Apocalypse and God's Kingdom"

Today's Mass Readings

Appropriately, on this final day of the liturgical year, we have reflections about the apocalypse, or the second coming of Jesus. “Apocalypse” in Greek literally means “revelation” or “pulling back the veil.” In today’s gospel passage from Luke, Jesus identifies himself with the “Son of Man” of Daniel. He also does this even more explicitly in Mark’s gospel before Pontius Pilate. Who is this Son of Man? What does this title mean? Jesus’ contemporaries would have known well the passage from Daniel which comes immediately before today’s first reading. The Son of Man in that passage is God’s servant who will reign over the everlasting kingdom we hear about in today’s reading.

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection inaugurates the age of the everlasting kingdom of God, but its coming is not yet fulfilled. What could this possibly mean? Well, looking around we can see places where the Kingdom is breaking in, where God’s love reigns. This looks like Christians non-violently praying the rosary at an abortion clinic. It looks like one million people protesting the building of a wall to block Mexican immigrants, with Cardinal Mahoney, archbishop of Los Angeles, right in the middle of it saying “Papers or no papers, we will turn no one away from our Church.” This looks like communities of Christians building houses and making reparations in hurricane-torn New Orleans. It looks like a Church full of voices pledging themselves to God and to one another by reciting the creed, uniting their voices with the choirs of angels in Heaven to proclaim God’s praises in the Gloria, and gathering around the Eucharistic table to share of the one loaf and one cup that is the Body and Blood of Christ. These are only a few examples, but for sure, what it doesn’t look like is what everyone else is doing. The citizens of the Kingdom and their actions are clearly distinct.

There are places where we can discern the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom, while we await its fulfillment when Christ comes again. We are not able to say too much definitively about what Christ’s second coming will look like. Attempts to engage in the specificities are often disastrous. We can say with confidence, however, as Christians have throughout the ages, that our Lord will come again to judge the righteous and the unrighteous. Early Christians perceived his return to be imminent and so they responded by abandoning their work and other responsibilities. Paul, however, instructs them otherwise. We should take his counsel seriously. Being “vigilant at all times” in the words of Jesus in today’s gospel, involves constant attentiveness to our obligations as disciples of Christ. Of course, this should challenge what we do on a daily basis, not impel us to run from it.

Let us ask the hard question of whether we are prepared to see Christ. Let us end the year by reflecting on the end times. Does what I do on a daily basis allow God’s Kingdom to break in or do I shut it out? How am I preparing for Christ’s return daily?

- Timothy Gabrielli