Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Our readings today share the common theme of the temporary nature of our world. In the first reading, we hear of kingdoms that come and go. In the Gospel, Jesus told the people that the Temple will not last forever. The readings challenge us to reflect on where—and in what—we place our hope and faith.
The first reading describes the destruction of four statues representing four enormous kingdoms: the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks. No matter how large and powerful they were, they all collapsed. A stone, which in Hebrew Scriptures symbolized Israel, hewn from the mountain, destroyed all the statues. The lesson we in our time can take is that God outlasts all temporal things such as empires and wealth.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus does not sugarcoat anything. He told the people that the Temple will be destroyed and that terrible things like war, earthquakes, and plagues will happen. What does this mean for us? I don’t think this means that we are to look for signs of the end of the world and attempt to predict when it will be. Rather, Jesus made the point that we do not know when the end of the world will be. In the future as in our present day and in the past, wars will occur, natural disasters will always happen, and the next pandemic can come at any time. Therefore, why put off our relationship with God? Like the wealthy people in the passage just before today’s reading, why only give part of ourselves to God? Let us be like the widow who gave all she had.
As we approach the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent, let us look back and reflect on the times we sought strength and hope in things other than God. What impedes our relationship with God? And how can we place our faith and hope in God during this upcoming year?
—Sr. Emily Sandoval, FMI