Triumph of the Kingdom

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, in the final days of the Church year, challenge us to consider what the triumph of God over the darkness and death of worldly abuse of power means to our choices.

Triumph over darkness

The reading from the Book of Daniel describes visions of the Four Beasts and judgement before the Ancient One.

* [7:1–27] This vision continues the motif of the four kingdoms from chap. 2; see note on 2:36–45. To the four succeeding world kingdoms, Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek, is opposed the heavenly kingdom of God and the kingdom of God’s people on earth. The beast imagery of this chapter has been used extensively in the Book of Revelation, where it is applied to the Roman empire, the persecutor of the Church.

* [7:2] The great sea: the primordial ocean beneath the earth, according to ancient Near Eastern cosmology (Gn 7:11; 49:25). It was thought to contain various monsters (Is 27:1; Jb 7:12), and in particular mythological monsters symbolizing the chaos which God had vanquished in primordial times (Jb 9:13; 26:12; Is 51:9–10; etc.).

* [7:4] In ancient times the Babylonian empire was commonly represented as a winged lion, in the rampant position (raised up on one side). The two wings that were plucked may represent Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. On two feet like a human being…a human mind: contrasts with what is said in 4:13, 30.

* [7:5] A bear: represents the Median empire, its three tusks symbolizing its destructive nature; hence, the command: “Arise, devour much flesh.”

* [7:6] A leopard: used to symbolize the swiftness with which Cyrus the Persian established his kingdom. Four heads: corresponding to the four Persian kings of 11:2.

* [7:7–8] Alexander’s empire was different from all the others in that it was Western rather than Eastern in inspiration, and far exceeded the others in power. The ten horns represent the kings of the Seleucid dynasty, the only part of the Hellenistic empire that concerned the author. The little horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 B.C.), who usurped the throne and persecuted the Jews.

* [7:9–10] A vision of the heavenly throne of God (the Ancient of Days), who sits in judgment over the nations. Some of the details of the vision, depicting the divine majesty and omnipotence, are to be found in Ezekiel 1. Others are paralleled in 1 Enoch, a contemporary Jewish apocalypse.

* [7:13–14] One like a son of man: In contrast to the worldly kingdoms opposed to God, which are represented as grotesque beasts, the coming Kingdom of God is represented by a human figure. Scholars disagree as to whether this figure should be taken as a collective symbol for the people of God (cf. 7:27) or identified as a particular individual, e.g., the archangel Michael (cf. 12:1) or the messiah. The phrase “Son of Man” becomes a title for Jesus in the gospels, especially in passages dealing with the Second Coming (Mk 13 and parallels). (Daniel, CHAPTER 7, n.d.)

The response is from Daniel 3 of Friday December 1, 2023.

* [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.

* [3:25] Azariah: i.e., Abednego; cf. Dn 1:7. (Daniel, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus notes the Lesson of the Fig Tree.

* [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. (Luke, CHAPTER 21, n.d.)

Barbara Dilly reflects most today on the message of redemption in Luke 21:28.  There are a lot of promises that bring us to this point. God promises us everlasting dominion and the coming of a Savior in the Old Testament, and Jesus promises that His words will not pass away even after Heaven and earth will pass away.

Jesus also promises us we can be confident that our redemption is at hand, enough so that we can stand erect and raise our heads, because we will be delivered of all the forces of sin and evil in this world. I pray today that we will all not only trust Jesus’s promises, but that we will remain confident in them until Jesus returns. It is a good spiritual practice, I think, to stand erect and raise our heads a bit each day amid all the sin and evil in this world. The beasts will not prevail. (Dilly, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “My words will not pass away,” by an anonymous author from the early Greek fathers.

"'This generation' refers both to those who suffer temptation and to those who cause it. It refers to sinners among men and to the demons who are at work in them. For neither group will cease being in the world until its consummation. For Christ said, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matthew 25:41). Moreover, it is necessary that the source of temptation be preserved as long as there is faith which needs testing. It is also possible, however, that 'this generation' refers to those mortal Christians who would not pass over into eternal life and be made immortal and impassible 'until' all the events about which Christ was speaking had taken place.

"'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away' because heaven and earth were created to serve you, but my words were uttered to govern you. Both heaven and earth are subject to vanity, as the apostle said, 'Creation is subject to vanity' (Romans 8:20). Truth, however, is by nature unable to deceive and can never die." (excerpt from INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 49, the Greek fathers). (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Daniel 7:2-14 (Meditation on Daniel 7:2-14, n.d.)comments that Daniel’s vision can bring us great comfort. We see disorder, chaos, and dysfunction all around us. People who do good suffer, while those who seek power, wealth, or fame seem to prosper. We may ask, Where is God? Are we all lost, adrift in a sea of selfishness and injustice? Not at all!

You are not lost to God. He sees through all the confusion; he sees you, his beloved child. And he promises that eventually all the books will be opened and his reign will never end (Daniel 7:10, 14). Jesus, King of kings, cares for you. The One who alone has everlasting dominion loves you with a love stronger than death. Nothing can separate you from that love!

“Jesus, you are Lord! You will reign forever and ever!” (Meditation on Daniel 7:2-14, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes the various creatures in Daniel 7 that represent empires that have conquered the world. The “Son of Man” in Daniel originally referred to all the Jewish people and it became a reference to a messiah in Jesus' time. Incidents in our lives that remind us of our vulnerability remind us to live every second as precious.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, speaks of our universal mandate to live out the gospel in our lives. He notes that people who live their prophetic vocation are those who choose this life of love and transformation.

Without a constant infusion of the Holy Spirit, without a constant desire and trust—Lord, give me your Holy Spirit!—we all close down. We do! It’s the nature of life to circle around the smaller and smaller self, to take fewer and fewer risks, and to never go outside our own comfort zone of people who are just like us. Friends and siblings in Christ, don’t do that! We’re all going to be gone in a few years. We only get one chance to live this life of love. Every day is a lesson in love, learning how not to bind up ourselves and our neighbors, but in fact to free ourselves and others. What Jesus is saying here to Peter and to all of us is that he will back up what we do. We are Jesus’ emissaries. As Teresa of Ávila says, “We are the only hands and feet, the only eyes and ears that Jesus has.” [1] Jesus has handed over the mission and the mystery and the wonder of the realm of God to each of us.

Until we can live every day of our lives motivated by love, rather than by fear or people in authority, this Gospel will not work. It will not change you or me, and it will not change the people around us. Let’s begin anew. (Rohr, 2023)

We seek inspired response by the Spirit to our witness to daily destruction of the lives of people through armed conflict and the continued indifference towards the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth.

References

Daniel, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/3? 

Daniel, CHAPTER 7. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/7?2 

Dilly, B. (2023, December 1). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/120123.html 

Luke, CHAPTER 21. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/21?29 

Meditation on Daniel 7:2-14. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/12/01/840168/ 

Rohr, R. (2023, December 1). Knowing Jesus for Ourselves — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/knowing-jesus-for-ourselves/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=dec1 

Signs of the End

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our desire to know the future in tension with the exhortation to be prepared today for our end time.

Prepared for the End

The reading from the Book of Daniel describes Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream.

* [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. (Daniel, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)

The psalm response is the Prayer of Azariah from Daniel.

* [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. (Daniel, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus predicts the Destruction of the Temple and Foretells 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. (Luke, CHAPTER 21, n.d.)

Tamora Whitney comments that in the Gospel people want to know what’s going to happen. But we still don’t really know exactly what the future holds.

We want to know what will happen. We want to know when, but we just don’t know. We will have to get through the bad times and hope for some good times. Nebuchadnezzar’s prophecy went way beyond his own lifetime. The prophecy Jesus gave to his people went way beyond their own life times. We can make guesses, and think about what these things mean and how they relate to the prophecy, but we really just don’t know when and where. So we have to do the best we can where we are now. (Whitney, 2023)

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) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Daniel 2:31-45 comments that all of us are tempted from time to time to get anxious or fearful about what the future may hold for us and our loved ones. When that happens, remember this truth: our future is secure because it’s in God’s hands. Our loving, faithful God cares deeply about his creation, and in the end, he won’t let it be overpowered by evil. In fact, he cares for us so much that he sent his Son to earth to save us.

Today in prayer, surrender to the Lord all your worries about the future. Trust him to help you through whatever difficulties that lie ahead, and keep your eyes fixed on the glory to come. Because just as he did for Daniel, God has already revealed to you the end of the story—an ending that’s better than any of us could ever imagine.

“Father, I trust in you, today and all the days of my life.” (Meditation on Daniel 2:31-45, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler reminds us that the Book of Daniel was written during the persecution of the Seleucids with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon as a stand in for the Seleucid Emperor who ruled over a mixed empire. Friar Jude notes that in the last week of the Church year, the Gospel about the end times urges us to always be ready.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Carlo Carretto (1910–1988) who was a member of the Little Brothers of Jesus, a community of contemplatives who lived and worked among the poor in Northern Africa. Carretto reflects on the call that inspired him to give up his comfortable life in Italy.

“You will be judged according to your ability to love” this place [in the Sahara] reminds me insistently. And my eyes, burnt by the sun, gaze up into the cloudless sky.

I don’t want to deceive myself any more; indeed I am not able to. The truth is that I did not give my blanket to Kada, for fear of the cold night. And that means that I love my own skin more than my brother’s, while God’s commandment tells me: “Love the life of others as you love your own.”…

God does not hurry over things; time is [God’s], not mine. And I, little creature, a man, have been called to be transformed into God by sharing [God’s] life. And what transforms me is the charity which [God] pours into my heart.

Love transforms me slowly into God.

But sin is still there, resisting this transformation, knowing how to, and actually saying “no” to love.…

To have resisted love, not to have been capable of accepting the demand of this love which said to me, “Give the blanket to your brother,” is so serious that it creates an obstacle between me and God and this is my purgatory. 

What’s the use of saying the Divine Office well, of sharing the Eucharist, if one is not impelled by love?

What’s the use of giving up everything and coming here to the desert and the heat, if only to resist love?…

“You will be judged according to your ability to love,” says the great stone under which I spent my purgatory waiting for perfect love to grow within myself, that which Jesus brought to earth for me…. (Rohr, 2023)

We can identify with the desire to know the future, yet we have the influence of the Spirit to make us aware that our life is the fullest when we accept every nudge to live with faith, hope and charity today.

References

Daniel, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/2?31 

Daniel, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/3 

Luke, CHAPTER 21. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/21? 

Meditation on Daniel 2:31-45. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/11/28/838513/ 

Rohr, R. (2023, November 28). Obeying the Call to Love — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/obeying-the-call-to-love/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=nov28 

Whitney, T. (2023, November 28). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/112823.html