33RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME HOMILY – YEAR B 2024
LOOK OUT! BE PREPARED AND AWAKE
Mk 13.24-32 Dan 12.1-3 Heb 10.11-14,18
And now for the scary stuff, the end of time, but let’s not hold our breath waiting!! While the early Christians, perhaps encouraged by Paul, thought that Jesus would be back on a cloud within a generation, here we are 80 to 100 generations later, in 2024! And whilst the prediction is that the sun will eventually turn into a red giant, swallowing up planet earth, that’s not our worry, as it’s something like 5 billion years away yet!
Jesus speaks of the sun being darkened, the moon losing its brightness, with the stars falling from heaven, but obviously this is not to be taken literally. Apocalyptic language is a style to wake us up, with a call to action now, in responding to the needs we see around us in today’s world.
While there have been many natural disasters and terrible wars over that time, and which still go on, the closest we’ve got to Armageddon so far, was possibly in October 1962, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, when there was a nuclear standoff, and wise heads prevailed in backing off from a nuclear confrontation. But it certainly spoiled my 10th birthday! What was the point of doing homework or practising on the piano?
The denialists of today don’t wish to hear about the reality of global warming, even some the benefits of vaccination, but that doesn’t mean these issues go away if we ignore them! We have a responsibility to face up to the need to do what we can about making the world a better and safer place for all; this is a fundamental Gospel precept. This includes looking after our environment, and being advocates for protecting it, as Pope Francis clearly expresses in his 2015 encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, on “Care for our common home”.
The teachings of Jesus are clearly expressed in the Beatitudes, which are a call to positive action in living life well, based on goodness over evil, light over darkness, hope over despair. When things go wrong, however, we can easily lose sight of the bright side of life.
Once again, reverting to nature and the world around us, Jesus takes the example of the fig tree today. In talking about difficult and dangerous times, he presents an image of growth and life bursting forth, out of the cold and darkness of winter, with springtime blooms and summer approaching. The seasons change, the sun still rises and sets, as does the moon, and the stars stay in their places, light years away in the expanding universe! And here we are on earth, with the Goldilocks’ effect, where everything is just right for life as we know it. Let’s do our best to keep it that way.
So now I take two examples of making a positive difference. This past week we had 2 funerals at St Therese’s, Michael being only 47 and Ray 97. Both had lived full and fulfilling lives in loving families. Michael Ciavarella faced adversity, with a cancer diagnosis some 21 years ago, a crushing blow to a keen sportsman and lover of life. Yet, he faced up to adversity, taking whatever treatment he could, not just to stay alive, but to live as active a life as he could, marrying Anna in the meantime, and having a family. Their twins, Claudia and Amelia, are only 13, but as Anna sent me a moving text, the day after the funeral celebration of his life, commending him to God: “We really did honour Michael in the best way we could, and to see the turnout at both the Rosary and funeral was just a testament to the amazing person he was, I am so very proud to call him my husband, and I know the girls now recognize the impact he had on people, despite his own struggles.”
Then there was Ray Fogarty, a faithful parishioner, with his wife Tess, since 1957 or so, who had 50 more years, and whose legacy was evident in the number who came to farewell him and support his family, having had 6 children, 26 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. As his son Gerard expressed it, he’ll be remembered “as being helpful, kind, intelligent and for being loyal to his Church, his country and his family.” Daughter Cathy concluded with a humorous AA Milne poem, “The Four Friends”, which I also remember fondly from childhood, about Ernest the elephant, Leonard the lion, George the goat and James the snail (on a brick). “Dad was the snail of course, unassuming, small in relation to the world, and coming to the end of his journey. But Dad was also as rock solid, as a human and a parent, as the brick he walked over.”
In this month of All Souls, we are reminded that we learn from each other, and those who have gone before us, how to be role models ourselves, in living the Gospel as well as we can. We all have to face up to the challenges of our lives, which come in so many different ways, and reminded of our own mortality.
And theologian and author Stan Grant makes a good point, in reflecting on current Western society: “I would rather live where the human soul flourishes. I would rather live where my neighbour is loved, not cancelled, where our difference completes us not divides us. I would rather live in a society that enhances our inherent goodness, not corrals our imagined evil. I would rather live in a culture of life, not a culture of death.”
We’re not to be prophets of doom and gloom, waiting around passively for end times to come, but, despite the difficulties that arise along the path of life, let’s be people of hope and joy and action, who connect faith to life as friends of Jesus, who share his love, recognizing his presence in his Word, the Eucharist and each other.
john hannon 17th November 2024