A Homily for Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Friday, November 15, 2024
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 8:00 Mass
2 John 4-9; Psalm 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18; Luke 17:26-37
Audio Recording
As we near the end of the liturgical year, we focus on Christ’s final coming. Today’s Gospel illustrates Noah and Lot’s stories, where people lived in sin until the floods destroyed the earth or fire rained down on Lot. Both were saved, but many others perished.
Jesus likens these events to the “days of the Son of Man,” saying He’ll return unexpectedly, bringing the Final Judgment. His message is clear: be ready at all times.
Despite knowing this teaching, many ignore it. It’s so easy to believe that we have plenty of time to change, so we give in to temptation today. Tomorrow comes, and we repeat the cycle, thinking we’ll work on it then. This mistake is dangerous for two reasons:
1. Our Lord may come today, and the world will end.
2. Or, our lives could end suddenly. If our life ends today, are we ready to stand before the judgment seat of Christ? Most people aren’t. This should motivate us to work tirelessly today to be ready now and every moment thereafter.
The Gospel passage states, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.” This applies to our every day lives. If we continually choose Heavenly realities over earthly indulgences, we’ll experience the grace of salvation daily.
In other words, we shouldn’t rely on our possessions and our earthly pleasures to preserve our lives, rather we should live by the paradox of the cross. This paradox is one we know well, we’ve heard it often, but it is so hard to enter into, isn’t it? It’s hard because it involves self-denial and service of others. We must die to our own selfish desires in order to serve Christ and accomplish his will in the world.
Finally, Jesus tells in today’s gospel passage that when the end of this world comes there will be two people doing the same thing and one will be taken while the other is left. Rather than prophesying the so-called “rapture” that many of our Protestant brothers and sisters believe in, what Jesus is saying is that it is not always apparent to us where someone stands in their relationship with him.
He could have said, two people were sitting together at Mass, doing the same thing and saying the same prayers, yet one will be spared from judgment and the other will experience judgment. He’s saying that only God knows our hearts. We can’t know a person’s heart simply by the actions they perform. We are again being taught that we should not judge others as being righteous or not…this is God’s work, not ours.
Our job is to get our own house in order and to reach out to others in love. As John says in today’s first reading, “…let us love one anther. For THIS is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk.” In other words, we must walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
Our job is to love our neighbor, not to find fault with them. Our job is to forgive those who have hurt or offended us, not to lash out at them or to return evil with evil by judging them and hating them in our hearts. The paradox of holding grudges and judging others is that it hurts us much more than it hurts the one we refuse to forgive. As I’ve said many times before, holding a grudge is like drinking poison thinking it will kill the other, but in fact it only kills us.
Reflect today on whether you regularly seek to lose your life for the Kingdom of God. Do we choose grace, mercy, Heaven, obedience, love, self-sacrifice, compassion, and forgiveness every moment? If so, our Lord will bestow His saving grace upon you now, preparing you for judgment. If not, you’ll be like the people in Noah and Lot’s time, who met sudden destruction.
Today’s important lesson is that If we live for Christ now, each and every day, each and every moment, we’ll surely be ready to meet him when he comes for us. He will rejoice to find us walking in the truth and doing our best to follow his commandments. We will then know fully the meaning of today’s responsorial psalm, “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!”