Sunday Meditation: When the Temple Will Topple Down

After two weeks of deviations from Ordinary time, this Sunday we return to the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.  We are one week from the end of the liturgical year.  Next week we end with the feast of Christ the King. 

The readings toward the end reflect the end of time, and so we get apocalyptic readings, and the fire-and-brimstone reminder of what avails us at our end of life.  Today Jesus predicts the end of the Temple, which He associates with end of times.

 

Here is the Gospel passage.

 

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,

Jesus said, "All that you see here-- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

 

Then they asked him,

"Teacher, when will this happen?

And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"

He answered,

"See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'

Do not follow them!

When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."

Then he said to them,

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

 

"Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.

It will lead to your giving testimony.

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives."

~Lk 21:5-19

Bishop Barron gives an incredibly insightful homily explaining it so well.  The end of times means a shaking up of the old order in all its facets.  Watch this, it’s super.

 

“Nature itself is giving way to something new.  Something has been shaken and now unveiled to us.”  I found that so profound.

For the pastoral homily, I turn to someone I have never heard before, Fr. Michael Adebote from the Parish of the Resurrection of the Lord in Maine.  Clearly he is an African priest who has come to the United States to serve.  He draws the spiritual fruit right out of this passage.

 

“We are more aware now, brothers and sisters, that the true sacred temple was not just the physical building anywhere but Jesus Himself!”  This is that the pastoral take away from today’s Gospel.

That says it all!

 

Sunday Meditation: "By your perseverance you will secure your lives."

 

Let’s return to a John Michael Talbot hymn.  Enjoy “Behold Now the Kingdom.”

 

“For you shall see with new eyes!”

Sunday Meditation: The End and New Beginning of the World

This week brings the readings to the end of the Sunday lectionary of Mark’s Gospel, and we get part of Jesus’s Eschatological Discourse, the discourse on the end times.  The reading only gives us nine verses from Chapter 13 of Mark’s Gospel, but the entire chapter is the full discourse.  I recommend you pull out your Bible and read the entire chapter.  Here is what is given as the Sunday Gospel reading, a middle section from the chapter.

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"In those days after that tribulation

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.

 

"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.

 

"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.

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."

~Mk 13:24-32

Bishop Barron has given some great homilies, but this on today’s Gospel is one of his best.

Most other homilies will see only the end of times in this reading, but Bishop Barron regards this reading as unveiling Jesus’s time through His resurrection, unveiling the radical transformation of our lives today, and, yes, unveiling the future end.  With the unveiling, we come to a new beginning.  Bishop Barron’s scope in this homily is breathtaking.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." 

 

For a hymn, let’s go with this Gospel song, "The End of Time is Drawing Nigh" by Charles Johnson & the Revivers. 

 

I know nothing of Charles Johnson and his group but that was just wonderful.  This is the best little bio I could find on the Gospel singer.  

Sunday Meditation: The Lord Will Come Like A Thief

From today’s second reading:

 

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

       -2 Peter 3:10

 

That simile, to “come like a thief,” has such great resonance.  It is so powerful, and then the imagery of disintegration sends shivers down ones spine.  Peter is referring to the end of times of course but it can also be read as our mortal end.