Looking Back, Looking Foward

Looking Back, Looking Forward

My friends, we're getting close to the end of the Church year. Today we celebrate the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Next week will be the last Sunday of this year; we'll celebrate it as Christ the King. Just like our regular new year's festivities, the Church's new year is an occasion to look back on the year we've had and look forward to the year to come. Our readings today are about just that. We wrap up our year in our mind; we've just changed our clocks back, the days are getting short. We spend more time reflecting.

It's been a long year; it's been a year of struggle and toil. For many of us, this year has seen the loss of loved ones. Still, others have seen a loss of work. Some of us have seen friendships change, living arrangements change—lots of change. As we move to the year's end, we reflect on this change and reflect on it. One thing is sure: nothing this year is what we expected it to be, and nothing this year went as we planned. I know it seems trivial, but I had three flat tires in two weeks, and I replaced two tires. I want to say, "come on, God!"

As the year winds down and the days grow longer, we ask what it's all about. Sometimes it seems like there's an awful lot of suffering, if not just a lot of inconvenience. The readings for today were written for a suffering people. They were written for a people who have been through 18 months of a pandemic. They were written for people who were mourning the loss of a friend. They were written for us, and they promise a different tomorrow.

A Prophecy, a Prompt, and a Promise

Daniel's prophecy, which we read in the first reading, is the first time in the Bible introduced the idea of an end time. It's the first time in scripture that we hear that there is something next, something better. Something real! Daniel says, "the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever." I don't know about you, but I need to hear that every day.

Two weeks ago, I celebrated a funeral and burial for a young man only 19 years old. His life was cut short by a senseless tragedy, leaving many friends and family standing in the wake of this loss. As I watched their grief wash over them, I knew that no words I could say would make it right, right now. All they could cling to were words from the Book of Wisdom, not unlike those shared by Daniel: "the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament..." There is a tomorrow beyond our tomorrow and a truth beyond our understanding.

And that truth has a name: Jesus Christ! In our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews today, we learn about Jesus's sacrifice to make our eternity brighter. His sacrifice, dying on a cross so that we may be forgiving, ushers in for us the possibility of a different tomorrow. The possibility of an eternity united with God in Heaven. But this future is not unfolding according to our timeline. No, if it were up to me, I'd want to see the brightness of the Father's glory now. But, not yet, says God. A little longer, says God. And while we wait, we endure these trials and tribulations—most of them small, but some of them earth-shattering.

Jesus shares this promise himself, in his own words, in today's Gospel reading. This reading is known as the "mini-apocalypse" because it sounds so much like the Book of Revelation. But these are Jesus' own words, His own promise. He tells us of a mighty tribulation, a great trial, and tremendous difficulty. Harking back to David, Jesus speaks of a new world that awaits us after we endure our agony. "The moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky." This is how authors in the Old Testament often described the end of the world. When this world ends, "they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky." What a tremendous promise - that, after our pain and heartache, a new world awaits.

There's a good deal of debate about these end times. Some say they haven't started yet; others say they started with the crucifixion of Jesus. And God's time is not our time, so these end times are drawn out.

The Promise is a Calling

If that's the case, and even if it's not, this promise of a new tomorrow is an invitation to us today. Yes, we will encounter great sorrow; we will encounter tragedy and pain. But we will also encounter great joy; we will gaze in wonderment at the beautiful tapestry of a sunset or the remarkable newness of a newborn infant. We will touch and see God's creation and know that all will be restored. Patience, He says. Endure, He says. Believe, He says.

We see this new creation in our upcoming Advent. As we come to the end of this year and we look back on all that we've seen, we look forward with anticipation to the birth of our Lord. We await His coming with the same bated breath of the Jews seeking their Messiah; we stand firm on the shoulders of true believers who have taught us to persevere and hold fast to that truth who is Jesus Christ.

And Christ's church has given us sacraments to nourish us as we continue toward Him. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is meant to nourish us and give us strength. Not just as food we eat, but as the true presence of Christ among us. The sacrament of reconciliation is meant to heal our hurt and ease our burden. In a much broader sense, the sacrament of the Church is here to strengthen us in fellowship, that we might call each other on to the brighter tomorrow.

As we approach Advent, I challenge each of us to approach it deliberately. For some, this is nothing new; but for many of us, this is a departure from the hustle and bustle that can be the season of Advent. Every day, open your eyes to something new in God's creation. Smell a new smell, appreciate a new sight. See the beauty in the world as God renews it every day. In some small way, work to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, especially on this World Day of Prayer for the Poor. Allow God to build in you the anticipation of what is to come, and let it change you into whom God wants you to be.