Friends
Peace be with you.
In the past few months, I’ve talked with several people who are concerned that we are seeing events that point to the end times. Whether it’s the ongoing escalations in the war in Ukraine or the immoral and selfish political choices evidenced in the last election or some statements and actions by church leaders that are not in keeping with the Sacred Scripture or Sacred Tradition, these events can cause us a lot of concern. We may be tempted to look to the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel and look for the signs of the apocalypse that are present in our world today.
However, before we do that, and before we get too far into those themes which are more prevalent as we draw closer to the end of the church’s liturgical and the beginning of the Advent season, let’s hear, with open hearts, the caution that our Lord has in the Gospel for today. Jesus says that we shouldn’t be fooled by those who think they know when the Lord will come again. We may see “wars and insurrections” and be tempted to start screaming about the end of the world but “do not believe them” he says. The implication is, also, that we shouldn’t become them. Why? Because there’s a tendency when you become fixated on the end-times, to fear. You can become so worried about looking for the signs of the end-times that you become selfish and worry so much about taking care of yourself and your own salvation that you forget to evangelize your neighbor. That’s why our Lord tells us that we are to persevere in giving testimony to the gospel. That is our job, to persevere in giving testimony that God loves us so much that he gave us his only son, Jesus Christ, so that we might have forgiveness of sins and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
This past Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, many of us were taught one way we can persevere in giving testimony. Fr. Greg Bramlage, who preached at all the Masses last weekend, taught us about the power of intercessory prayer for healing. We, not just the ordained but all the baptized, can ask Jesus to heal a person just as he did when he walked among us so that the power of his healing of our sins may be outwardly manifested in the healing of our bodies. At the end of Mass, there will be people available if you’d like them to pray over you to ask Jesus to heal you. You may be suffering from something drastic like cancer or some other serious illness or serious physical injury or something smaller like if you’ve struggled with impurity or depression. It doesn’t matter. Two people will pray over you for two or three minutes saying repeatedly something like “Lord Jesus, heal this child of God.” While that sacramental is happening, I’ll also be standing in the front of church celebrating the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick for any of you who are ill or at a certain age where it will help strengthen you. I’d ask that those who do not want to participate in either, leave church by the side aisles and the people wanting to be anointed or prayed over walk up the center aisle.
In doing this, we persevere in giving testimony to our hope in Jesus Christ. It’s easy to find reasons to struggle in hope in this world. But we must be the ones to give the hope of Christ to others. May our every word and action be an exercise in allowing God to use our lips and our hearts to praise him in hope.
