Nov. 14, 2021: 33rd Sunday B

 Nov. 14, 2021: 33rd Sunday B

Someone said that everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end. When you think about it, our fragile and complex lives have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Church Fathers often likened our lives to the biblical image of potter working with clay. At the beginning of life, we are like a lump of wet clay on the spinning wheel of time. As long as the clay is still moist, the potter can shape and reshape the clay until it becomes a beautiful vessel. Once the vessel is placed in the oven of fire, the shape is set permanently.  

In the Gospel Our Lord spoke about the end time when our fundamental choice for him or against him is fixed forever. There are two end times--first is our immediate end when we die and stand before God. We will be judged for our own personal, free choice to choose God and the path to holiness or to turn against Him. The second is the final end as described by Jesus, “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened... the stars will be falling from the sky… And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'... and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds.” It is also called the Day of the Lord, the final day of the world, when Jesus, the Son of Justice, will come again to judge the living and the dead. 

In recent time, people have been fascinated with speculations about whether this calamity or that natural disaster is an imminent sign of the final coming of Christ. As Christians, we should not fear death, but rather ready ourselves for it, by growing in holiness and striving for eternal life. Our daily decision is in fact preparation for our immediate end. Have your parents or grandparents ever said to you,"Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have"? Our older generation has learned through life that joy must be derived from the things that we have instead of feeling sorrowful for the things we don’t have. The secret of true happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness.

Have you ever seen the great masterpiece by Michelangelo, “The Last Judgment”? It’s a fresco painted on the wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican depicting the Judgment Day when Christ comes to judge all of humanity. Michelangelo depicted all of the human figures without clothes to emphasize that no matter what social, economic, or religious status they enjoyed in earthly life, they are all naked before God; they possess nothing other than their acts of love done for God and neighbor. Have they heeded Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which he revealed that he is hidden in the suffering ones--the poor, neglected, imprisoned, ? “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). 

Mother Teresa understood very well the implication of the Sermon on the Mount when she said, “We all long for heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in heaven with him right now—–to be happy with him at this very moment. But being happy with him now means loving like he loves, helping like he helps, giving as he gives, serving as he serves, rescuing as he rescues, being with him twenty-four hours a day–—touching him in his distressing disguise.” 

The saying, “Everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end,” is reminding us to keep in touch with reality. The reality is that our happiness does not lie in spending this short earthly life accumulating, excelling, and enjoying. At our judgment when we stand before the throne of God, we desire to hear from Our Lord,  “I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you housed me. And whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” As we enter into Thanksgiving and the Season of Advent, we are thankful that Jesus has called each of us during our short season of earthly life to be missionaries of God’s love. We have much to be grateful for; let us look for opportunities to share with those who struggle with life’s challenges.