Homily for Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 14, 2021
Joyful Apocalypse
Once
upon a time there was a class of fifth-graders. They were, for the most part, a
well-behaved class, eager to learn. One day, their teacher had to step out for
a minute, so she gave them some work to keep them occupied.
For ten,
fifteen minutes, they diligently worked on the assignment. All was well until
one boy declared, “This is boring!” and he threw down his pencil and started to
read a book. Some of the other students began to follow his lead and slack off
on the assignment.
The
teacher continued to be delayed. Fifteen minutes stretched into a half-hour,
then forty-five minutes. The students began to get restless. A few kept at
their work, but most of them began to goof off as it became clear she wasn’t
returning. “What if she never returns?” they asked themselves with laughter as
they began doing all the things they were forbidden to do – shooting spitballs,
tossing a football in class, rummaging through her desk.
A few
good students tried to speak up – “Get back to work! What if you get caught
breaking the rules?”
But the
other students scoffed at them – “She’s not coming back! We own this
classroom!” And the chaos only got worse. Some kids started breaking things,
the class bully started beating up the smaller kids, some were even trying to
climb out the window.
What
will happen when the teacher returns? That depends on the student. Those who
thought the teacher will not return will face a pretty severe punishment. But
those who were diligent and followed the teacher’s instructions will be praised
and rewarded.
Our
world is in a much worse shape than even a classroom without a teacher. Chaos
rules every realm – from politics to our families, from our media to our
financial system. I think we can all agree that our world is in pretty bad
disarray. Part of that is because we do not see our Teacher, Jesus Christ. Yes,
He is here, truly present in the Eucharist – but He is hidden, and most people
do not recognize Him.
If we had followed His
instructions in the Gospel, we would find our world to be tranquil and at
peace. But as it is, we disobeyed our Savior, and our world is badly broken.
Sin has multiplied, and all of us carry the scars.
But our
Teacher is returning. This is good news! He will return to judge the
living and the dead, as our Creed professes. He will return, not as a hidden
baby in poverty, but as a glorious and mighty King. This Second Coming of
Christ will be visible to all, and no one will be able to deny His authority.
We don’t
know exactly when. When Jesus tells us in the Gospel that “no one knows
the hour, not even the Son of Man,” it means that by natural knowledge alone,
no one can know the day of His return. Of course, in His Divinity, Jesus knows
when He will return. But by human knowledge, no one can figure out a specific
date. I can remember people saying in 1998, 2000, 2012, and 2018 that the world
was supposed to end – and yet here we are! If anyone gives you a specific date
for Christ’s second coming, do not believe them!
Yet a
search of Scripture and the saints give four specific clues about what will
happen beforehand. St. Paul talks about a great apostasy – in other words, a
large amount of people will leave the Catholic Faith – are we seeing that, as
fifty percent of Americans no longer claim to have a religion? Jesus warns of
severe natural disasters before His Coming – and it does seem like we’ve had
quite a few recently. The Book of Revelation speaks about economic collapse. I
am not an economist, but one might wonder if we are heading in that direction. Finally,
Our Lady revealed to Sr. Lucia at Fatima that the final confrontation between
God and Satan will be over the family – and the family is under attack from all
sides, from those who wish to redefine it to the vast number of families
falling apart to the number of families who are not taking seriously their
calling to lead their kids and spouse to Heaven. Every generation is called to
remain vigilant and read the signs of the times.
So, could Christ’s Second Coming
be soon? I certainly hope so – because what a joyous day that will be! Christ
will come to finally destroy chaos, disorder, and sin. If we love sin, we will
fear His coming. But if we love Christ and hate sin, then we will rejoice when
He comes. No human effort can clean up this mess that we’ve made – the mess in
our lives, our families, our nation, our world. No, it requires Jesus Christ
alone to “make all things new”.
And if we are living holy lives,
we have nothing to fear at His coming! I love the story of St. Charles
Borromeo, the sixteenth-century bishop of Milan. He loved to play billiards,
and was quite the pool-shark. One day he was playing billiards with a fellow
priest, who asked him, “Bishop Charles, what would you do if you knew you were
going to die in five minutes? Would you drop to your knees, or run to
Confession?” The holy bishop replied, “I would continue playing billiards.” The
priest looked shocked, so the bishop continued, “My soul is clean, in the state
of grace, and I began this game with the intention of glorifying God. Why
should I stop playing, if this is giving Him glory?”
If we are living as we should,
we have nothing to fear when Christ comes again. On the contrary, how joyful it
will be when He finally comes to destroy sin and death forever!
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