Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Famous Catholic biblical scholar Raymond Brown once warned that we should not dismiss Christian apocalyptics too easily. Those who believe they can predict the Second Coming of Christ might not be correct. Still, we do believe that the Lord will return, that this world will come to an end and that the living and the dead will be judged. We do not know the day or the hour—but that day and hour will come!

The proper posture of a Christian ought to be consistency. Jesus says, “By your perseverance, you will secure your lives.” We can waste a lot of time wondering if a growing number of political tensions and natural disasters—or a perception of growth due to media coverage—are signs of the world’s end. “Nation will rise against nation… There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place.” Yet the story of Elijah awaiting God’s presence on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:11ff) is instructive. Elijah experienced a mighty wind, an earthquake, and fire from heaven—but God was in none of them. Then the prophet heard a tiny whispering breeze, and he hid his face to the glory of the Lord standing before him.

Consistency, therefore, is what is needed: we ought to be already living a holy life and ready to meet the Lord when He comes. “You will be hated by all because of my name,” says the Lord, and you will receive “a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come” (Mark 10:30). We Christians are used to ill treatment. Yet, “not a hair on your head will be destroyed,” and “for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” Therefore, the final test will be no struggle for Jesus’ disciples—in fact, it will mean vindication and peace.

All of us have the heroic dream of something akin to stepping out off the bleachers to put on a football helmet and with sheer, undeniable talent and throw a pass for the winning touchdown without attending a single practice. While such extraordinary circumstances can happen like this in real life and in the spiritual life, for most of us, the road to heaven is less like this and more like being a mall walker. Consistency is taking up your cross daily to follow Christ. “By your perseverance, you will you will secure your lives.”

Question: Is my life marked by consistency or by “getting by?” Do you secretly hope that one or two extraordinary deeds will counteract the humdrum living most of the rest of the time? Do I have a daily prayer life, do I repent and grow in holiness through regular confession, and am I practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy?

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB