33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Simham)
Hope
If at all if there is one that keeps the world going, that keeps the world alive and active, it is ‘the hope of a better tomorrow; the hope of a better future.’ A man who fails today thinks that tomorrow he will succeed or tomorrow he will win and so goes on with his life. I remember in my seminary days every year I kept competing in 100 metres race. But I never won the race. But the hope of win kept me going. A person who is sick and suffering today thinks that he will be alright tomorrow and so he endures the suffering and lives. One author says ‘remove hope from a man and you make him a beast’. Another author says “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.”
Even in Christian life, hope is the things that keeps us alive and Christian. It is one of the cardinal virtues. Especially when it comes to death and after life, it is our hope of better future that keeps us going. All of us who are gathered here know that we will die one day or another. And none us would like our bodies to perish and our good works to go unrewarded. And so we hope for the resurrection of our bodies and just reward for our deeds. And today’s readings give us the assurance that what we hope for is going to happen certainly.
Prophet Daniel in today’s first reading speaks of resurrection of the dead and the rewarding of the just and condemnation of the unjust. And in today’s Gospel reading Jesus refers to the end times and the signs and portents that are going to take place before his glorious second coming. First, Jesus came as a saviour, gentle, humble and as a lover of sinners. He humbled himself even unto death on the cross, because he wanted to save the world. That was his first coming. But he is going to come again, this time as a judge, rewarding the good and punishing the evil. And there are certain signs that go before this glorious coming of the Lord. They all look gloomy. The sun becomes dark; the moon looses its brightness and all the stars fall. Just imagine and see. Take away the Sun, the moon and the stars; there will be total darkness and chaos in the world. What does all these portents mean? It means symbolically the beginning of a new creation.
Book of Genesis 1:1-2 says that “In the beginning before the creation of the world, the earth was shapeless and darkness was over the deep.” There was chaos. Then God created light and order. This was the first creation. This creation has fallen into sin. So he is going to make everything new. Therefore at the beginning of new creation God wants to destroy all that is of old creation which has fallen into sin so that he can create everything new. Hence the sun becomes dark; the moon looses its brightness and all the stars fall. Secondly we read in the book of Revelation 21:23 referring to New Jerusalem or the new creation, it is said that “it does not need sunlight or moonlight, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God.” If God’s glory is shining bright, then there is no need for Sun or Moon. So the Sun darkens, the moon looses it’s brightness and stars fall away. They are no longer needed in the new creation.
So my dear brothers and sisters spending your precious time with the Lord, living a good life hoping that there is something beyond the grave, do not loose hope. God will reward you for your goodness. All your goodness and all your prayers will not go unrewarded because each cause should have an effect. Good cause will have good effect bad cause a bad effect. If not today, tomorrow; if not tomorrow the day after, you will have your reward. But the time and hour, as Jesus says, ‘no one knows, not even the angels, except the Father.’ Therefore, don’t believe anyone who tells you when the world is going to end. He is a liar. But live as though it may be today or tomorrow. Be prepared. Lead a just and good life. If you are prepared and ready living a just and good life, as prophet Daniel says be assured that you will be shining as bright as stars for eternity when our Lord appears again. When you think of that glory and that life, all the things of this world look so temporal. Lives of saints and martyrs serve as shining examples for us. The greatness of our faith lies in our “hoping against hope”.
Fr. Showreelu Simham