A reflection for the 33rd Sunday, Ordinary Time, B. The readings are Daniel 12:1-3, Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11, 14-18 and Mark 13:24-32.
Today is the thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time – next Sunday is the 34th, the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year- that’s when we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King…. Then, the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and we begin the new Church year. This year is year B and we’ve been reading from the Gospel of Mark. Next year is Year C and we will be reading from the Gospel of Luke. On that Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, in two weeks, we are going to listen to a very similar Gospel passage as today’s – Jesus telling the disciples about what sounds like, is the end of the world.
This Gospel passage – from the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Mark is written in what we refer to as “apocalyptic” in style. Apocalyptic refers to a kind of writing which was normal in Biblical times. The first reading from the 12 Chapter of Daniel is also apocalyptic – and so is the Book of Revelation. Apocalyptic writing is sometimes hard to understand because of the way it is written. People think that apocalyptic means that it’s about the end of the world – it isn’t. Apocalypse doesn’t mean end of the world and destruction. Apocalypse means unveiling; revealing – literally, pulling back a curtain That’s why the book of the apocalypse, the last book of the Bible, in English is called the Book of Revelation – because it reveals something to us. Partly because some of the messages are hidden – they are veiled. But mostly because in reading it, a deeper meaning is revealed. Apocalyptic writings are commonly used in Scripture when the readers – those to whom the book is written – are being persecuted. This is the case in the Book of Daniel; written during the Greek conquest of Israel. It is also true of the Book of Revelation, written during the Roman persecution of Christians. It is also true of this 13 chapter of the Gospel of Mark. It is written in a way that those who are persecuted would understand, but also, so that the persecutors would not understand.
A reflection for the 27th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Year B. The readings are Genesis 2:18-24, Psalm: 128, Hebrews 2:9-11 and Mark 10:2-16.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.”
That line is what inspired Saint John Paul II to give a series of reflections that has come to be known as The Theology of the Body. Have you heard of it? From 1979 to 1984, Pope John Paul II, during his weekly General Audiences, gave 129 addresses, inspired by this scripture passage on marriage and divorce, which led him to the Book of Genesis and to look at the nature of sin and grace, of love, marriage, what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman, what it means to be created in the image of God – it’s a wonderful catechesis on love, marriage and sexuality – and because we are created, male and female, in the image of God, it also gives us a glimmer as to the very nature of God. In short, Theology of the Body says that the very mystery of God is revealed to us through our bodies. I encourage you to look it up. If you have a body, the Theology of the Body is for you.
(A great place to start is with Christopher West. Pick up his Theology of the Body Explained.)
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A conversation with Jermaine Bagnall on his podcast The Personal Vocation.
A reflection on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The readings are Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8:14-17 and Matthew 28:16-20.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, a day in which we celebrate and meditate on the mystery of the Trinity, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #234 (easy to remember) describes as the “central mystery of the Christian faith and life.” That means it’s pretty important. It is foundational and fundamental to all the other mysteries of our Faith – because it is the mystery of God in himself.
This central mystery is the mystery that says that God is one God, three persons: God is one God, three persons. It’s not three gods – ONE God. Three persons –not three different parts of God, like the Shamrock that St. Patrick uses to explain the Trinity. It is not three different states of God like water (that’s sometimes also used to describe the Trinity); liquid, solid and gas. It’s not three aspects or qualities of God: creator, redeemer, sanctifier – no, it’s three PERSONS. One God. It’s hard to understand.
That’s why we call it a mystery. But it’s not a mystery like a murder mystery, Agatha Christie or Scooby Doo mystery that we have to solve. No, when the Church talks about mystery, it means something that it’s so amazing, so wonderful that it cannot be fully described in human terms. It cannot be fully understood. In the Church we use the word ‘mysteries’ a lot. Pay attention at Mass to see how many times you hear the priest use the word ‘mysteries’: “as we prepare to celebrate these sacred mysteries” – or “the mystery of faith”. When we pray the Rosary, we pray the “mysteries of the Rosary”. And we have a few Mysteries that are hard to explain: the Mystery of the Eucharist, the Mystery of the Incarnation, the Mystery of the Cross… and the mystery of the Trinity is the central one and, probably, the hardest one to understand: ONE God; and at the same time THREE completely distinct persons who are each independently, fully ONE God. “Oh most Holy Trinity, undivided unity” we sometimes sing.
deacon pedro 