happened. They could have easily fallen into doubt about what Jerusalem’s impending destruction at the hands of the Romans meant, which is why Our Lord told them to flee, knowing that while that moment was the end of “a” world, it not the end of “the” world.

Our Lord interweaves his predictions regarding the Temple with teaching on his Second Coming, the return of the Son of Man in power. As we’ve already seen this week, cultural, social, and even cosmic upheavals will take place, and they’ll be terrifying, but they won’t immediately be the end. Today Our Lord describes his return using the imagery of the Book of Daniel, a language every Jew of his time would understand. As he reminds us, when he returns in glory, a Christian has no need to cringe or to cower, because redemption is at hand: deliverance from pain, suffering, evil and fear. As Christians we know his mercy endures forever. The only people who need to be afraid of Our Lord’s return are those who reject his message or his mercy, and we pray for them always to welcome the Gospel and to welcome true and lasting happiness.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us identify those moments of upheaval in our lives and to discern whether it is a moment to stand tall, seeing God’s hand at work to deliver us, of retreat, knowing some evil is beyond our ability to address, or of defeat, asking Our Lord for his intervention and his mercy.

Readings: Daniel 6:12–28; Daniel 3:68–74; Luke 21:20–28.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord prepares us for when our faith is put on trial. It’s not some future eschatological and apocalyptic moment: even today Christians are ridiculed, labelled, even beheaded for professing their faith. Our Lord said we’d be a sign of contradiction in the world, so it’s no surprise that when we give witness to him there’ll be a reaction. It may not be a civil court, but it may be our family, the public square, our school, or our place of work. It’s what makes us think twice before saying grace at meals around those we don’t know well, about putting a crucifix or holy card in our cubicle or dorm where others might see, about seeing our faith as something, alongside politics, that should not be brought up in polite conversation.

Our Lord gives us the secret to breaking this little internal stalemate between a desire to share our faith and a fear of how it will turn out: trusting in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does the talking, if we are living a life that is attentive to the Spirit. Maybe we’re afraid we’ll show how little of our faith we really know and live: that’s the Spirit talking in us to work on our prayer life, examine our lifestyle, and read the Catechism a little each day to understand our faith more clearly. You may find that puts you “on trial” before your family, friends, and colleagues, but it also gives you the spiritual resources to give witness to Our Lord and a great peace knowing you’ve suffered something for the sake of his name.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to day to help us see where and how we’re being put “on trial,” and for the insight and grace to give good testimony.

Readings: Daniel 5:1–6, 13–14, 16–17, 23–28; Daniel 3:62–67; Luke 21:12–19.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord predicts the destruction of the Temple, but also addresses the question of whether this will signify the end of the world. Although his disciples didn’t understand it at the time, he was preparing us all for the long haul. He warns us that whenever we think we have it figured out it is just as sign that we don’t. The societal upheaval in Palestine around the destruction of the Temple is just one of many since Our Lord gave this teaching: in the centuries that followed the very Romans who destroyed the Temple had their own empire fall, and in the East, Greek culture was overrun by Islamic culture.

In some parts of the world, even today, there are cultural upheavals and uprisings. Our Lord said they would come, but they are not a sign that the end is going to happen immediately. There will be cultural upheavals and natural disasters, but Our Lord tells us to not be terrified by them and to not follow the first person who comes along in his name saying he’s the Savior or that the end has arrived. Obviously on a natural and human level we’d have to be terrified by the thought of such events, but Our Lord invites us today to live these things on a supernatural level: with faith in him and hope that good will triumph.

Let’s renew our faith and hope today in the Son of Man, knowing that whatever upheavals may come, he will sustain us and triumph in the end.

Readings: Daniel 2:31–45; Daniel 3:57–61; Gospel Luke 21:5–11.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s readings we see two generous people who put God before their comfort: Daniel and the widow. In today’s First Reading Daniel knows eating the food and drink from the King’s table, food normally sacrificed to foreign gods first, would be blasphemy and idolatry, since in the mentality of the time eating such food is a sign of communion with the deity to whom it has been sacrificed. The food would probably also violate the dietary laws of the Israelites, since specific animals were forbidden under Mosaic Law. Daniel didn’t give in; he decided to put God first by being vegetarian, despite the risk it entailed, and the Lord blessed him.

In today’s Gospel a poor widow puts the house of God before her financial security. The Temple represented God among his people so by supporting the Temple she was supporting the Lord. We don’t know how things turned out for her, but it’s certain that the Lord blessed her for her selfless generosity.

Let’s examine our lives today and see whether somewhere in them we’re not putting God first.

Readings: Daniel 1:1–6, 8–20; Daniel 3:52–56; Luke 21:1–4. See also 9th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday and 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.