As the Liturgical Year draws near its end, with just one week left before the Solemnity of Christ the King, the readings continue to give us a sense of all things coming to completion, culminating in the perfection of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. He will restore all things, both in Heaven and on earth. We stand in awe as we realize that this wonderful work of Christ is already happening all around us even now.
Yet, only in faith do we see and know this; often we are oblivious to it. We are preoccupied with our own concerns and problems. We even grumble and act as if God is nowhere to be found in our life. Therefore, we must “learn a lesson from the fig tree,” as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel. “When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.” Just as we can physically open our eyes to see what is happening in nature, so we must also open our eyes of faith and see what the Lord is doing, so that we can better correspond to it.
Jesus tells us that no one knows the day or hour of his coming, but the moment will certainly come when we will “see the ‘Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory” (cf. Dn 7:13). What does this mean? What exactly are we to prepare for? The prophet Daniel lived before the time of Jesus, so he did not know what was later more fully revealed. Still, as we read in the first reading, Daniel could foresee that there would be some sort of resurrection, and that those who rise will enter into one of two opposite conditions, which we recognize as Heaven and hell. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; / some shall live forever, / others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace. / But the wise shall shine brightly / like the splendor of the firmament.”
The Lord wants for us only one of these options: he wants us to live forever in glory. The very reason God became man is to save us from eternal death, to offer us a passover from death to life. Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God.” Now it remains for us to complete our passage, dying to sin so that we may share the fullness of life with him. If we have eyes of faith to see, we will realize that all our trials and distress are part of the Cross that can bring us life. Naturally we are tempted to complain, treating the Cross as a curse in life rather than a blessing, but to give in to that error is to risk being separated from the saving work of Christ.
The Hebrews reading tells us how we can be included among “the wise” who will shine brightly in Heaven. The author teaches us the reason why we can have confidence as we face the end of our lives and the end of time. We are no longer under the old law, according to which every Old Testament priest would stand “daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins.” No, we are in a new era, with a new law. We have a new High Priest, Jesus Christ. He is the key to our salvation, for his sacrifice on the Cross is the one perfect sacrifice that sets us free from sin. Christ has perpetuated this one offering in the Memorial of his Death and Resurrection, the Eucharist. Now, as we go through our days and trials, we have a Priest whose one offering has all the power to make us perfect, a Priest who intercedes for us forever at the right hand of the Father.
Today is Sunday, the Lord’s Day, a day when we have the privilege and serious obligation of participating in the Mass. We should look forward to and prepare well for receiving Holy Communion. In the Eucharist, Jesus shares with us his own life, drawing us into a communion with himself, a communion to be maintained in all our sorrows and joys. The Eucharist is truly the Sacrament which brings us from death to life.
What is my personal experience of the work of restoration that Christ is doing in the world today? What prevents me from opening my eyes of faith to see what the Lord is doing? How can I better recognize that all my crosses are part of the Cross that brings me life?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 20, no. 8. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.