Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 23, 2022 - Wednesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 15:1-4 and Luke 21:12-19]Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name. They were holding God's harps, and they sang the song of MOses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations...... [Revelation]
The Book of Revelation is a dramatic and vivid work designed to appeal to a community under persecution from the Roman Empire. The imagery is meant to be symbolic and the intent is to encourage the community to persevere. God's judgment on the Roman Empire would come and the community would survive. The same intent is also present in the gospel scripture today when Luke details persecution that his community was suffering and promises in the words of Jesus: "You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives."
Ultimately the Roman Empire did indeed come to an end, and the Church survived to move on through time and other struggles too numerous to list here. Christian faith has a toughness about it that enables it to survive even the most determined efforts to stamp it out. Those efforts can be international or local. Every university I've served has a professor or two who thinks he or she can dismiss the faith of their students as mere superstition.
In our own country, the more insidious enemy is a kind of secularism that makes faith a matter of taste and personal choice which can be dismissed by policy-makers in the name of "progress" or "the economy." The Book of Revelation offers a vivid hope. The Gospel According to Luke urges steadfast perseverance. We can take their words to heart! AMEN