Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Sunday is the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time which is one week away from the Solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday of the liturgical year. The Word already gives us a momentum to realize that Jesus Christ ought to be the only one for us. That is to say that if our Lord comes into our lives, as we heard, he comes above the clouds; the clouds that we often have in our lives, that make us hesitate and doubt that the sun is really there. The sun is Jesus Christ, the true sun, the Son of Justice. He comes to warm up our lives, and our history. He comes to bring joy and peace, to bring light to our lives and to our history. It is necessary to see Him in the midst of the clouds we have.
For that to happen it is necessary that we be aware of the stars that shine in our lives. Sometimes they shine so brightly from so far away that we cannot even touch them. It is fundamental that these stars start to shake, wobble and fall down so that Jesus Christ may be put in their place. The Lord wants to tumble those stars that we have placed in our lives, those idolatries, and remove them from our lives and replace them with the true light that will give us real life. This is the Parousia, the Second Coming, the coming of the Lord into the life of each one of us.
In two weeks, we will be starting Advent which is the ‘coming of the Lord’ but not only in the sense of his Second Coming, but in this intermediate coming which the saints always speak of. Today the Lord wants to come into your life, he wants to come this Advent and be part of you. Therefore, the shaking, the wobbling of all these stars in which we place our trust is a wonderful grace for you.
I like this Word of God a lot especially when it says that Christ will send his angels to gather the elect, the chosen ones, from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. The chosen ones will be scattered; you are the Lord’s chosen ones, and I hope that you rejoice in this election today. The Lord has chosen you even though you are dispersed, far away, but it doesn’t matter since the angels sent by God will gather you. These angels are apostles and prophets that the Lord put in our life to gather us together, to take us back to the kingdom of heaven, to take us back to the true sun that comes down from above. It is Jesus Christ who will appear in the midst of these clouds.
At the end of the gospel, Jesus says, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. The things that until now have supported us in our lives, those false assurances, false idols, false gods, those shepherds who are on the wrong track, all of them will pass away. Even joy, sadness, depression, anxieties will pass away with heaven and earth. St. Theresa says everything passes but God does not change; only he is enough. The Word of God, the love of God in our lives that is Christ, does not pass away. That is always the bedrock on which you can lean today.
Whatever it is that causes you to suffer or be distressed by your sins or whatever it is, they don’t matter. Lean on the love of the Lord because it will not pass away. It is always present. So, whatever happens, and many things will happen, you are anchored and steadfast in that love which can never pass away, as the sunshine passes to the darkness. When the day comes the stars are gone, the idols pass, money runs out, health declines, beauty is over, our reputation as a wonderful person comes to an end. You will lose your position, no one will recognize you anymore or call you or give a damn about you.
There is one thing that does not pass in your life and that is the love of God, his love shown in your history, the love of God for me a sinner; this will not pass away. On this next to last Sunday in this liturgical year, may the Lord help us to see him amidst the clouds. Today we are surrounded by so many wobbly stars, so it is even more important that we see the love of God, his mercy, his forgiveness for each one of us. The first reading says that the ‘wise will shine brightly’.
What a wonder is the Church who makes the Lord present for us to remind us of his love and more than ever that he has conquered death, and he says once again, I love you, I love you, I love you. I am with you, I forgive you, come and be one with me in heaven.
To see our sins is the beginning of faith. Our sins help us to listen to the word, to the preaching. If you were not needy you would not be listening. You come to the Eucharist because you need to be saved, to be healed, to be taken out of slavery. Your earthly like will end one day and Christ wants to give you faith. He corrects and exhorts us to see our reality, then he gives you the good news: I love you; I will make you holy, you will have eternal life, you will love the enemy. I will do it for you.
The last time we heard about the fig tree it was barren, sterile, now it is full of life with tender branches and sprouting leaves showing us that you Lord are near. All the people, events and objects around us are like parables, using the sacred language of creation to communicate to us His saving love. It even seems like summer is near us in this balmy weather and for sure Christ is close to us.
The Lord is saying to us: I want you to live in heaven because I came down from heaven to enter into your life and to bring you to heaven. So be at peace. I want to come to you today in this Eucharist only for one purpose: to bring heaven down to you. The Word and the preaching are to help you to see heaven in your life wherever you are so that when you pass from this world I, the Lord, can take you with me to heaven.