Today’s readings are full of gloom and doom.  The first reading from the Book of Daniel talks about the end of time being a time of unsurpassed stress where some who die shall be in everlasting horror and disgrace.  The Gospel reading from the Apocalyptical sections of Mark presents the end of time as being the day of tribulations, when the earth will shake and even the stars will fall out of the sky.  Scary stuff, these end of the world readings.  But are they?  Look again at that first reading: Daniel prophesies that many will live forever.  The wise will shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament and those who lead the many to justice will be like the stars forever.  And in Mark Jesus adds, “the elect will be gathered from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” The early Christians did not look at the Second Coming and end of time with terror.  Instead they saw it as a time when the Lord would return to his people and correct the injustices of the world.  Good people, Christians,  were being put to death for the Lord in the most horrible ways.  Throughout the world, little children were starving to death while rich people ate heartily. The conquering Romans, like the Greeks and Persians before them, had no respect for any life other than their own and killed the population of whole cities, men, women and children viciously and randomly.  This is not what God created the world to be.  The world was suffering from sin.  Therefore, the Christians prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus, Maranatha. Come and recreate your world into your image.” The world has not changed all that much in its barbarity.  People are still killed for whom they are.  We are still receiving accounts of genocide throughout the world.   Here, in our country, good people are still persecuted when they refuse to join the latest mores of society.  To become a federal judge in this country, a person has to be in favor of gay marriage and abortion, among the other darling positions of the extreme liberals.  Anyone who is not is held up to scorn.  On the other side of the spectrum, anyone who says that the way of war should not be the way of the most civilized, advanced country of the world, then has to be prepared to be labeled as not being patriotic, even treasonous.  The world has not changed that much.  People who hold their convictions tightly to themselves are still persecuted, even put to death. The world has not changed all that much.  And yet, it has.  The major change in the world is that with Jesus Christ there is hope.  There is hope that war will not have the last word.  There is hope that starvation will become a bad memory.  There is hope that racism and sexism will not in the end dance a jig together.  There is hope that oppression will not have a lasting foothold over the vulnerable.  There is hope that those who do evil will not prevail. Evil is not part of God’s plan.  But we are part of that plan. The visions we heard today rely on us to take a role in the conquest of the Kingdom.  We are assured that if we take up the battle of good against evil, good will prevail and we will join in the triumph of God’s forces.  Listen to the “then” section of the Gospel.  “Then you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory.”  That’s the Good New, the Gospel.  We will see triumph of goodness and be present as the Lord gathers his own to himself. Believing in the Lord and hoping in this promise, we turn our attention to the work at hand: preaching the Gospel through our words and deeds, even to those in darkness.  Even when we feel ourselves engulfed by darkness.  Still, we proclaim the Gospel, for we believe that light is coming.  We do not know when.  We do not know where.  But we do know the He, the Lord of Light is coming.  And so we continue to pray in the prayer He taught us, “Thy Kingdom Come.” • AE

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Fr. Agustin Schedule for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Saturday, November 13, 2021.

3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation

5.00 p.m. English Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

Sunday, November 14, 2021.

12.00 p.m. English Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

3.00 p.m. Misa en Español @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

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XXXIII Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo B)

Al recitar el credo, los cristianos repetimos una y otra vez que Cristo “vendrá con gloria a juzgar vivos y muertos”. ¿Qué significa esta confesión que hacemos tantas veces de manera distraída y rutinaria? Probablemente muchos pensarán enseguida en un proceso judicial o discriminación última que decidirá la suerte final de los hombres en base a su comportamiento moral en esta vida. Pero el juicio final que esperamos los creyentes entraña algo más que la suerte última de cada individuo. Con fe humilde pero firme los cristianos proclamamos que Jesucristo es el destino último del mundo y de la humanidad. Nosotros creemos que en la raíz de la existencia no reina la soledad, la crueldad o el caos, sino el misterio de un Dios que se nos ha revelado en Cristo como destino final de la humanidad. Es cierto que la historia de los hombres está teñida de dramática ambigüedad y la existencia se nos presenta muchas veces como una maraña de contradicciones e incoherencias absurdas difícil de descifrar. Pero nosotros creemos que “las palabras de Cristo no pasarán». Un día se desvelará el sentido profundo de todo, las cosas quedarán en su sitio verdadero, se revelará el valor último del amor y se hará justicia a todos los vencidos, los humillados, los ofendidos, los pequeños, los olvidados y marginados. Ese será el verdadero juicio final que aclarará todas las ambigüedades y «justificará» todos los esfuerzos por caminar hacia una humanidad siempre mejor. El juicio que dejará en evidencia todos esos otros juicios con los que tantas veces los vencedores pretenden enjuiciar la historia anterior y condenar a los que los han precedido. Se terminarán entonces todos nuestros interrogantes y preguntas. Y descubriremos de dónde proviene esa voz que se hace oír ya en el interior de la vida y del mundo llamándonos hacia Dios. Entonces experimentaremos de alguna manera esa visión tan misteriosa y consoladora de la gran mística Juliana de Norwich: “Y todo estará bien; y todos estarán bien; toda clase de cosas estará bien» • AE