33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Mass - Nov 17, 2019 - 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. James Wallace
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Homily Video

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Homily Transcript

So the readings as we get towards the end of Ordinary Time and beginning the Advent season are focused on the end. The end of times the end of the temple, and this is what Jesus’ talking about. He’s foretelling the destruction of the temple. So, first he means in a narrow sense the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. So about 40 years after Christ, so about the year 70 AD, the Romans indeed will come in, they’ll destroy the temple in Jerusalem. Israel will never be the same. And so that’s what Jesus is foretelling, when the people are talking about, oh how beautiful the temple looks, and there’s these costly stones and votive offerings. Jesus’ saying, don’t put your faith in the man-made structure, because it’s gonna go away in just a couple generations, and sure enough it will. But, Jesus in a broad sense also means something else by the temple. Whenever we hear the term temple, we should also keep in mind the temple of our bodies, right? Saint Paul talks about that. Keep in mind that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple, he doesn’t just mean the physical temple in Jerusalem. He actually means the temple of our bodies. So there is gonna be in our lives, or at least multiple times in our lives, when our temple is destroyed. Now I don’t mean we’re gonna die, physically, or our bodies are gonna be destroyed, but maybe some significant moment in our life will change our perspective in a way that it’ll be like an apocalypse for us. The term apocalypse also means an unveiling in Greek. So something might be shown to us. Something that we were blind about before might be made clear to us. The veil in front of our eyes will be taken down. This is what Saint Paul is talking to the Thessalonians by the way. So in a way, the Thessalonians experienced their own apocalypse . Paul tells them, he says, look, you all think you’re holy and you’re doing a good job, but you’re not. You’re acting like a bunch of gossips and busybodies, and you’re not working. Now the Thessalonians weren’t working because they thought the end of the world was gonna come pretty soon. So they just thought, hey, let’s just hang back and drink some good Greek wine or whatever and not do anything, right? But Paul’s like, no, you’re wrong. You gotta get to work, and you gotta stop gossiping about each other. Now that probably shook them up in a way it could have destroyed some of their temples. So for each of us, all right, what could be something that has happened in your life that’s been a defining moment, or maybe something this past year, where your temple in a way has been destroyed? Maybe something’s been revealed to you. Maybe you suffered an illness or a loved one died, that really shook your world. Think about that. Pray about it. And so what we can do then, once you have something in mind, and if something has never happened in your life, maybe look harder, because chances are, like Jesus is right when he foretells our temple’s gonna be destroyed, or it’s gonna come to us. You’re not alone in this destruction. So when you’re suffering this calamity, turn to the Lord in prayer. This is the beauty of a relationship with Christ. He’ll bring something out of that destruction, okay? The temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, but guess what happened? The Catholic Church rose out of the ashes. Your temple might be destroyed, but he’ll resurrect you, and you’ll become even a more, a beautiful, a better person, a saint than you ever could have imagined before. Amen.

Readings

First Reading:

Malachi 3:19-20

Second Reading:

2 Thessalonians 3:7-12

Gospel:

Luke 21:5-19

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