November 17, 2024 – The Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time [YEAR B]
Fr Matthew Siegman
The Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time [B]
Daniel 12:1-3 + Hebrews 10:11-14,18 + Mark 13:24-32
During the month of November, the feasts of our Church remind us that this world is passing: We must remember where we are going and what we must do to get there. On the first day of this month, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. This feast holds a special place in my heart, not only because I grew up at All Saint Parish, but also because it reminds us of the goal of our human life. We are called to share in the eternal life of God, to participate in the divine life of the Holy Trinity, to experience joy in the fulfillment of the deepest desires of our hearts. On the next day, the Church Commemorates all the souls of the faithful departed on All souls Day. This is an instructive and helpful reminder that even though we aim for Heaven, nearly all of us will experience further purification after our lives on this earth end.
Throughout this month, the readings have continued to emphasize these themes: that we will one day die, we will experience the judgment of God, and the actions of our lives will determine our experience of eternity. If we have repented and sought to return to God, we will, finally, be blessed with the vision of his glory. If we turned away from him or sought to satisfy our own self-desires, then we will be allowed to experience the joyless absence of God for eternity.
Today’s scriptures are no exception. They warn of great tribulation, of the destruction of the universe, and the judgment of all humanity. The Lord tells us to learn from the fig tree: when you see the signs of what is coming, prepare yourselves.
As we ponder the end of our lives this month, we must remember what the psalmist teaches us: “You are my inheritance, O Lord!” If we strive to follow Christ in all that we do, he will not allow his “faithful one to undergo corruption” or to abandon him “to the netherworld.” We are all called to be holy, to be saints. We are called to turn back to God in this world, to follow the path to life. This is the road of the wise. Daniel says, “the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament.”
In the Alleluia verse, the Church reminds us to “be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.” It reminds me of the parable of the virgins and the lamps, awaiting their master’s return from the wedding. Those who prepared themselves were welcomed into the feast, but those who were not were cast aside. That is only step one, though. Because in the parable of the wedding garment, we hear that those who enter the wedding feast must be clothed in a wedding garment. When we ponder these parables together, we see that we must prepare ourselves for the wedding feast–Heaven–as best we can, but that nothing we do will be sufficient to earn a seat at this great banquet. Instead, we must stand before our Savior and allow ourselves to be clothed with the grace won for us by Jesus Christ.
To prepare ourselves for this moment, to strengthen ourselves, we must ensure we are not strangers to our Lord. We must repent daily of anything that leads us away from him. Even better than this, though, is to greet him face-to-face in the greatest of sacraments: the Holy Eucharist. When we attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, we relive the Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord. As he offers himself to the Father on the Cross, we offer ourselves to him so that he might lift us up too. Through the power of the Church, we mystically join at the moment when he redeemed humanity. Then, as we receive him in the Eucharist, we receive a foretaste of the banquet of Heaven and the divine life of God. This tiny morsel of God himself strengthens us for that moment when we stand before the Son of Man at the end of our days.
When we contemplate the last things: death, judgment, Heaven, and hell, we can sometimes fall into hopelessness or into a cycle of anxiety regarding our salvation. This is not what the Church desires for us. If it were, she would not remind us of the great glory that we are to receive, nor would she remind us constantly of the mercy of God. But we also must not fall into carelessness or presumption, so she reminds us of the consequences of our action or inaction. As we pray with the scriptures this week, may we remain always vigilant, and may we seek out the Lord in all that we do, so that we will have the strength to stand before him at the end of our days.