"Heaven and Earth will pass away..."

(The following is a homily given on the Friday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time, 11/28/14)

(Reading for the day)
 Reading 1 rv 20:1-4, 11-21:2
 Responsorial Psalm ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a
Gospel lk 21:29-33

As we close this liturgical year, we are reminded in our readings that the end is near.  As the earth dies around us, we are encouraged to keep hope alive in our hearts, and wait with faith for that time when the buds of spring will "burst open", and the summer we long for will be close at hand (see Gospel).

 As many of us are reminded during this time of year, our lives are passing away before us.  Our personal "heavens" -- of family, fortune, health, and joy sift through our fingers as easily as our personal "earthly" troubles -- our pains, fears, losses, and sorrows ("heaven and earth will pass away" -- Lk. 21:33). 

Time marches on, and it can leave us speechless.

 Thanks be to God that we have been given the gift of the One who’s words will not pass away; (Lk. 21:33)  and whose "new Jerusalem" (Rv. 21:2) will stand forever as our refuge and fortress. 

 Thanks be to God that he now lives among His people, in word and Sacrament, in this community, and in the faces of the people we have come to love… or hate… or haven’t come to know at all.

 Thanks be to God that we will see with eyes of faith the promise of God’s redeeming love come down to meet us, bringing the eternity of God’s Glory to us, in this time and on this altar.

 

The winter of this world may be at hand, my brothers and sisters, but "the Dawn from on High" (Lk. 1:78) is about to shed His saving rays upon us. 

Thanks be to God.