The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today may resonate with the signs of our times that Nature may be angry with humanity and our own political systems are bound up with disharmony.
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| Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venice-st-marks-square-flooding-1.5362348 |
The reading from Malachi, “the messenger” describes the Great Day of the Lord when we confront those parts of our lives not compatible with the nature of God.
* [3:20] Wings: a common symbol of the manifestation of a god in the ancient Near East is the winged sun disk found, for example, on premonarchic jar handles. Cf. Nm 6:25; Ps 4:7; 31:17; 34:6; 84:12.1
Psalm 98 proclaims that all nations and even inanimate nature are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world.
* [Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Ps 96, extolling God for Israel’s victory (Ps 98:1–3). All nations (Ps 98:4–6) and even inanimate nature (Ps 98:7–8) are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world (Ps 98:9).2
In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul exhorts the community not to neglect to work in anticipation of the end times.
* [3:6] Some members of the community, probably because they regarded the parousia as imminent or the new age of the Lord to be already here (2 Thes 2:2), had apparently ceased to work for a living. The disciplinary problem they posed could be rooted in distorted thinking about Paul’s own teaching (cf. 1 Thes 2:16; 3:3–4; 5:4–5) or, more likely, in a forged letter (2 Thes 2:2) and the type of teaching dealt with in 2 Thes 2:1–15. The apostle’s own moral teaching, reflected in his selfless labors for others, was rooted in a deep doctrinal concern for the gospel message (cf. 1 Thes 2:3–10).3
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and we see that the signs and persecutions anticipated before the end times are with us today.
* [21:12] Before all this happens…: to Luke and his community, some of the signs of the end just described (Lk 21:10–11) still lie in the future. Now in dealing with the persecution of the disciples (Lk 21:12–19) and the destruction of Jerusalem (Lk 21:20–24) Luke is pointing to eschatological signs that have already been fulfilled.4
Molly Mattingly asks how can we cultivate a disposition from which to meet God’s justice and feel healed rather than destroyed?
I’d need to align my identity with God’s idea of justice, rather than my own. I’d need to practice mercy, to forgive others and myself. I’d need to practice love, to choose the good of another. I’d need to practice service, to meet people who awaken my compassion and grow in kinship with them. As my own ability to empathize and feel compassion grows, I will begin to see people as precious, the way God does. I will come to know that others’ healing is my healing, too. Maybe then the sun of justice will feel like healing rays.5
Don Schwager quotes “First signs of the end times,” by Maximus of Turin (died between 408-423 AD).
"Perhaps you are anxious, brothers and sisters, at the fact that we hear constantly of the tumult of wars and the onsets of battles. Perhaps your love is still more anxious since these are taking place in our times. The reason is the closer we are to the destruction of the world, the closer we are to the kingdom of the Savior. The Lord himself says, 'In the last days nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. When you see wars, earthquakes and famines, know that the kingdom of God is at hand.'This nearness of wars shows us that Christ is near." (excerpt from SERMON 85.1)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 considers the science of mirror neurons. They are those tiny little cells in our brains that fire up whenever we’re around someone else. Sometimes very faintly, but other times with great force, these neurons prompt us to imitate whomever we are with.
This doesn’t mean that we are merely robots imitating everyone around us. We are still free human beings, each with our own unique personality. But it does mean that we are meant to live in community. We need the example of fellow believers to help us grow in our faith. And just as important, our brothers and sisters need the witness of our faith for their growth. The more we see holiness in action, the more encouraged we will be to keep pursuing Jesus ourselves.7
Friar Jude Winkler considers the painful words of Malachi, the messenger. Christians are called to exemplary action to draw others. Friar Jude reminds us that Christians in Luke’s time had already experience persecution or their beliefs.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the idea of “staying out of politics” doesn’t come from God. His sense is that it arises from our egoic, dualistic thinking that has a hard time hearing a different perspective or learning something new. Well, this week’s meditations will invite us to ponder the forbidden together.
If we do not go deep and in, we cannot go far and wide. In my opinion, the reason Christianity lost its authority is because we did not talk about the inner world very well. Believing doctrines, practicing rituals, and following requirements are not, in and of themselves, inner or deep. Frankly, Buddhism encouraged the inner life far better than the three monotheistic religions. We Christians did not connect the inner with the outer—which is a consequence of not going in deeply enough. We now have become increasingly irrelevant, often to the very people who want to go both deep and far. We so disconnected from the authentically political—God’s aggregated people, the public forum—that soon we had nothing much to say, except for one or two issues (abortion, homosexuality) where we presumed we had perfect certitude, although Jesus never talked about them.8
The turmoil of our time witnessed in the climate emergency and the weakness of political discourse is a call for Christians to be examples of the leadership and hope, guided the Spirit, to be examples of Jesus loving action in the world.
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