November 11, 2009
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Breaking Open the Word By James Cavanagh Nov. 15: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Scripture readings:
Overview: As we come to the end of the Church year the readings, appropriately enough, call to mind the doctrine of Last Things. The book of Daniel was written during a time a great national distress when the Greeks occupied Israel in the second century B.C. The basic message of Daniel is how faithful Jews living under tyranny can triumph over evil by trusting God and staying true to the faith. The first reading describes the final contest between good and evil. At the last judgment the righteous and the wicked will both rise from the dead. Those who were faithful to God will go to heaven where they will “shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament” while those who opposed God will be condemned to “everlasting horror and disgrace.” The second reading compares the temple priests with the high priesthood of Christ. The former had to offer repeated sacrifices that could never take away sins while Christ made one offering of himself destroying the tyranny of sin forever. Having conquered evil Christ now sits forever at the right hand of God from whence “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” This week’s Gospel reading comes from what is called the “Little Apocalypse” of Mark. The disciples would have immediately recognized the connection to Daniel. At the end of time, at a “day or hour no one knows,” the Son of Man (Christ) will come in glory with his angels to gather the elect and take them to heaven. Key verse: “They will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory” (Mk 13:26). “Catechism of the Catholic Church”: “The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death” (No. 1040). Pope Benedict XVI: “Just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem so in the Christian liturgy the congregation looked together ‘toward the Lord.’ They did not close themselves into a circle; they did not gaze at one another, but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens (East), for the Christ who comes to meet us” (“Spirit of the Liturgy”). Application: At Mass we anticipate that day when Christ returns in glory as we “wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.” Though we know not the day or hour, the coming of the Son of Man in glory gives us hope and courage when the winds of opposition howl against the Church.
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