The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our consideration of end times for the world and ourselves.
Signs in Nature
The reading from the Book of the Prophet Daniel describes the vision in Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream and its interpretation by Daniel.
* [2:36–45] The four successive kingdoms in this apocalyptic perspective are the Babylonian (gold), the Median (silver), the Persian (bronze), and the Hellenistic (iron). The last, after Alexander’s death, was divided among his generals (vv. 41–42). Of the kingdoms which emerged from this partitioning, the two that most affected the Jews were the dynasties of the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria. They tried in vain, by war and through intermarriage, to restore the unity of Alexander’s empire (v. 43). The stone hewn from the mountain is the kingdom of God awaited by the Jews (vv. 44–45). Compare the image of the stone applied to Jesus in Luke 20:17–18.1
The response from the Book of Daniel is from the Prayer of Azariah.
* [3:24–90] These verses are additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel, translated from the Greek form of the book. They were probably first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but are no longer extant in the original language. The Roman Catholic Church has always regarded them as part of the canonical Scriptures.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus comments on the Destruction of the Temple and signs and persecutions.
* [21:5–36] Jesus’ eschatological discourse in Luke is inspired by Mk 13 but Luke has made some significant alterations to the words of Jesus found there. Luke maintains, though in a modified form, the belief in the early expectation of the end of the age (see Lk 21:27, 28, 31, 32, 36), but, by focusing attention throughout the gospel on the importance of the day-to-day following of Jesus and by reinterpreting the meaning of some of the signs of the end from Mk 13 he has come to terms with what seemed to the early Christian community to be a delay of the parousia. Mark, for example, described the desecration of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans (Mk 13:14) as the apocalyptic symbol (see Dn 9:27; 12:11) accompanying the end of the age and the coming of the Son of Man. Luke (Lk 21:20–24), however, removes the apocalyptic setting and separates the historical destruction of Jerusalem from the signs of the coming of the Son of Man by a period that he refers to as “the times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24). See also notes on Mt 24:1–36 and Mk 13:1–37.3
Andy Alexander, S.J. comments that we are people of faith. We turn to Jesus, not as one who undoes all the immediate effects of the darkness of sin and resistance to his way, but as one who comes as light in the midst of our darkness. He is our hope, when all seems hopeless. As we wrap up the old year, we can hear themes of the new year of hope - the Season of Advent. We can faintly hear the chant, "A Time Will Come for Singing."
The good news continues to come alive when we imagine what people of faith and hope can do to make a difference in this world. We don't simply endure the darkness. We ourselves bring light. We build bridges of compassion in the midst of the terrible divisions among us. We become people of community, people of solidarity and people of fraternity. We help others see and appreciate what can happen when people work together for the common good. The good news comes alive when believers become advocates for the advancement of the Reign of God here on earth. When we stand together to protect the vulnerable; when we give voice to the voiceless; when we overcome obstacles centered in greed and profit, to save our planet and those who are and will suffer most from inaction. May Jesus fill us with faith and hope and love these days. For the consolation of our hearts, and for the coming of God's Kingdom among us all.4
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)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 21:5-11 comments that the important issue isn’t when Jesus is coming back; it’s what we are doing to be ready for it.
Are you living as if he could return at any moment? If that question makes you uneasy, consider this: Jesus’ return means that you will see him, your Savior, the one who rescued you from sin and death. You will behold the God who created you from nothing, who provided for all your needs, and who cares for you every second. You’ll be before the one whose love for you is greater than you ever imagined while on earth. Think about these things, and your heart will be stirred with joy and eager expectation for that day.6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the statue of iron and clay in Daniel to the Seleucid Empire in the two hundred years before Christ. Signs all around us have generated false predictions of the end times. Friar Jude advises that we strive to have nothing left unsaid and nothing left undone.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that with no story line, no integrating images that define who we are or direct our lives, we just won’t be happy. Carl Jung developed this idea for our generation of Western rationalists, who had thought that myth meant “not true”—when in fact the older meaning of myth is precisely “always and deeply true”!
Jung goes so far as to say that transformation only happens in the presence of story, myth, and image. A great story pulls us inside of a universal story; it lodges in the unconscious where it is inaccessible to the brutalities of our own mind or will, [1] as Thomas Merton observed. From that hidden place we are healed. For Christians, Jesus’ life is the archetypal map of Everyman and Everywoman: divine conception, ordinary life, betrayal, abandonment, rejection, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. It all comes full circle, as we return to where we started, though now transformed. Jung saw this basic pattern repeated in every human life. He called it the Christ Archetype, “an almost perfect map” of the whole journey of human transformation. Jung’s notion of an Archetype or Ruling Image can help us understand the “Universal Stand-In” that Jesus is and was meant to be.7
We are gifted as humans to recognize patterns and inspired by the Spirit to act with compassion to help those in need.
References
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