Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday November 19, 2006

We have not been left out and will not be left behind.

How many of you my age (69) and over remember the nightly radio broadcast, “Gabe Heater and the News?” During World War II he would introduce the nightly broadcast with “Ah, there’s bad news tonight!” Occasionally, he would begin by saying, “Ah, there’s good news tonight!” These words came back to me this week as I reviewed the readings for this Sunday’s liturgy.

Speaking of World War II, I’m not sure whether it’s virtue or cowardice, but I avoid violent films. Having grown up on Hop-a-long Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Buffalo Bill movies as well as war movies, perhaps I have long since outgrown them and in fact have had my fill of them.

However, a few years ago I did view Saving Private Ryan on a home video. It was vivid in its depiction of the horror of World War II. I am old enough to remember ‘D day’ and the landing of American troops along the shores of Normandy in France. I visited Omaha Beach in 1965 and will remember forever the impenetrable silence that pervades the American cemetery on the beachhead.

I’m embarrassed to confess that I never did get to see Schindler’s List. However, I have been to Auschwitz and Berkenwald. The ground consecrated by the death of Jewish martyrs has transformed the barracks and death chambers into sanctuaries. The stories of human bravery survive the barbarism of Hitler in his attempt to annihilate an entire race. It’s difficult to believe that there are still people so ready to accept revisionist denials of the reality of such evil.

It is against the background of similar wars and persecutions that the book of Daniel and the gospel of Mark were written in apocalyptic language about the end times. They describe historical cataclysms that had already occurred as if they were yet to occur — Daniel, about events that had taken place three hundred years earlier; Mark about a more recent persecution, quite possibly that of Nero. These highly editorialized accounts were intended to encourage or scare their listeners —whichever worked better for whoever needed it most — and move them to tenacity of faith.

Ironically, neither the Book of Daniel nor the gospel of Mark is talking about “time” in the sense of chronological time, but of what is called ‘chairos’ time or time as an opportunity to decide where we stand as believers. Mark uses a bit of hyperbole in his description of the end time to signal “the day of the Lord,” the beginning of a new era. The end is just the beginning, as it were. Christ introduced the new era not from a chariot with weapons of destruction but from a cross with words of mercy and forgiveness.

There is no doubt that evil exists in the world of which the holocaust and more recent examples of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan and Iraq are only examples and many explanations—most of them inadequate—have been put forth to explain its existence.

Such books as The Left Behind series by Tim F. LaHaye and numerous other books on the subject of the ‘end times’ are simplistic at best. Although like the DaVinci Code they make for good reading, unfortunately, they tend to distort reality and confuse biblical myths with fantasy. If you want to delve into such matters, far better to read the other Brown, world renowned biblical scholar, the late Raymond Brown whose prolific works are not only informative but inspirational.

In Mark’s view followers of Christ are not to ally themselves with warring friend against warring foe but to endure the challenges and trials of life with only the shield of faith and the weapon of love.

There is more than a hint of pacifism in both accounts, certainly in Mark, as if to suggest that fighting fire with fire will lead only to an acceleration of hatred and violence. History has proven all too often that the oppressed sooner or later become the oppressors. “What goes around comes around.” It is true that even our own nation has supplied weapons to those who have returned them to us in the form of bullets and bombs with vengeance.

Despite endless predictions about the end of the world, the world has not come to an end and it is not likely to end for many more millennia, notwithstanding the threat of global warming. Nevertheless, Christians are challenged to read the signs of the times through the lens of the teachings of Jesus. The crucifix is not a piece of costume jewelry, but the mark of sacrificial love. He was faithful to life—unto death.

But there is a more personal lesson in the readings this week. There is an “end time” for each of us. We are faced with choices every day to say “yes” to life and goodness and no to evil. We know neither the day nor the hour of our demise but it will come all too soon. Thank God we have moved far beyond simplistic descriptions of judgment before God. Spiritual writers continue to insist that although there is no escape from the justice of God, God’s judgment is dosed heavily with compassion. Moreover, we can be confident that God can remove any blindness of vision that prevents us from seeing God as God is even at the moment of death.

So there is a time and place for a hard look at the effects of our choices and where we invest our time, our energy, and our personal resources. Our daily calendars and our annual financial report are in fact faith documents.

Religious edicts from on high about who is worthy to receive Holy Communion are not helpful in dealing with complex life issues that face Catholics in the pew. Indeed they tend to confuse people of simple faith and disturb people of mature belief. Those who are most affected by moral issues need to be included at the table of debate and discussion of anything touches upon the formation of conscience, especially matters pertaining to marriage and family life.

In a world where moral choices are belittled and immoral decisions camouflaged with slippery rhetoric, Mark’s gospel challenges us not to succumb to evil but to face life’s trials with dignity and integrity in the knowledge that goodness will prevail if not in our own lifetime, surely in God’s.

The close of another liturgical year challenges us to a sincere examination of conscience — personal and social, individual and communal, political and ecclesiastical.

In anticipation of the Feast of Christ the King next weekend, perhaps we might make this week of Thanksgiving an opportunity for the healing of memories and the opening of our hearts to new beginnings on the First Sunday of Advent.

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