Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time


Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin, Martyr

Biographical Information about St. Catherine of Alexandria[1]

Readings for Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Readings and Commentary:
[3]

Reading 1:
Revelations 14:14-19

Then I (John) looked and there was a white cloud,
and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man,
with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Another angel came out of the temple,
crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud,
“Use your sickle and reap the harvest,
for the time to reap has come,
because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”
So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth,
and the earth was harvested.

Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven
who also had a sharp sickle.
Then another angel (came) from the altar, (who) was in charge of the fire,
and cried out in a loud voice
to the one who had the sharp sickle,
“Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines,
for its grapes are ripe.”
So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage.
He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury.
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Commentary on
Rev 14:14-19

St. John’s apocalyptic vision shows us the image of Jesus (one who looked like a son of man) harvesting the earth; bringing the faithful to the Kingdom of God. The vision also makes clear that not everyone will enjoy that salvific event. Some (“He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury”) will be thrown down; the doom of the ungodly (cf
Joel 4:12-13; Isaiah 63:1-6).

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Responsorial Psalm:
[4] Psalm 96:10, 11-12, 13

R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.

R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
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Commentary on
Ps 96:10, 11-12, 13

This hymn of praise of God who is God alone poses an invitation to the faithful and links us to John’s vision above – “The Lord comes to judge the earth”

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Gospel:
Luke 21:5-11

While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
he
(Jesus) said, “All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

Then they asked him,
“Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”
He answered,
“See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’
Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end.”
Then he said to them,
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”
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Commentary on
Lk 21:5-11

We are given in today’s Gospel St. Luke’s version of Jesus eschatological (end times) discourse. This version differs significantly from the version found in Mark’s Gospel (
Mark 13:1-37) in that it does not anticipate the parousia (second coming) within the lifetime of the audience. We note from many of St. Paul’s epistles that the early Christian community anticipated that Jesus was coming again within their life times. In the version we hear today, Jesus points to events in the future as opposed to those that would have occurred during the author’s life time.

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Reflection:

Since the
5th Lateran Council in 1516 the Church has prohibited anyone from announcing or predicting the end of all things. So, when the end does come, you’re not going to hear it from us. That does not mean you will not hear predictions of the end of the world – the Apocalypse – Armageddon. There will always be people who have some special knowledge or have discovered some special code that tells them exactly when the world as we know it will end. The scripture we have today is an excellent example of a whole class or genre of biblical literature intended to vision what that end time must be like.

If I were an old time Preacher, I could take off in a fire and brimstone way using these selections, pointing out that “the bible says” the end is at hand. Pounding furiously on the pulpit, I would read the passage from Revelations once more that says; “He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury” and would probably add the next verse from this chapter of the Revelations that was omitted in our reading that says; “The wine press was trodden outside the city and blood poured out of the wine press to the height of a horse's bridle for two hundred miles.” (
Rev 14; 20) I’d add that just for the shock value.

We have to accept this scripture for what it was, symbolic literature of a style intended not to be read literally, but rather a vision seen through the lens of faith. What we need to take away from this scripture is a sense that all things come to an end, ourselves included. If scripture and history have taught us anything, we know that we will not be able to predict the day or the hour of that very personal event.

As disciples of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, present before we were conceived and Great Judge whom we will come before when we return to Him, we are called to be prepared daily to face that event. We are reminded in harsh words and gentle invitation that we need to reconcile our debts to the Lord and our brothers and sisters so that we can fly home to that loving embrace when we are called.

Today we hear this message; there will come a time when the life we are living on this earth ends and we will be called to account for what we have done, whether good or ill. We must make sure that, as best we can, we have made every effort to be in complete accord with God and His Son, our Lord Jesus who is the Christ, the King at the end of all things.

Pax

[1] The picture used today is “St. Catherine of Alexandria” by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1595-1596
[2] ALTRE
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[4] Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved

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