THIRTY-FOURTH OR LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR


MONDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:1-4) This week is full of hope. The widows mite begins our meditation on hope. What did Jesus see when He saw the widow give her last or next to last pennies? His heart must have been a little heavy after confronting the obdurancy of the religious leaders. They were not listening to him. He was calling them to be among the poor of God but they chose not to follow. He was inviting them to be among the "just" but all they insisted on doing was fighting the message.
Then he see the widow. How His heart must have jumped for joy. The money she gave symbolized something far deeper...trust in God, a looking to God. She was one of the poor. When Jesus saw her He knew there was something to look forward to, even though the leaders did not listen. This woman who perhaps never heard the Master was in her little offering summarizing all He had been preaching.
He also saw in this act of sacrifice the sacrifice which He would be called upon to make...the money was all she had. His life would be the final giving. The money for the widow was a symbol of her faithful walking with God. His death would be the sign of His obedience to the will of His Father. Christ saw in the giving, the light that in a world which was not listening to him, which seemed to be turning from Him there were people faithful.
To be able to see the signs of hope in our life. When a sense of failure overwhelms us, when isolation or a feeling of having been betrayed comes into our hearts...to go within ourselves and find that person faithful to the Lord...to find that person who gives the last and in finding that person we find the hope which Our Lord gives us.

TUESDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:5-11) "the time is at hand"...time and hope at times seem like enemies. In order to attain what we want (the hope) we have to go through time.
Why can't we get what we want right now? Why do we have to go through this measurement of change called "time'? Perhaps it is because we have to grow into our hope. Perhaps it is because we do not see that the hope is already achieved.
In this sense, hope is the what we see with the sight of faith .
We see salvation in our lives...we see the "time" which Jesus talks about because we hope for it, look forward to it, expect it. Hope is that virtue which opens us up to what God wants to give so that we can receive the gift given. The "time" is not the future but it is right now with the working of the Lord within us. Hope for a Christian is a paradox: we hope for (the saving power of the Lord within us) what we already posses( the time is at hand ).
We must remember that we live on a couple of different levels of existence. We do have natural hopes...to see children grow up into good human beings…to experience an ever deepening love between spouses...for a promotion...all good hopes. Where is the "time" of the Lord when all we meet with is disappointment of his level of our being? The heartbreak which is experienced in these disappointments may be opportunities of grace to remind us who we really are and that our hope is not in what we may have thought but how the Lord is going to work. These "crosses" which we may have to carry are not a denial of hope but rather the "time" of the Lord in our lives.

WEDNESDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:12-19) Hope is that virtue which is courageous. Living the life of a disciple at times is not that easy. There are many difficulties which face the one trying to follow the Lord. Misunderstandings, hatred, fear are just some of the attitudes which may come into the life of a disciple. Being manhandled and brought to prison , although still alive in the world, will not be our lot at the same time figuratively we are called before the court of the world many times. Many times we are asked to defend our faith, and the words see so inadequate.
Hope is the virtue which gives us the courage to overcome these "persecutions". I think of the early martyrs and ask myself the question: why did they die what was it inside of them that kept them faithful? Of course the foundation was faith, but it was a faith with a vision and that vision we call hope. Even though they were the captives of their persecutors they were not captives of time. That is, they could see beyond the present pain. They knew that even though they had to walk through the valley of death, the death had meaning.
Without hope there can be no real courage. The reason being very simple: why go on if there is nothing to look forward to? Why try to wend our way through the many "valleys of death" which may come into our lives if there is not the dream of life at the other end. Someone once said: show me a brave man and there you will have an example of hope.
It is the virtue acting courageously which is based on the firm conviction that as we walk the "way" it is not by ourselves. We do not have to have all the answers, all the explanations. God has the answers and explanations and will share these with us when we need them. How often in trying to explain the faith to someone have words come which even surprised you. Words, ideas which make you stand back and ask: where did that come from? God giving us "words of hope"

THURSDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:20-28). Hope assures us that Christ will come again. The second coming of Christ is at one and he same time one of the most important parts of our faith and one which most people spend little time thinking of. Every time we attend the Eucharist we proclaim our faith that the Lord will come again. Every time we say the "Our Father" there is an act of faith that the Lord will come. We let the words pass too quickly without reflection. It is an old promise, we have been waiting for 2000yrs. Perhaps for some it is like the promise of a friend that he will do a particular favor for us but never quite gets around to it. He keeps telling us that he will but words pass us by.
Christ is always faithful, to renew the hope that He indeed will come again, to keep that hope alive, takes us from a state of secular humanism to one of Christian humanism. Secular humanism is looking at the world, people events without a God-vision. It is one-dimensional, there is nothing beyond the "here and now".
Christian humanism on the other hand looks at people, events as part of the journey back to the Lord. They are stones in the mosaic which at some point the Lord will come and complete. It is difficult to see personal history and world history in the context of the glory of the Lord. But the glory of the Son of Man is precisely this, that all the imperfection and brokenness which we see now will be healed. The glory of the Lord lies in his saving acts fully at the end of time but now inside each and everyone of us.
To use a rather simple simile: there is a great parade taking place. The participants are all people who every lived with all their actions, good and bad, This parade is comprised also of all human events, wars, peace, floods etc. and this parade is heading to the Lord. The work of a disciple is to try to make sure that the music is good and that everyone and everything is in step.


FRIDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:29-33)Hope, another view of courage. There is no tree of Palestine which seems so dead during the winter as the fig tree. It is absolutely barren . One would think that it would never come to life again. But every year with the return of the new sap running through its twigs the tree springs to life. The winter is over.
In our life with the Lord there is a winter which we must pass through. At times this winter is communal. Persecution seems to have won the day. Churches are closed, decrees are issued about the death of God, all the powers of the world are lined up against the message. There is pain, suffering, even death. Christianity seems to be loosing, the tree is so bare. Then something happens, a political change takes place. That which was thought to be dead is not. The closed Churches are filled, the sap of new life runs through the community.
This cycle is also personal. Our growth in the relationship with the Lord has as its theme this death-life cycle. Something inside of us, a negative attitude, a tendency towards a particular sin, a broken relationship which still bears the scars of unforgiveness, all of these demand a dying. They ask to enter into the winter so that new life may come forth. As a matter of fact they are the winter when the tree of our relationship with the Lord seems so barren.
Hope is that virtue which gives us the courage to go through the long winter months with the assurance that summer will come again. This is the promise of the Lord, we call it salvation. We look forward to being saved, and this hope is not in vain. We see God in this new life.
Once winter is over it is the new sun coming into our lives enlightening everything. Then we pass through winter again, but this time with the courage which only God gives. Winter is no longer a time of barrenness, it is the time of great expectation wondering how God will do His great things within us.

SATURDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:34-36)These verses close the public ministry of Jesus in Luke's Gospel. The journey is finished. He assures them that He will come again but that this coming will not be soon. To be watchful at all times for the "comings" which He does consistently in our lives. He asks for prayer, to be always turned to God so that the "God of light" give us the wisdom to see. He reminds us of the great mystery of life, that our actions all have a meaning which we do not see right away. As He looks forward to his suffering He gives those who believe in Him the courage the vision to know that not all is over. New life will come. He stands before all people with His arms outstretched telling them that He will not forget and that someday will return to claim that which is His. The end of the journey has come and with the end a new beginning for all. He has taught us the pilgrim way this is the journey which He invites us to walk.



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