Dear Friends -- November 17

This week we begin the count down to the end of the world. Now you might think why in the world are we doing that? We are approaching the conclusion of the liturgical year. On Sunday, December 1, we begin a new liturgical year. Advent will be upon us. We’ll be leaving what we call Ordinary Time to enter into one of the two great Mysteries of Faith. Remember, these are mysteries–so don’t think that this side of heaven we’re going to begin to figure them out!

The first of these great mysteries is the topsy-turvy fact that the God who began the Universe (the major driving force behind the Big Bang) loved humankind so much that this God decided (for reasons only known to God) to become a human being! Wow! Where did that come from? The gods who were roaming the ancient world never really liked people and people (whether you lived in Asia, Greece, Rome or Egypt) really never loved those gods either. They simply coexisted. People offered sacrifices to gods and the gods provided rain, crops, etc. etc.

But this God decided to enter into the fray of human history, first by calling that rather elderly gentleman we call Abraham, and then by actually becoming a human being! (I’m singing “Away in a Manger” in my head right now...) Jesus is the very incarnation of the love that this God has for humankind. Wow! Nobody ever saw that one coming–God becoming human.

So the first of the great Mysteries of Faith focuses our attention on this great Advent–this wonderful coming of God into the world. And since we all know God has no need for time, (after all we’re the only ones who watch planet earth spin around our sun and start counting, one, two, three, etc.), the Church offers us time to reflect on those moments when there will no longer be time itself–namely the END of what we call time (or history).

OK, so how in the world do you get people to think, quite literally, outside the box we call time? The only way we, who live—or are rather stuck—in time can do it is with images. These signs and symbols that deal with the end of time are called apocalyptic images. (The final book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation is also called the Book of the Apocalypse because the Greek word apocalypse translates to revelation in English). Anyway, the end of time is cast with images that are sometimes frightening and sometimes are downright odd. So in order to help us prepare for the great mystery of Jesus’ Second Coming (yes, he came once, but he’s planning to return), we reflect liturgically on the end of the world this week, next week and even on the first Sunday of Advent itself.

And why do we reflect on the End? We do this only so that we can fully appreciate a new Beginning–a Day of Light and Peace. Moments of rest that will be Eternal, when there will be only perpetual (without end) light! This is the prayer that ends most funeral liturgies. We pray that our loved ones have a rest which is no longer time-bound, that is, an eternal rest. We pray that a perpetual light—a metaphor for the very goodness and mercy of our loving God—will also shine on them until we will be awakened from that rest and literally see God face to face. This beautiful prayer gives us hope in the midst of some terrifyingly odd images we use for the end of the world itself.

Now that the days are getting colder and darker, shouldn’t we all want an experience of perpetual light? Aren’t we longing for the mercy, the forgiveness and the grace that only our God can bestow? 

So, hang on—We’re going to hear stories of the End filled with very stark images, but as Christians, we look with Joyful Hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.