Thirty-Third Week

33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord reminds us that even something as beautiful as matrimony is only a means to an end, and if lived well, a happy end. The Sadducees denied the Resurrection, and by seeing marriage as an end, not a means, they couldn’t understood how the Resurrection would work, in part because they didn’t understand what the Resurrection would be, since their outlook was so worldly. The Sadducees are the distant result of the attempt by King Antiochus Epiphanes to Hellenize Jewish culture, which, as today’s First Reading reminds us (along with other readings this week) ended badly for him, but not without leaving its mark. The Sadducees see marriage according to reason and civil order: it results in an obligation to continue the family line by some member of the family marrying the widow and providing her with children who’ll care for her in the future and also continue the family line. To some degree the question degrades into being one of property law: after the Resurrection, who does she belong to and who has obligations toward her?

It’s no coincidence that when marriage vows are made today the clause is included “until death do us part”: in eternity marriage will have already served its purpose, which is the fostering of unconditional and exclusive love between a man and a woman that is often blessed by children who are loved and learn to love as well. All this is a means to enjoying an unconditional love for God and for others that will blossom in eternity. Even physical marital intimacy is a means toward that end, but, as we know, that physical intimacy has the danger of being debased, exploited, and even “weaponized”; if it stops being something good for the spouses and closed by the spouses to bringing children into the world, it becomes the means to an unhappy end. Marriage when lived well are a foreshadowing and a path to the happy and loving life to come in eternity.

Let’s pray today that all marriages be lived well and become homes and schools of unconditional love that help us love God unconditionally too. Let’s also pray for all marriages and families in difficulty.

Readings: 1 Maccabees 6:1–13; Psalm 9:2–4, 6, 16, 19; Luke 20:27–40. See also 9th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.

33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Luke describes the crowds as hanging on Our Lord’s words so much that the authorities are afraid of doing anything to him for fear of the crowds. Those crowds, knowingly or unknowingly, are already starting to imitate Christ. As Our Lord is driving the vendors out of the Temple he is acting because of God’s past word: in mentioning a “house of prayer” and a “den of thieves” he is sizing up the way the temple should be, how it is, and the need to do something about it. He is taking two separate teachings in Sacred Scripture and connecting the dots to translate the word of God into action.

Society today doesn’t hang on Our Lord’s every word, even in societies founded by Christians. Our Lord is often mocked and ridiculed, and, by extension, so are “Christians”. Governments, whether considered democratic or despotic, don’t value the Christian outlook, or even contradict it. That’s why we need to continue to “hang” onto Our Lord’s words and teachings and translate them into action and goodexample, not just for Christians, but for society. God’s Word wants to inspire us and transform us, and we have to let it in. If society, especially its leaders, sees many people “hanging” on Our Lord’s words they’ll be just as afraid to mistreat him as those Temple officials were afraid of political backlash.

Let’s resolve today to “hang” on Our Lord’s words again. Repeating them to others may not make much of an impact, but if society sees kindness and compassion (even if they don’t realize it’s driven by charity), confidence and optimism (even if they don’t realize it’s powered by hope), and an insight and wisdom into life and the meaning of life (even if they don’t realize it’s illuminated by faith), they too will start to examine their lives and go to the source of that will teach them and instill in them a faith, hope, and charity that will transform society for the better.

Readings: 1 Maccabees 4:36–37, 52–59; 1 Chronicles 29:10b–d, 11–12d; Luke 19:45–48. See also 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year I.

33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday

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In the tears Our Lord sheds in today’s Gospels we can find two regrets: that despite his perfect fidelity to the plan of his Heavenly Father not as many would benefit from his redemption as could have, and over how much more he expected from his beloved Jerusalem, also known as the city of David with all the Messianic importance that implied. The end of his earthly mission was coming soon, and when the end is in sight, regrets often bring tears to our eyes.

We can only imagine how Jerusalem and Israel would have been if they’d welcomed him in faith to be their Messiah and eternal king, but to do so they had to believe in a reign and a Kingdom that was far greater than the territory of Palestine and the earthly Jerusalem. Jesus was to usher in a new earth, a justice and freedom that would last forever. We, in faith and hope, know that this has begun and will be completed in the future. They put their faith in an earthly city and earthly aspirations, and Our Lord knew those would turn to rubble within a few decades after his Ascension: Jerusalem and the Temple were razed to the ground in 70 A.D. by the Romans suppressing the Zealot uprising.

Our Lord shed those tears for all of us, not just those of his earthly ministry. We can still dry those tears. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us listen to what Our Lord wants to share with us, and for the strength to imitate him in fidelity to the Heavenly Father’s plan for our lives and for the world.

Readings: 1 Maccabees 2:15–29; Psalm 50:1b–2, 5–6, 14–15; Luke 19:41–44.

33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord responds to the expectation of an immediate manifestation of the Kingdom of God with a parable that describes symbolically how the manifestation of the Kingdom of God will take place: the Last Judgment. Our Lord is that nobleman who goes off to become king: he ascends into Heaven to be at his Father’s right hand, and, when he returns, he’ll return in glory and the Kingdom will be fully and visibly established, with rewards and sentences handed out. This parable speaks to what is expected of us in the meanwhile.

There are three categories of response. First, those who deny of any sovereignty on the part of the King, even to the point of working actively against him: a rejection of Christ and, therefore, of God, that leads to the everlasting “death sentence”of being separated forever from the only thing that matters in life: love for God and for others. Second, those who have been entrusted with something by the King in order to bear some profit for him that he’ll acknowledge and reward upon his return. Believers who do something with the talents Our Lord has given them not only benefit the Kingdom, but receive acknowledgment and trust in the Kingdom to come. Finally, those who acknowledge receiving something from the King, but do nothing to make it bear profit for him. Believers who do zero with the talents Our Lord have given them lose those talents and everything else, because they didn’t even make a minimal effort to invest them, and all Our Lord expects is some effort.

We don’t have to wait until Our King’s return to see how things turn out for us. Each one of us must see whether we’ve rejected him until now in our life, have squandered what he has entrusted to us, or have tried to make what he’s entrusted to us bear some fruit. As the parable teaches, even a minimal effort with what we’ve been entrusted is enough to bear fruit. Let’s not be afraid to improve the “verdict” in our own case.

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20–31; Psalm 17:1b–d, 5–6, 8b, 15; Luke 19:11–28.

33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In yesterday‘s Gospel we saw how important the crowd was in helping the blind man know that Jesus was near and meet him. Today the crowd, whether wittingly or unwittingly, is not enabling Zacchaeus to see Our Lord, and Zacchaeus has to resort to drastic measures. There are those in the crowd who already dislike him for being a tax collector, considered a sell out to the Romans and a corrupt man who profits by exploiting his own people. Zacchaeus doesn’t care about appearing ridiculous; he just wants to see Jesus. Our Lord rewards him by standing up for him before the entire crowd.

This doesn’t mean Zacchaeus was not a sinner. The crowd accuses him of it, and Our Lord himself says salvation has come to someone who was lost. Zacchaeus doesn’t even deny it, which is why he declares publicly that he is ready to make amends and to help the poor. If Zacchaeus had not managed to see Jesus, who knows what would have happened. When we size people up and find them lacking, or judge them, we mustn’t make that a pretext to write them off and not help them meet Our Lord. We shouldn’t close ranks and prevent them from drawing closer to the person for whom we’re together in the first place: Our Lord.

We’re not an exclusive club that is justified in excluding; rather, we are bearers of God’s Word who should lead anyone showing an interest to the Word himself. Let’s not be shy about helping people draw closer to Jesus through us, no matter what they’ve done in the past.

Readings: 2 Maccabees 6:18–31; Psalm 3:2–7; Luke 19:1–10.