Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 24, 2020 - Tuesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 14:14-19 and Luke 21:5-11]While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "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 24 DOMINICAN MARTYRS IN VIETNAM [Ss. Ignatius Delgado OP, bishop, Vincent Liem, OP, priest, Dominic An-Kam OP, layperson and companions. These scriptures may vary at Dominican locations.]
The great political figure of the mid- to late 20th century in America, Tip O'Neill, left us the wise statement that "all politics is local." The same can be said about disasters; and if "local" happens to be monumental in size and scope of influence, it is hard to imagine its disappearance or destruction. Herod the Great spent nearly 40 years or more and a fortune to restore the temple in Jerusalem. The restoration was still going on in Jesus' time! Yet, in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed it in response to a bloody rebellion 66-70 AD. To the Jews of Jesus' time, the world seemed to have come to an end! The Gospel According to Luke was written after that event. Luke reports Jesus' prophetic weeping over Jerusalem and his somber words to the wide-eyed rural-rooted apostles who came with him to Jerusalem. Luke also quotes Jesus as warning against false messiahs, which is what happened in the rebellion that led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple!
We are always experiencing some of the "signs" of the end of time that Jesus speaks of. But he also warns us that "it will not immediately be the end." Earthquakes, famines and plagues (COVID-19?), and nations rising against nations have been going on before and after Jesus' life and resurrection, When I was a young priest and law student in New Orleans in the early 1970's, the book, THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH was popular with its apocalyptic predictions. That, along with the publication of THE EXORCIST, meant I had a lot of pastoral counseling of students worried about demonic possession and the end of time! The gospel message is consistent. We do not know when Jesus is going to return or when "the end of time, as we know it" will occur. Our job is to be prepared by living out Jesus' teachings on a day to day basis "locally!" AMEN
[Note of explanation to the Beloved Congregation. In your misalets you may see the name of St. Andrew Dung-lac given for this day. St. John Paul II in 1988 canonized 117 of more than 130,000 martyred Christians in Vietnam over the course of the 17th to 19th centuries. Among those 117 were Dominican missionaries and laypersons. We Dominicans celebrate our brothers and sisters in that group. When I entered the Order in 1964, we had only one feast day for the Dominican martyrs in the Orient. Thanks to JPII, we now have several - Vietnam, Japan, Korea.....]
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