Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

"The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem"
by Francesco Hayez (1791-1882)

Readings for Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Daniel 2:31-45
 
Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar:
“In your vision, O king, you saw a statue,
very large and exceedingly bright,
terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.
The head of the statue was pure gold,
its chest and arms were silver,
its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron,
its feet partly iron and partly tile.
While you looked at the statue,
a stone which was hewn from a mountain
without a hand being put to it,
struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.
The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once,
fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer,
and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace.
But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth.
 
“This was the dream;
the interpretation we shall also give in the king’s presence.
You, O king, are the king of kings;
to you the God of heaven
has given dominion and strength, power and glory;
men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell,
he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all;
you are the head of gold.
Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours,
then a third kingdom, of bronze,
which shall rule over the whole earth.
There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron;
it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others,
just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.
The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter’s tile and partly of iron,
mean that it shall be a divided kingdom,
but yet have some of the hardness of iron.
As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile,
and the toes partly iron and partly tile,
the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
The iron mixed with clay tile
means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage,
but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
In the lifetime of those kings
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people;
rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms
and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.
That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain
without a hand being put to it,
which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.
The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future;
this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure.”
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Commentary on Dn 2:31-45
 
In this selection, Daniel interprets the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. “The four successive kingdoms in this apocalyptic perspective are the Babylonian (gold), the Median (silver), the Persian (bronze), and the Hellenistic (iron). The last, after Alexander's death, was divided among his generals (Daniel 2:41-42). The two resulting kingdoms, which most affected the Jews, were the dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt and that of the Seleucids in Syria, who tried in vain, by war and through intermarriage, to restore the unity of Alexander's empire (Daniel 2:43). The stone hewn from the mountain is the messianic kingdom awaited by the Jews (Daniel 2:44-45). Our Lord made this image personal to himself; cf Luke 20:17-18.” [4] The important point of this vision for the faithful is - God has supreme authority over all civil and political rulers.
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Daniel 3:57, 58, 59, 60, 61
 
R. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
 
“Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
 
“Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
 
“You heavens, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
 
“All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
 
“All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
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Commentary on Dn 3:57, 58, 59, 60, 61
 
The selection from Daniel, used as a psalm response, is taken from the chant sung by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they were cast into a furnace to be burned. This long hymn of praise (from verse 24 to verse 90) is broken into three litanies. This is the first.  It praises God's active presence in the world.  Subsequent sections praise all that grows upon the earth and finally humankind in its various categories.
 
CCC: Dn 3:57-58 2416
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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,
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
 
This selection is part of 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 lifetimes.
 
In this passage, Jesus points to events in the future as opposed to those that would have occurred during the author’s lifetime. St. Luke focuses on the Christian community living the faith from day to day. He relates how Jesus told the disciples of the coming persecutions and bid them to trust in the Holy Spirit who would keep their souls safe from harm.
 
CCC: Lk 21:4 2544
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Reflection:
 
As we reflect upon the two eschatological readings given today, we are struck by the underlying premise that the truly important things in life are not material.  In point of fact, all things material must pass away.  If we pour our hearts into such things, whether it is the accumulation of wealth or the labor of our hands, in the end these “things” will pass away.  While taken by itself this may seem rather depressing, there is good news here as well.
 
The implication of both the readings from Daniel and the Gospel of St. Luke is that, while the physical structures of this world are transient and they will fail, the material that they are made of will take on new form. There is something eternal.  It is a state of being that exists, not in Einsteinian space/time, but outside those temporal boundaries.  (Sorry for the lapse into physics but it is the only way to distinguish the physical and the metaphysical.)
 
This state of being we call the soul has an eternal quality and is of ultimate importance.  The indwelling Holy Spirit will form our resurrected bodies that we must take care to strengthen and preserve from harm.  This is wonderful news because no matter what the world cares to throw at us, no matter how painful or depressing our physical condition, we can rise above it if we keep our eyes focused on that which is love itself, the indwelling Spirit of God.
 
This Spirit will be unaffected by any cataclysm, regardless of scope.  This is the divine spark that we see as part of the Lord himself.  Our actions, our passions should be directed to preserving, building, and glorifying that which is indestructible, rather than physical things that will pass away.
 
As we charge toward our Advent of joy, let us pray that our eyes will always be focused clearly on the important and eternal, and not be caught up in the secular drive for the material.
 
Pax

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[1] The Picture used is "The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem" by Francesco Hayez (1791-1882).
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] NAB footnote on Daniel 2:36-45.