Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C (2019)

I am sure that most of us have had a “period of time” when we felt like our life was falling apart.

For teenagers some of the most common causes are: Academic Stress; Peer Pressure; Romantic Problems; Traumatic Events; Separating or Divorcing Parents; Physical or Emotional Neglect; Low Self-Esteem; or Feelings of Helplessness. 

Many of us here today have already had to deal with the emotional, spiritual, or physical struggle of their whole world crashing in all around them.
Now, most of us have the inner strength and the outer support to get through these trials; and sometimes not.

What makes it seemingly impossible for some to engage in the task of putting their life back together is when one cannot construct in their mind a sense of ever again being happy, fulfilled, and loved.  

Imagine what it must be like for someone who must face yet another day with hopelessness, emptiness, and sadness. It’s not a very nice place to be.
In our Gospel text this Sunday, St. Luke is addressing the Jewish people whose world had literally crashed to pieces.

The Temple, which was the center of their lives and faith, had been decimated by the Romans. In the year 70 A.D., the soon-to-be Emperor Titus besieged the city of Jerusalem, destroyed their Temple, and when he departed, there was not a stone left upon another stone.
 
The Jewish people were utterly and completely traumatized.  They believed that the Temple would last forever, and as they sat weeping in the rubble, they could not construct in their mind a life that could possibly be filled again with hope, meaning, and happiness.

In one sense, our own country has been going through something similar—some say it really all began thirty years ago on April 20, 1989 in the town of Littleton, CO, at Columbine High School. It was on that spring morning, when two teenagers killed 12 fellow students, one teacher and injured 21 others with a rifle, a shot gun, and a semi-automatic pistol. Someone can do the math on how many other students and teachers have been murdered in cold blood over the last three decades. I couldn’t do it.

In a Pew Survey from just last year, most American teens say they are very or somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school – and most parents of teens share their concern.

Although some of us been blessed, thus far, to have never experienced the devastation of having ones’ worldly belongings destroyed in a fire; the desperateness of being down to one’s last dollar; or the terror of being told that “there is nothing more that we can do…”  

But then, we should do well to remember how St. Luke concludes Jesus’ lengthy discourse “about the coming days.” “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” 

Yes! We persevere by cherishing those moments in life that matter most. We are uplifted and encouraged by countless stories of perseverance of those who endure the worst of tragedies.

In John’s Gospel (16:33), it all makes sense, when Jesus said: "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

And so when we hear these “end of the world readings” and ponder the mystery of our Lord’s second coming, our own death and resurrection, it is so comforting to re-discover what God’s unconditional love really means: “I will be with you for the long haul, no matter what, you are still you, and I love you, forever.”