{"id":3604,"date":"2019-11-16T15:35:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T20:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=3604"},"modified":"2022-11-12T16:34:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-12T21:34:33","slug":"33rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-c-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2019\/11\/16\/33rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-c-2\/","title":{"rendered":"33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the next to last Sunday in Ordinary Time. Next Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King, then a new liturgical year begins with Advent two weeks from now. Today\u2019s readings encourage us to reflect on how we\u2019ll handle the ending commemorated next Sunday: the end of days when Our Lord returns in glory.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s First Reading the prophet Malachi describes the wicked on the Day of the Lord as burning away in a flash. Stubble burns quickly and intensely. The just will see the same event as warmth, light, and healing. Even though Our Lord foretells persecution and calamities, we should focus on why he is coming, as the Psalm today reminds us: \u201cThe Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.\u201d The only people who don\u2019t want justice are bad people, whether through their actions or their omissions, and their injustice will be swept away, no matter how enduring it seemed. The just will experience moments of pain: the prophet tells us the Day of the Lord will bring healing, which implies that there\u2019ll be healing needed. It will require endurance, not resignation.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Second Reading Paul warns against those who have faced the possibility of the Day of the Lord\u2019s imminence by not working and not living their lives normally. If everything occurs as Our Lord describes in today\u2019s Gospel that attitude is a recipe for disaster. Perseverance requires work and grace. When we\u2019re put on trial it won\u2019t just be our spiritual toughness, but the Holy Spirit that will help us endure and realize that even as we suffer we give witness, and the Spirit gives witness through us. Our suffering and perseverance will inspire others to believe and be saved as well.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel the disciples ask when the Temple will end, and the Lord starts to explain when the world as we know it will end: his Second Coming. Our Lord gives some signs but doesn\u2019t give them exactly what they\u2019re looking for: a signal. He describes calamities: social upheaval, wars, natural disasters, and persecutions. All of those have existed and will exist during the Church\u2019s pilgrimage on earth, even before the end of history and Our Lord\u2019s return in glory. Our Lord won\u2019t give us a signal, but he will give us the secret to survival: perseverance. Our Lord predicts the destruction of the Temple, but also addresses the question of whether this will signify the end of the world. His disciples didn\u2019t understand it at the time, but he was preparing us all for the long haul. Obviously on a natural and human level we\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel Our Lord prepares us for when our faith is put on trial. It\u2019s not some future eschatological and apocalyptic moment: even today Christians are ridiculed, labelled, even beheaded for professing their faith. Our Lord said we\u2019d be a sign of contradiction in the world, so it\u2019s no surprise that when we give witness to him there\u2019ll be a reaction. It may not be a civil court, but our family, the public square, our school, or our workplace. It\u2019s what makes us think twice before saying grace at meals around those we don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019re afraid we\u2019ll show how little of our faith we really know and live: that\u2019s the Spirit telling us to work on our prayer life, our lifestyle, and our understanding of the faith. You may find that puts you \u201con trial\u201d 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\u2019ve suffered something for the sake of his name.<\/p>\n

Readings:\u00a0Malachi 3:19\u201320a;\u00a0Psalm 98:5\u20139;\u00a02 Thessalonians 3:7\u201312;\u00a0Luke 21:5\u201319.<\/em> See also 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C<\/a>, 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II<\/a>, and the 34th Week in Ordinary Time,\u00a0Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the next to last Sunday in Ordinary Time. Next Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King, then a new liturgical year begins with Advent two weeks from now. Today\u2019s readings encourage us to reflect on how we\u2019ll handle the ending commemorated next Sunday: the end of days when Our Lord returns in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[121,45,15,116],"class_list":["post-3604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cycle-c","tag-ordinary-time","tag-sunday","tag-thirty-third-week"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-W8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3605,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions\/3605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}