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I started my reflection last Sunday describing the past week as “unusual”. Today I say the past week was “unbelievable”. Two stunning decisions have surprised us when Tuesday afternoon our Supreme Court ruled that Marcos may be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani while across the Pacific on the following day came the news of Donald Trump’s great upset to become the next US President. Media in both countries described the reactions of the people to the two unrelated news as “tectonic” so that later Thursday, a moderate quake shook Luzon.
And so we ask, what’s next? How would this unbelievable week end?
We are all fond of knowing the end or simply what’s next without really realizing its implications like our Gospel scene today: While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” (Lk.21:5-7)
We are now in the last two final weeks of our liturgical calendar and Jesus is still in the Temple area of Jerusalem inviting us again to fix our gaze on Him. Last Sunday when He was tested by the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead, Jesus did not give any specifics nor analogies about it except directed their attention unto Him because He is the Resurrection. Today, the Lord is inviting us anew along with His listeners that time to focus more on Him about this coming end of time as the destruction of the Temple signified. It is very unfortunate that since then until now, with or without God, so many people are so obsessed with the end of the world, making all the preparations like underground shelters to giving specific dates based on their interpretations of the man-made and natural calamities happening in the world. Even History Channel is so lost in these doomsday scenarios as if history has ended that they no longer show us with historical programs anymore and instead bombard us with these alien invasions and the never ending biddings at pawnshops and storage sites!
In the Bible, especially in the Old Testament as we have heard from the Prophet Malachi, the term “day of the Lord” means the coming of God at the end of time. But wait. There is an end of time but we need not fear that day because when we speak of an ending, we also speak of new beginning, something similar to what we have reflected last week about the expression “nobody sees the face of God and lives again.” To experience God, to see God, to hear God – these all imply an end of old self, of dying to one’s sinful past and getting into new life. Nobody is perfect but at least, when we are aware of our sinfulness that is when we strive harder to become better persons. We call it authentic living. This is what Jesus is trying to ask us when He said we should not be alarmed of the news of wars and famines or be misled by claims of others that they are Him. Every day is the Day of the Lord because Jesus Christ comes to us daily in our prayers, in our relationships, in our work, and in the good and bad experiences we go through in life. Every Sunday, which is called Day of the Lord, we proclaim in the Holy Mass the mystery of our faith, that Christ has come, Christ comes, and Christ will come again. Every day as the Day of the Lord is a call for us all to “give testimony” to our faith: “Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony.” (Lk.21:12-13)
God always works in human history as we have seen in the past and in the present. And we can be assured always of this truth that as the God of history, God would continue to work in our midst in all time. But, are we willing to work with Him, in Him and through Him? In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us to stop being lazy, “minding the business of others” and start “working quietly in the Lord.” (2Thess.3:11-12) To await the Day of the Lord is not be idle but to actively work in the name of Jesus to make this world “more humane” as Vatican II’s “Lumen Gentium” envisioned. Notice how in our times God has become a footnote in our existence or an emergency button to press just in case something goes wrong. Like those people in the Temple area, we love to bask in our own vanities and achievements, unmindful of an end to everything that comes daily. We are so focused with ourselves that we have forgotten God and others in the process. What was really unbelievable with the past week in our country is the unbelievable truth of how we have let these things to happen long ago. Both in the government and in the Church, we have procrastinated for so long in correcting so many mistakes in our systems and laws, losing sight that every day is the Day of the Lord. We have refused to recognize Jesus coming in our historic moments like election days that we have kept on putting undeserving people into power for so long a time that we now have some of the most unthinkable leaders leading us, from the barangay to the national level. We have always been afraid of persecutions, of being handed over even by relatives and friends that we have refused to stand for what is true and what is moral that we now reap the rotten fruits of our indifference in the past like the drug problem. We have never faced issues squarely because we were so afraid of hurting the feelings of others if we stand for what is true and good. Sad to say, the Church learned this bitter lesson only recently after so many lives were permanently damaged or destroyed by the sex abuses perpetrated by some priests over long periods of time. Today, the Lord is assuring us that He would give us the wisdom we need in our fight for justice and truth. Like Him, we would also be persecuted and even be put to death but let us rely in His promise that “not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (Lk.21:18,19)
“Lord Jesus Christ, Your every coming is a day of judgment and salvation. Give us the strength and courage, with a great dash of joy to always await Your Day of the Lord by standing for what is true, just, and good. Amen.”
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista
Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
