Dear Friend, Sometimes people are informed that what they are involved in may be injurious to their health or career or their future. Yet most people do not take these messages seriously. Their reasoning: 'It won't happen to me!" or "I'll heed that, but act later!" Warnings are important and need to be heeded. Today we are reminded that we will be judged at the end of life. We do not know when that will happen. Are we ready? Have a reflective weekend reviewing one's life! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: 33rd Sunday "Be prepared! The Son of Man is coming to judge all men!" 18-Nov-2012 Readings: Daniel 12: 1-3 Hebrews 10: 11-14, 18 Mark 13: 24-32 The first reading from the Book of Daniel was written to console God's people who were suffering persecution. Despite speaking of the end times, the purpose is to not to frighten but to reassure us that God is coming to his people and the virtuous need not be afraid. We are reminded of the end because the future gives meaning to the present. Our ultimate purpose is Jesus. He came into this world at his first coming, and he will come again at the end of time. In between he comes time and again into my life and he will return. "I shall return!" The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Soon after that they invaded and occupied the Philippines. The US General Douglas McArthur was stationed in the Philippines, and on March 11, 1942 he was forced to leave the islands. Before leaving for Australia, he promised the islanders 'I shall return.' On Oct 20 1944, two and a half years later, he kept his promise. He landed on one of the islands, and announced 'I have returned.' This heralded freedom for the Philippines. -"Heaven and earth will pass away before my word passes away. When the Son of Man comes will he find any faith on this earth?" Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth!' The gospel gives us an apocalyptic description of the end of the world but we must be aware that the language used is not meant to be a literal description of what will take place in the future. In today's reading we have one of the most Jewish sections of the New Testament, where Jesus speaks of the darkened sun, the moon without light, the stars falling, the shaking of the heavenly hosts and the glorious coming of the Son of Man. We are invited to read the signs of the times with faith. We know that there are constantly people who predict terrible happenings and calamities. There have been prophets of doom and there will be people who will misinterpret present day happenings and warn us that we will be punished, that God is out to get us because of our sins and failures. The only point that we need to bear in mind is that that God is present in the end times. "I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all these things will have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away." Jesus is giving us a solemn assurance not of the exact time of his coming, but of the fact that He will come. His coming is a promise not as a threat. When he came the first time many missed the opportunity, because they were not prepared. Jesus warns us to be ready for his second coming. That second coming should fill us with hope. The early Christians looked forward to his coming and their prayer was: 'Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus!' Second Coming or Third Coming We sometimes speak of the end of the world as the Second coming. That is not correct. The first Coming was at Bethlehem, the second coming is when he is given a home in my heart, and the third Coming is when he comes to reap the harvest into the kingdom of the Father. Good Friday reflects Bethlehem in so far as it shows us a God submitting himself to birth and to death. That is the First Coming. Easter Saturday is a quiet day, when nothing is seen to happen, and it is during such a quiet ordinary day that Jesus can enter the tombs of our hearts, and prepare us for new life. That is the Second Coming. Easter morning is glory-day, is an Alleluia day, and it foreshadows the Third Coming, when Jesus will come in glory to claim what is his. Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies' Tough Times Television celebrity Sid Caesar has written his autobiography under the title 'Where Have I Been?' In this book Sid Caesar reveals how he was a heavy drinker during his glory days on television, and how he later became a drunk walking around in a stupor for almost twenty years. Finally, in 1978 he looked in a mirror and asked, "Sidney, do you want to live, or do you want to die?" He wanted to live and so he "quit drinking and popping pills," Sid Caesar writes further: I didn't realize it during those twenty years of drinking, but I had stopped appreciating my wife Florence, and I couldn't even talk to my children. Our family is a lot closer now. I know that you can't take twenty years of hollering and screaming and drinking and make up for it in a couple of years, but I'm trying very hard. Sid Caesar's recovery from alcoholism has renewed his life. Before, he was destroying his life and family with drinking and drugs. Now, he is reconstructing his life and his relationship with his wife and children. Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word resounds' The End of the World! A woman was hurrying home from work. This was her bingo night. Suddenly she spotted this fellow standing on the edge of the pavement holding aloft a placard which read: THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR. She went up to him and said, 'You say the end of the world is near.' 'That's right, missus,' he replied. 'But are you sure?' 'Quite sure, missus.' 'And you say it's near.' 'Yes, missus.' 'How near?' 'Oh, very near.' 'Could you be more precise?' 'This very night, Missus. She paused for a moment to reflect on this. Then in a voice full of anxiety, she asked, 'Tell me, son. Will it be before or after bingo?' Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies' Making Adjustments An old sea captain named Eleazar Hall lived in Bedford, Massachusetts, during the time of the great sailing ships. He was renowned, legendary, and revered as the most successful of sea captains of the day. He worked harder, stayed out longer, and lost fewer men while catching more fish than anyone else. Captain Hall was often asked about his uncanny ability to stay out so long without navigational equipment. He'd once been gone for two years without coming home for a point of reference. Eleazar simply replied, "Oh, I just go up on deck and listen to the wind and rigging. I get the drift of the sea, look up at the stars, and then set my course." Well, times changed at Bedford. The big insurance companies moved in and said they no longer insured the ships if the captains didn't have a certified and properly trained navigator on board. They were terrified to tell Eleazar. But to their amazement he said, "If I must, I will go and take the navigational course." Eleazar graduated high in his class, and having greatly missed the sea, he immediately took off for a long voyage. On the day of his return, the whole town turned out to ask him the question: "Eleazar, how was it having to navigate with all those charts and equations?" Eleazar sat back and let out a long low whistle. "Oh," he replied, "it was simple. Whenever I wanted to know my location, I'd go to my cabin, get out my charts and tables, work the equations and set my course with scientific precision. Then I'd go up on deck and listen to the wind and the rigging, get the drift of the sea, look at the stars, and go back and correct the errors I had made in computation." When I heard that, I prayed, Lord, I want to know You that way. I want to go up on deck, hear your quiet voice in my heart, consider your eternal Word, and then go back down below and make adjustments to all those fine, logical, scientific plans I've drawn up in my head. Ron Mehl from 'Surprise Endings' One more hour! It was 11:00 PM and when the clock struck, terror engulfed Dr. Faustus. He had one more hour to live and then, he had to surrender his soul to Satan. He helplessly cried out in terror: "Stand still, you ever moving spheres of heaven, Then time may cease, and midnight never comes; Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again and make Perpetual day; or let this hour be but a year, a month, a week, a natural day, that Faustus may repent and save his soul." But the clock struck 12:00; the devil came and took his soul. This is the tragical story of Dr. Faustus. He got into an agreement with Lucifer - the chief lord and regent of perpetual darkness. In return for bequeathing his soul to Lucifer, he demanded a life of voluptuousness for 24 years, and then attendance of Mephistopheles to grant whatever he demanded either to aid his friends or slay his enemies. He cut his arm, and with the blood when he wrote the deed of agreement, the blood congealed. Then Mephistopheles brought coal to heat his blood. Later, Faustus finished the deed and sold his soul. John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' Let's try to meet Jesus every day so we won't be surprised at His final coming! Fr. Jude Botelho judebote...@yahoo.co.in PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
