First
Reading – Daniel 12:1-3
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 15(16):5,8-11
Second
Reading – Hebrews 10:11-14,18
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 24:42, 44
Alternative Acclamation – Luke 21:36
The Gospel According to Mark 13:24-32
(NJB)
Listen!
God,
the creator of the universe, God made creation and everyone in it free to make
choices of their own.
Nothing
is determined.
The
entirety of creation exists in God, the whole of time and space are encompassed
by the godhead, all our individual choices come into being through the power
God has given us to determine our future for ourselves.
This
radical state of freedom exists by the will of God, and our faith teaches us
that despite the vicissitudes of evil we experience in the flesh, God will bring
it all to the good in the end.
As
a loving parent God is merciful, caring and forgiving; trust that God is humble
in the administration of justice because God knows what we endure.
Be
mindful.
All
of God’s children share the same destiny and no-one is excluded from the divine
family.
If
you trust in God; your confidence in that trust will be its own reward.
God
is good, and it is true to say that everything good flows from the divine, as
all goodness belongs to God and everything is subject to…transformed by it in
the end.
Look
for the good of God in all creation, in everything that unfolds within the
scope of your life.
Know
this.
There
are no alien gods.
The
true God is the divine source of all being, The true God dwells within everyone
and everything. We all worship the divine in our own way, even when we are
worshipping next to someone at the same altar, according to the same rituals, using
the same rites, articulating the same creeds and dogmas; we do this under auspices
of our own misconceptions of the true God.
Be
mindful.
Any
representation of God is a manifestation of idolatry, whether our facsimiles are
made of metal or stone, carved from wood, or composed of words, whether they
are painted on canvass, or drawn among the stars. Even our best ideas and
closest approximations are projections of the human mind, deviating from the
supernal by orders of magnitude in each step between conception and application.
Remember.
God
calls all of Gods children to God’s self, no one is left out.
Know
this.
Jesus was not put to death as an offering for
sin, this was not God’s purpose. God has nothing to do with the cult of animal
sacrifice; the divine does not trade in blood magic or covet the smell of burning
fat.
It should be understood that in the earliest
times, the offerings that were made at the temple, or prior to the temple at
the altar in the wilderness, the priest’s portion was taken and distributed to
the poorest of the poor. Such customs belonged to the social welfare system of
the tribes.
As corruption set in, overtime the priestly
class used those offerings to enrich themselves, the poor were not allowed to
approach the temple, on the grounds that they were ritually impure, and a
priest would not go near them out of fear of contamination. The temple no
longer distributed alms, and the people experienced the tithe to the temple as
a tax which they could scarcely afford.
When the church took the place of the temple,
the cult of animal sacrifice was supposed to end, and the gifts of the church
were meant to be free to any and all who chose to take up the way.
Know this.
The future history of the world has not been
written.
Any supposition about our future here on earth
is at best informed by real data and statistical analysis, and at worst merely
a guess. We can know but little about the days and nights to come.
There are thousands of ways in which the plans
we have laid or the hopes which we cherish can come undone: lightning strikes, tornadoes
twist, meteors fall, volcano explode.
A person in the fullness of life may trip and
fall, hit their head and die, leaving everything behind them…one stroke and we
are dead, dead but not gone.
We continue.
God has promised to bring an end to suffering,
injustice, hunger, illness. It is the proper content of Christian faith to believe
in God’s promise, but the promises are not of this world.
Having never been there I cannot speak of it. No
one living has...anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you something.
We have been called to the belief in a loving
God, to hope in the words of the prophets, to trust in the Gospel, to act as if
the vision we have been promised will actually come to pass.
We have been called to live our present lives
as if the reality of those promises had taken shape in the present.
This is the way.
If we are just and loving, if we care for one
another, we do not have to wait to enter the garden, it will be present among
us. If we trust in the reality of the things we hope for, we are empowered to
live our lives as if it were true.
In so doing, God, who is always with us,
becomes present to us like a burning bush or a column of fire, that we may
approach without fear.
Consider the gospel reading for today, it instructs
us as to limits of human agency.
Pay
attention to the Gospel, and be mindful of the limits that attend all human
agency…it is instructive.
The
authors of the Gospel had come to the end of their ability to narrate the life
and mission of Jesus, at which point they allowed their own imagination, their
own fears, their own misguided notions of what the mission of Jesus was, to enter
the Church, usurping truth and wisdom.
Jesus
becomes transformed, no longer the humble teacher and preacher that he was in
life, he becomes a figure like a monarch or a general descending from heaven in
power and glory. Jesus would have been the first to tell them that power and
glory are no substitute justice with mercy and peace through love.
The
same thing is true for individuals, for nations and all societies; we endure conflict
and sue for peace, hope is born from despair, confusion is resolved by
understanding. When we are farthest away from the light we are able to see it
in greater focus, like the distant star narrowed to a point, it is able to
guide us and draw us to itself...allow yourself to be drawn in by the light.
Remember.
Jesus
did not return, he did not come back in the lifetime of the Gospel writers.
They said he would but he didn’t, proving both themselves and their own
teachers wrong about a pretty important article of their system of beliefs. As
a result they allowed their hopes and fears to co-mingle and take shape as a
series of lies which they introduced into the narrative of Jesus’ life, and Christians
have been stuck with the task of interpreting these lies ever since…much to its
detriment and the denigration of the way.
First
Reading – Daniel 12:1-3
Some
Will Wake to Everlasting Life, Some to Shame and Disgrace
‘At
that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who mounts guard over your
people. There is going to be a time of great distress, unparalleled since
nations first came into existence. When that time comes, your own people will
be spared, all those whose names are found written in the Book. Of those who
lie sleeping in the dust of the earth many will awake, some to everlasting
life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace. The learned will shine as
brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue,
as bright as stars for all eternity.’
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 15(16):5,8-11
Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
The Lord, my inheritance
Preserve me, Lord,
I put my hope in you.
I have said to the Lord
“You are my Lord,
in you alone is all my good.”
As for the holy and noble men of the
land,
in them is all my delight.
But for those who run to alien gods,
their sorrows are many.
I will not share in their libations
of blood.
I will not speak their names.
You, Lord, are my inheritance and my
cup.
You control my destiny,
the lot marked out for me is of the
best,
my inheritance is all I could ask for.
I will bless the Lord who gave me
understanding;
even in the night my heart will teach me wisdom.
I will hold the Lord for ever in my
sight:
with him at my side I can never be shaken.
Thus it is that my heart rejoices,
heart and soul together;
while my body rests in calm hope.
You will not leave my soul in the
underworld.
You will not let your chosen one see decay.
You will show me the paths of life,
the fullness of joy before your face,
and delights at your right hand until the end of time.
Amen.
O Lord, you will show me the fullness
of joy in your presence. Alleluia.
Alleluia. Alleluia.
Second
Reading – Hebrews 10:11-14,18
When
All Sins Have Been Forgiven, there Can Be No More Sin-Offerings
All
the priests stand at their duties every day, offering over and over again the
same sacrifices which are quite incapable of taking sins away. He, on the other
hand, has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his place
forever, at the right hand of God, where he is now waiting until his enemies
are made into a footstool for him. By virtue of that one single offering, he
has achieved the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying. When all
sins have been forgiven, there can be no more sin offerings.
Gospel
Acclamation – Matthew 24:42, 44
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready, because you do not
know the hour when the Son of Man is coming.
Alleluia!
Alternative
Acclamation – Luke 21:36
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times for the
strength to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Mark 13:24-32
The Stars Will Fall from Heaven
and the Powers in the Heavens Will Be Shaken
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In those days, after
the time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its
brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven and the powers in the
heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the
clouds with great power and glory; then too he will send the angels to gather
his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the world to the ends of
heaven.
‘Take the
fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come
out, you know that summer is near. So with you when you see these things
happening: know that he is near, at the very gates. I tell you solemnly, before
this generation has passed away all these things will have taken place. Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
‘But as for
that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son;
no one but the Father.’
A Homily – The Thirty-third Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Year B)
.jpg)
.jpg)
