Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Apocalypse now
Forms go extinct, Love remains
And the Dance moves on.

Mal 3:19-20a / 2 Thes 3:7-12 / Lk 21:5-19

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Once again, our readings are appropriate for the moment in which we find ourselves. Not because the apocalypse is imminent, but rather because we desperately need to be reminded that our world is only transitory. Politics and culture are merely games. Yes, they are ones with the power to make our stay on this little rock more or less pleasant, but they are not the life and death struggles we think them to be. No, our hope is in a kingdom far grander than any dog and pony show we can invent. And the best news is that this realm is even now rising in our midst; all we need is the faith to see it.

Malachi 3:19-20; Psalms 98:5-9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Malachi 3:19-20; Luke 21:5-19

The End Times: parochialism at its finest. We will bathe in "the sun of justice". They will be reduced to nothing more than "stubble". Such hopes are understandable. But are we looking for redemption or vindication? And is the kingdom a home for the chosen few who have persevered or the entire family, including the proud, the persecutors, the collaborators, and all the rest of the weaklings who do evil? Does anyone need God's "healing rays" more than them? No one should be denied such grace.