Just Believe: The Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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  Just Believe:

The Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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November 17, 2019

Malachi 3:19-20; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19

The dramatic end of days is foretold in this passage when leaders will arise and will speak in the name of Christ and will try to show us their way forward. It will be a time of great confusion because many voices will try to persuade us to choose their way, and their plans will seem sensible and they will be people in whom we have some trust. We will be disoriented, and we will not know what information to trust and those people who we thought were friends will turn against us. The apocalyptic images are intended to unsettle us, but Jesus assures us that we do not have to worry. There’s nothing we have to do to earn his favor at the end; we simply have to believe.

For many, believing doesn’t seem to be enough. We have a long tradition of doing things to earn God’s favor or to be noticed by God. We make sacrifices, offer up prayers, we fast, so we can atone for the ways we have strayed and then get a favor from God. I fault myself for doing the same thing. As my sister is sick and in need of healing, I fast, I offer masses for her, I pour out my emotions, and I direct all my energies to ask that she be cured. Do I know better? Yes, but I do it anyways. I know God has compassion upon her, and I know God cares for me, but I do these extra steps to make sure God knows how much I am hurting and want my sister’s better welfare.

Scripture teaches us to live in right relationship with God and neighbor. Right relations with God means that we increase our trust and follow God’s promptings and invitations. It means predisposing our hearts and minds to be open to the new opportunities God has for us. It means that we have to trust the ways God reaches out to us. It means we might have to learn to hear in ways that don’t involve our ears. The early Christians spoke of submission to God’s will, which means that we have to let go of our wisdom and lessons from experience in order to accept the fact that God will love us though we do not deserve it. As Christians, we take God at his word that he will be faithful and we stake everything on the faith that God’s promises are true.

We believe that God’s fidelity to us increases our love for God. We strive to be good and moral because we love God. We try to be better people because we feel we must strive to be worthy of this amazing love. We feel a compulsion to love God, who has blessed us in many ways, and therefore we love our neighbor as a friend. Our Christian goodness is seen as our complete trust in God and a moral life that flows from the love God gives to us freely.

Life is good when we accept God’s mercy; life is better when we treat others with mercy and we generate heart-felt goodwill. We become astounded by the promise of the free grace of God, and then it is easier to surrender our will to God’s. God’s abiding grace at that point sustains us and helps us to see the world more nearly as God sees it. No personal crisis, no national disorder, no end-of the world event will be enough to shake our faith in God. The beauty is that all we have to do it to believe.

I conclude with a poem by an anonymous author that I heard at a concert the other night. It was a concert that warns of the approaching wounded winter and the dangers that the homeless and hungry face because of the fierce conditions.

I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.

I believe in love, even when I do not feel it.

I believe in God, even when he is silent.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (1 Maccabees) In those days there appeared in Israel men who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people, saying: "Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us."

Tuesday: (2 Maccabees) Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat.

Wednesday: (2 Maccabees 7) It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.

Thursday: (1 Maccabees 2) The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices. Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.

Friday (1 Maccabees 4) Judas and his brothers said, "Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it." So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.

Saturday (1 Maccabees 6) When the king heard this news, he was struck with fear and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed.
There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 18) As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"

Tuesday: (Luke 19) At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was.

Wednesday (Luke 19) "A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.' His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, 'We do not want this man to be our king.'

Thursday (Luke 19) As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you.

Friday (Luke 19) Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves."

Saturday (Luke 20) Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.

Saints of the Week

November 17: Elizabeth of Hungary, (1207-1231) was the daughter of Andrew II, king of Hungary. She married Ludwig IV of Thuringia and as queen supported many charities. When her husband died in a crusade in 1227, she entered the Third Order of Franciscans.

November 18: The Dedication of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul celebrates churches in honor of the two great church founders. St. Peter's basilica was begun in 323 by Emperor Constantine - directly over Peter's tomb. A new basilica was begun in 1506 and it was completed in 1626. Many great artists and architects had a hand in building it. St. Paul Outside the Walls was built in the 4th century over Paul's tomb. It was destroyed by fire in 1823 and subsequently rebuilt.

November 18: Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852) joined the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and at age 49, traveled to Missouri to set up a missionary center and the first free school west of the Mississippi. She then founded six more missions. She worked to better the lives of the Native Americans.

November 21: The Presentation of Mary originated as a feast in 543 when the basilica of St. Mary's the New in Jerusalem was dedicated. The day commemorate the event when Mary's parent brought her to the Temple to dedicate her to God. The Roman church began to celebrate this feast in 1585.

November 22: Cecilia, martyr (2nd or 3rd century), is the patron saint of music because of the song she sang at her wedding. She died just days after her husband, Valerian, and his brother were beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. She is listed in the First Eucharistic prayer as an early church martyr.

November 23: Clement I, pope and martyr (d. 99) is also mentioned in the First Eucharistic prayer. He is the third pope and was martyred in exile. He is presumed to be a former slave in the imperial court. He wrote a letter to the Corinthians after a revolt and as pope he restored ordered within the ministries.   

November 23: Columban, abbot (d. 615) was an Irish monk who left Ireland for France with 12 companions to found a monastery as a base for preaching. They established 3 monasteries within 10 years. Columban opposed the king's polygamy and was expelled. He set up monasteries in Switzerland and Italy before he died. Though he was expelled, the monasteries were permitted to remain open.

November 23: Miguel Pro, S.J., martyr (1891-1927) lived in Guadalupe, Mexico before entering the Jesuits. Public worship was forbidden in Mexico so Miguel became an undercover priest often wearing disguises. He was arrested and ordered to be shot in front of a firing squad without benefit of a trial. Before he died she shouted out, "Long live Christ the King."

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Nov 17, 1579. Bl Rudolph Acquaviva and two other Jesuits set out from Goa for Surat and Fattiphur, the Court of Akbar, the Great Mogul.

·      Nov 18, 1538. Pope Paul III caused the governor of Rome to publish the verdict proclaiming the complete innocence of Ignatius and his companions of all heresy.

·      Nov 19, 1526. The Inquisition in Alcala, Spain examined Ignatius. They were concerned with the novelty of his way of life and his teaching.

·      Nov 20, 1864. In St Peter's, Rome, the beatification of Peter Canisius by Pope Pius IX.

·      Nov 21, 1759. At Livorno, the harbor officials refused to let the ship, S Bonaventura, with 120 exiled Portuguese Jesuits on board, cast anchor. Carvalho sent orders to the Governor of Rio de Janeiro to make a diligent search for the supposed wealth of the Jesuits.

·      Nov 22, 1633. The first band of missionaries consisting of five priests and one brother, embarked from England for Maryland. They were sent at the request of Lord Baltimore. The best known among them was Fr. Andrew White.

·      Nov 22, 1791: Georgetown Academy opened with one student, aged 12, who was the first student taught by the Jesuits in the United States.

·      Nov 23, 1545: Jeronimo de Nadal, whom Ignatius had known as a student at Paris, entered the Society. Later Nadal was instrumental in getting Ignatius to narrate his autobiography.