Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Today is the last Tuesday in Ordinary Time. Next Sunday marks the beginning of the new liturgical year. I'm sure many of us have a number of concerns regardless of our state in life. In today's Gospel reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, we find Jesus' predicting the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred in 70 A.D. For many Jews of the time, it was as if their world was being destroyed. To this very day, people at the remaining western wall of the Temple in Jerusalem can be heard literally wailing over the Temple's destruction. Jesus wants us to fix our eyes on heaven, and not focus our attention disproportionately on the things of this world. We must do the best we can with the time that we have on this earth, but realize that the world does not depend upon us. If we fail, God will still come through. But we need to live the Christian life, and we need to strive to live it well.

In St. John's apocalyptic vision of the reaping of the harvest, we find the image that inspired the "grim reaper." The harvest will be reaped in the end, and all shall be transformed, even if, as in today's first reading, the transformation is not easy. Jesus in today's gospel reading warns us of the impending disaster that will characterize these times. But for us, now is the time to transform our lives. Let us strive to lead lives worthy of the name Christian.

As we approach the new year next week with the beginning of Advent, why don't we take some time to think about ways in which we can reform our lives. Perhaps this will be as simple as carving out more time to pray. Perhaps we will make a resolution to spend a minute in prayer before every task we set our hands to.

Jeff Morrow