Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - Tuesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 14:14-19 and Luke 21:5-11]"All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." [Luke]
NOVEMBER 22, 2016 ST. CECILIA, martyr
Since this is the last week in "Ordinary Time," the scriptures in our lectionary are featuring the visions of the Book of Revelation and Jesus' comments about the end times from the Gospel of Luke. Next Sunday, the liturgical cycle will begin once more with the First Sunday of Advent. The daily cycle will move to Year I and the Sunday cycle will move to Cycle A. But, for the moment, we have a dramatic statement from Jesus that must have amazed his listeners who were gawking at the splendor of the temple in Jerusalem, which was under renovation in Jesus' time, by Herod the Great and his successors. When Jesus spoke of there being a destruction that will not leave "a stone upon another stone," the listener could only imagine such a thing. The equivalent for us, church-wise, is to imagine St. Peter's in Rome reduced to rubble. An earthquake could do that in a matter of seconds! In the case of the temple, the Roman army did the job.
A visit to the Mediterranean area will feature place after place with ruins dating from the time of the Roman Empire, and some from the time of Alexander the Great and his successors. A visit to Central and South America will provide huge temples and other buildings from the Aztec, Toltec and Inca empires. At one time, even the pyramids of Egypt were covered with sand! We who take our own "civilization" for granted might benefit from considering Jesus' words about the temple. No human effort, no matter how grand, can outlast time and nature - only the good Lord's eternity can do that. We do the best we can to live our lives in accord with Jesus' teachings and pray to share eternity with him. Our buildings and other cultural achievements will be the subject of academic dissertations and tours or pilgrimages some day! AMEN
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