Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 22, 2022 - 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 are coming when there will not be lert a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." [Luke]
NOVEMBER 22 ST. CECILIA , virgin and martyr
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Waiting in patience is part of the Christian vocation! The last couple of weeks of the liturgical year focus on "last things." The gospel passages are from Jesus' last days in Jerusalem before his arrest and the first scriptures come mostly from the Book of Revelation with its vivid apocalyptic language. Both the Gospel According to Luke and the Book of Revelation were written after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D.. Both books were written for a community under persecution - awaiting delivery. (The Book of Revelation is one among a multitude of apocalyptic works in circulation in the early Church but it is the one eventually accepted as inspired and included in the canon of scripture. The Old Testament also features vivid apocalyptic language. The Book of Ezekiel begins with a vision of this kind. [Ezekiel 1:1-28]).
The gospel passage today, then, reflects not only Jesus' prediction about the destruction of the temple but a concern in the early Christian community about his glorious return at the end of time. There will be false prophets and other seemingly convincing events but the actual end of time is not known.
Thus, the liturgical year ends with the community awaiting delivery from persecution and the end of time. The new year, the First Sunday of Advent, begins next Sunday with us awaiting the birth of Christ. The old expression, "Hurry up and wait!" might be an apt summary! AMEN