Introduction: As the Church year comes to an end, the Sunday readings reflect on the final days of the world, our own death and the final judgment. Today's theme is “The Day of the Lord” or the “second coming” of Jesus in glory as judge at the end of the world.
Malachi in the first reading foretells this Day, giving the warning that the future, known to God alone, will bring healing and reward for the just who forearm themselves with words and works (peace, justice, mercy and truth), and retribution for the “proud and all evil doers.”
Today’s psalm refers to Jesus in his second coming: “The Lord...comes to rule the earth; he will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity.”
Although Paul expected to be alive at the return of Jesus, he cautions the Thessalonians in the second reading against the idleness with which some of them were anticipating the end, and encourages them not to be weary of doing good. He suggests that the best preparation for the future is to devote the attention to present duties, to maintain a holy and wholesome balance between prayer and service, work and play and to develop enduring family ties and values.
Today’s gospel passage warns that the date of the end of the world is uncertain. Signs and portents will precede the end, and the faithful will be called upon to testify before kings and governors. The good news, however, is that those who persevere in faithfulness to the Lord will save their souls and enter God's eternal kingdom. Thus, the message of the day is: don't give up; God is always with us. Luke's community had experienced much persecution. Jesus' words about people being "handed over by parents, brothers, relations and friends" were beginning to come true. Hence Luke encourages them in today’s gospel to rely on Jesus’ promise of the protective power of a providing God and to persevere in faith and its practice, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives." Luke also reminds them of the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, given by Jesus.

Exegesis: The apocalyptic discourse. Luke 21:5-36 is Luke's version of what is frequently called "the apocalyptic discourse." Often described as resistance or persecution literature, early Christian apocalyptic writing was not so much concerned with prediction as with interpretation. Like all the Bible’s depictions of the future, these descriptions are symbolic in nature. The apocalyptic literature in the Bible was written to encourage believers to remain faithful through the coming ordeals. The works are meant to inspire believers to derive whatever good they can from life’s inevitable suffering. So the apocalyptic writers encouraged their readers to interpret their sufferings as a sharing in the birth pangs of the “end.” The believers were assured that if they remained constant in faith, they could welcome the end of all things and the beginning of eternity with confidence and joy rather than with fear and dread. Luke presents the material as Jesus’ words addressed to the people gathered in the Temple for the Passover feast. Jesus demands of His hearers tenacity of faith and hope in spite of their sufferings. In the liturgical context, the Church aptly places Jesus’ endtime predictions at the end of the Church year. Luke's text, as we have it, seems to confuse the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (A.D. 79) with Jesus’ predictions of the end of the world.

Fulfilment of Jesus’ prediction: To the proud people of Jerusalem, Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Temple was a great shock and blasphemy because those words sounded like massive distrust in God and an insult to God. Yahweh would not allow it! It is not surprising that these words of Jesus were used against him at his trial before the High Priest. Yet within forty years, the prediction of Jesus was largely fulfilled. The Temple, originally built by Solomon, demolished by the Babylonians and rebuilt by Herod, was destroyed. At the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman army, 1.1 million people perished, 97,000 were carried away into captivity, the Temple was demolished by fire, and the priests were murdered.

Call for evangelization by heroic witnessing: The real question of the believers at the end of the first century was: "Now that many of these things have happened, and we are being persecuted, what should we do?" Luke gives them Jesus’ assurance that they are to trust his words against their persecutors. They must make use of this opportunity to bear witness to Jesus. This test of faith was also an opportunity to bear witness before the court officials and the public at large. Thus, the persecution would become a massive evangelization campaign [21:12-13]. Jesus cautions against their despairing in the face of wide-ranging opposition and persecution. Arrests would be followed by trial and condemnation in religious (Jewish) and civil (Gentile) courts. Their faith would serve as a clear witness on the Day of Judgment. Not only would the individual martyrs see the Lord in heaven, but the Church would flourish in persecution [21:18-19].

Doomsday prophets miss the message: Jesus refused to predict details or provide clues for the coming calamity. War, "earthquake, pestilence and famine" were traditionally personified as the “Four Apocalyptic Horsemen” who would come to announce end-time judgment. The late Raymond Brown a renowned Scripture scholar, advises that end-of-the-world people perform a valuable service for us. They keep the Second Coming before our eyes. Prophets of doom in every century point to historical calamities (wars and revolts) and cosmic disasters (great earthquakes, famines, pestilence) and "signs in heaven" (like solar eclipses and comets), as signs of the end. This is a direct contradiction of what Jesus said. He told us not to try and predict the end, but to live loyally and lovingly in situations which in many cases will be hostile to the Gospel. Instead of destroying us, persecution and martyrdom will gain us eternal life. At the end of the discourse Jesus gives the assurance, “Not a hair from your head would perish" (21:18). God's saving purpose will certainly triumph, because, contrary to appearances, he remains firmly in control. Finally, the way to glory is traveled more often through day-by-day endurance, rather than through isolated acts of heroic virtue. Here is a practical spirituality each of us can live, whatever our current situation may be.

Messages: 1) Be daily prepared for death and judgment. The ideal way to accept Jesus’ apocalyptic message is always to be ready to face our death. We must live holy lives of selfless love, mercy, compassion and unconditional forgiveness, remembering the demands of justice in our day-to-day lives. We must also take time to rest and to pray in order to keep our hearts alive to God’s presence with us and within us. Daily examination of our conscience at bedtime asking God’s pardon and forgiveness also prepares us to face God any time and give an account of our lives.

2) Attain permanence in a passing word by exemplary lives. Our homes, our churches and even our own lives are temporary. All our structures are provisional. Our influence has no more claims to permanence than our buildings. Hence our task is not to build monuments of any kind, but to be faithful to Christ. How our faithfulness is expressed each day is the most important thing. We are to persevere in our faith despite worldly temptations, attacks on religion and moral values by the atheistic media, threats of social isolation, and direct or indirect persecution because of our religious beliefs. Let us conclude this Church year by praying for the grace to endure patiently any trials that are essential to our affirmation of Jesus our Savior.

The theater is on fire: The Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard, tells a parable of a theater where a variety show is proceeding. Each act is more fantastic than the last, and is applauded by the audience. Suddenly the manager appears on the stage, apologizing for the interruption. He announces at the top of his voice that the theater is on fire, and begs his patrons to leave the theatre immediately without causing a commotion. The spectators think that it is the most amusing turn of the evening, and cheer thunderously. The manager again feverishly implores them to leave the burning building, and he is again applauded vigorously. At last he can do no more. The fire races through the whole building engulfing the fun-loving audience with it. "And so," concludes Kierkegaard, "will our age, I sometimes think, go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators?" (Resource, July/August). Today’s readings warn us about a similar fate if we are not well prepared when the “Day of the Lord” dawns quite unexpectedly, marking the end of the world.

If Anyone Will Not Work, Let Him Not Eat

Gospel Commentary for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

ROME, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- This Sunday's Gospel is one of the famous discourses on the end of the world, which are characteristic of the end of the liturgical year.

It seems that in one of the first Christian communities, that of Thessalonica, there were believers who drew mistaken conclusions from these discourses of Christ. They thought that it was useless to weary themselves, to work or do anything since everything was about to come to an end. They thought it better to take each day as it came and not commit themselves to long-term projects and only to do the minimum to get by.

St. Paul responds to them in the second reading: "We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to eat their own food." At the beginning of the passage, St. Paul recalls the rule that he had given to the Christians in Thessalonica: "If anyone will not work, let him not eat."

This was a novelty for the men of that time. The culture to which they belonged looked down upon manual labor; it was regarded as degrading and as something to be left to slaves and the uneducated. But the Bible has a different vision. From the very first page it presents God as working for six days and resting on the seventh day. And all of this happens in the Bible before sin is spoken of. Work, therefore, is part of man's original nature and is not something that results from guilt and punishment. Manual labor is just as dignified as intellectual and spiritual labor. Jesus himself dedicates 17 years to the former -- supposing he began to work around 13 -- and only a few years to the latter.

A layman has written: "What sense and what value does our ordinary work as laypeople have before God? It is true that we laypeople also do a lot of charity work, engage in the apostolate, and volunteer work; but we must give most of our time and energies to ordinary jobs. If this sort of work has no value for heaven, we will have very little for eternity. No one we have asked about this has been able to give us satisfactory answers. They say: "Offer it all to God!" but is this enough?

My reply: No, the value of our work is not only conferred on it by the "good intention" we put into it or the morning offering we make to God; it also has a value in itself, as a participation in God's creative and redemptive work and as service to our brothers. We read in one of the Vatican II documents, in "Gaudium et Spes," that it is by "his labor [that] a man ordinarily supports himself and his family, is joined to his fellow men and serves them, and can exercise genuine charity and be a partner in the work of bringing divine creation to perfection. Indeed, we hold that through labor offered to God man is associated with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ" (No. 67).

The work that one does is not as important as that for which he does it. This reestablishes a certain parity, beneath distinctions -- which are sometimes unjust and scandalous -- in position and pay. A person who has done the most humble jobs in life can be of greater "value" than those people who hold positions of great prestige.

It was said that work is a participation in the creative action of God and in the redemptive action of Christ and that it is a source of personal and social growth, but we know that it is also weariness, sweat and pain. It can ennoble but it can also empty and wear down. The secret is to put one's heart into what one's hands do. It is not so much the amount or type of work done that tires us out, as much as it is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation. To the earthly motivations for work, faith adds eternal motivations: "Our works," the Book of Revelation says, "will follow us" (14:13).

[Translation by ZENIT]

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Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Malachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21