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And so the end of the current liturgical year is, indeed, in sight. This coming weekend brings us to the penultimate 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time leaving only the 34th Sunday, (Solemnity of Christ the King) on the calendar before a new year of grace begins with First Sunday of Advent.
Apocalyptic texts like Sunday's gospel (Luke) are typical of the end of the church year. A text like this is not intended as a prediction of things to happen centuries later but rather stands as an interpretation of a present crisis. For believers, the end of the first century had its own crises - and for us in 2016, crises are always at hand. In any century, Christ is the rising sun in whose rays we find healing. Malachi's blazing oven (the first reading) will consume all those save those delivered by the "sun of justice." Although we're still a month and a half away from Christmas, in JohnWesley's familiar carol, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" we'll find this same image:
Risen with healing in his wings
Light and life to all he brings,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
The second reading is again from 2 Thessalonians with Paul instructing his readers on how Christians are to live as they await the coming of Christ.
You'll find that spending some time with these texts and the commentary on them will be a great assist in understanding them when they're proclaimed at Mass this weekend. Texts and commentary here and, if you're bringing children to Mass, hints for helping them prepare to hear the Word right here.
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A prayer in anticipation of the Feast of Christ the King:
ReplyDeleteJesus, In the Gospels you are unambiguous. You clearly and often invited us (me) to call you brother, not King. Help me accept that invitation.
Faced with a well-meaning and strongly pious but totally human analogy about Kingship, help me not think of a brother as King since it subtly creates a distance between brothers.
Help me appreciate how a loving brother has more power than a King to strengthen me where I'm weak, to trust a brother to help me clean up messes I make, to manage and moderate my passionate tendencies, to balance my ups and downs...my inconsistencies and human unpredictability.
Help me recognize you as the brother who encourages and models generosity when I hold back.
Help me accept the meaning of your gospel lessons: a King might possess coercive and overwhelming external power, but a brother shares my DNA fiber and is infinitely more powerful in shaping my thoughts and actions.
Because of your repeated gospel invitations to call you brother, I have a hunch that you smile as a brother would at the incongruity of being called King. Give me courage to smile along with you.