Malachi 3: 19-20a; 2Thessalonians 3: 7-12; Luke 21: 5-19 (Sunday, November 18, 2007 – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Today’s readings point us to the things that would happen during the day of the Lord. We hear that they would be earthquakes, kingdoms divided, massive destructions, epidemics, wars and rumors of wars, false prophets, persecutions, etc. All these signs have been with us for more than 2000 years. The early followers of Jesus saw these signs and thought that the day of the Lord was almost at hand. St. Paul will tell the people of Corinthians who are not married to stay that way because it is useless to get married when God is almost here.

When Jesus spoke about the destruction of the temple in the gospel of today, the apostles were overwhelmed with fear. The destruction of the temple meant a lost of everything they have. The temple was the one most important thing for Jewish people. This means that they were going to be down to nothing. What they did not understand is that God is going to be up to something in their life. God made a promise to them, I will be with you and I will help you through all this time of suffering. Not even a hair in your head will be hurt. All I ask of you is perseverance and endurance, at the end you would be victorious. At the end, the “Son of Justice” is going to be up to something in their life and that would be the victory over evil as the first reading of today tells us.

Christians today like the early apostles are always afraid about issues of the last judgment. Some preachers read the signs of the time and argue that the day of the Lord has started. They even fix dates when it started. Hal Lindsay in 1970 wrote in his book, “Death of the Great Planet Earth” that, the day of the Lord started with the creation of the state of Israel. As Jesus tells us in the gospel, no one knows the time that this will come. The only motto for Christians should be “Always be ready.” I often ask people what they will do if they knew the Lord was coming tomorrow. I usually get interesting responses. Some will say they will spend the whole day in the church praying; others will say they will confess their sins and ask for forgiveness, for others, they will reconcile with all those they have wronged or who have wronged them. My response is that you don’t want to wait to know when the Lord will come before you begin to do these things. You have to start leaving your Christian life as you should, so that when the Lord comes he will find you doing the good work you always do.

Jesus does not delude his followers that their life would be easy. It would be a challenging life. They will be persecuted because they have chosen to follow him. The evil people would seem to be the ones that are succeeding and they will Lord it over the Christians. Christians would even be called to give testimonies. Jesus says, don’t worry about what you have to say. All Christians need is endurance. All they need is perseverance. If they endure and persevere, they would be victorious. The Cross is Christian victory. When all the battles are over, God is going to restore us to where we belong. We do not belong to this world. The “Son of Justice” will bring us healing from all our diseases that seem incurable; He will bring peace upon us; He will give us love and destroy all divisions. He will be the all in all of our lives.

Let us persevere. Let us endure. Let us not be afraid of the day of the Lord. In fact, let us anticipate it. Rather than bringing us destruction, it will bring us victory.