These last Sundays of the year are meant to shake us from our safety. We hear from Daniel about the unbridled distress that will face the world when the Lord is near, and it is meant to be a bit jarring. But being called to wake up is different from panic. Instead we are awake and aware, ready for what is to come, and serene in the knowledge that the love of God will overpower any threat.

All of this is promised by the words of Christ in the Gospel, in which he describes a distressing scene, but combines that scene with a word of comfort, on the word of his that will not pass away. The conclusion of the series of second readings from the letter to the Hebrews is a similar assertion. Christ reigns in heaven for always, and is ready to save us and welcome us home.

© 2003, OCP. All rights reserved.

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The readings today are an example of how the scriptures can become too familiar to us – we can cease to be surprised by some very shocking things. In both the first reading and Gospel we come across people who were downtrodden for so many reasons it is hard to know where to begin – they were women, they were poor, they were widowed, and so without property – all the things that would make someone useless in the eyes of the society of that time. And yet they are examples of service. Death? Bring it on! Hunger? Don’t make me laugh! There is absolutely nothing that stop these people from doing for others.

What could motivate this kind of action? In the nomadic cultures of the Middle East, well actually in most cultures except our modern one, we know that hospitality was not an option. To deny food to someone who came by – to not share what little you had – this was the same thing as murder, since without food, one would die.

But there is more. In both of these cases, the ability to give is based on the sure knowledge that nothing we possess is ever completely our own. All our goods, all our wealth is of God. Whether it is a little or a lot, it is on loan, and should someone or some cause come our way, we give. That is what these women teach us. That is what the Psalm teaches us.

As followers of Jesus we have an additional reason to give, and just in case we forgot, there it is in Hebrews. As Christ made of himself the one perfect sacrifice, once and for all, so let us make ourselves like him in offering our lives for the good of the many.

© 2006, OCP. All rights reserved.

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The Gospel reading today is the rock upon which today's celebration is built. Jesus names those who are to be blessed in the kingdom, and so they are. The saints have responded to this call and, as the first reading reminds us, dwell in an immense multitude - beyond counting - who dwell with God. What that means, to dwell with God, is something of a mystery, but the image of seeing God is central, as the second reading tells. The beatific vision is what we call it in theology, but what is fascinating about John's use of the image is that in seeing God, like Moses of old, we shall be changed. No one can see God and not be changed. What that change will be is less important than the vision that brings it about. For in seeing God we become like God; our hope is that we, like the saints, will live forever in God.

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© 2003, OCP. All rights reserved.

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