23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, November 13, 2022
Malachi 4:1-2a • 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 • Luke 21:5-19
The Middle East is still a powder keg. We could get involved in a conflict with Russia or China any day. The financial situation is so precarious. Each day we read about horrible things like children being killed or neglected by their very parents. Disease seems to be on the rise; I have never heard of so many people with so many types of cancer. To listen to the gospel today and then reflect on all the terrible things happening around our world makes it easy to imagine that the end of the world must be upon us. Or does it?
Most preachers would prefer to stay away from the topic of the end of the world. It smacks of televangelists preying on the fear of people. Yet, we cannot avoid the topic; indeed these Sundays from now through the end of Advent will focus on scriptures that speak in apocalyptic language. So what are we meant to take from the Word of God today?
“By your endurance you will gain your souls.” Patience and perseverance are not popular virtues. Yet, they are precisely what Jesus praises not only in today’s passage but throughout his preaching. They are what Paul exemplified in his life and what he commended to the Thessalonians. Perseverance is the way we are to live as we await the return of the Lord.
There are many examples of endurance, of perseverance, of patience all around us. Look at the years of commitment that we observe among the couples of Holy Innocents. Many of the religious sisters in our parish have celebrated jubilees of their commitment to the Church and their community. I can’t believe I have been a priest for 36 years.
What gave these people the ability to live each day, to remain committed to the people and promises that they made? What gives each of us the courage to get up in the morning, to live another day? Perseverance. A Jesuit friend of mine has a wonderful business card. It has his name and says “right foot forward, left foot forward, breathe.” Then it says turn the card over and on the other side it says “right foot forward, left foot forward, breathe.” We can say perseverance in many ways: don’t give up, stay the course, keep going, fight the good fight.
The bottom line is that we can not practice any of the other virtues if we don’t have perseverance. Justice, mercy, hope or compassion are fine if we do them once, but perseverance means that we learn to practice the way of Jesus over a lifetime. I am reminded of the so-called “little way” of Therese of Lisieux, the beloved Little Flower. Our path to holiness may not be doing great things, but doing things greatly, with perseverance.
One of the ways we practice perseverance is by our weekly celebration of the Eucharist. There are all kinds of reasons for not coming to church: being sleepy, the house is a mess, a good football game on TV, the list is endless. Making the sacrifice to come to church is more than half the battle. The Lord always meets us more than half way. As we prepare for Thanks-giving and Advent, let us recommit ourselves to patient persistence and perseverance in our journey with Jesus. As we walk up the aisle this morning to be fed by Christ, let us say from the depth of our heart, “Yes, Lord.”