33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 11/14

On this second-to-last Sunday of the liturgical year, our readings speak of the end times and the coming of Christ. In the first reading, the prophet Daniel describes a vision of final judgment and the resurrection of the dead. In the second reading and the Gospel, we hear about Jesus taking his place in glory at the end of all things. Readings like these can inspire awe, and even dread, as we contemplate the vastness of eternity and the idea of coming face to face with God’s judgment. Images like the sun being darkened, the stars falling, the heavens shaking, can make us, in our frail humanity, hope that these last days are a long way off. 

But the truth is, for us frail humans, our last days are never a long way off. We live in the constant reality that our days are numbered, and that we could face God in all of his glory and judgment at any moment. And while this is a sobering fact, and one that should help us to live with a sense of readiness, it is not something that should paralyze us or fill us with fear. Because the God who will come on the clouds in glory when the final trumpet sounds, is the same God who loved us enough to send his only Son to save us. It is the same God who walked with us in our humanity, who came into the world as a helpless infant in a humble stable, who endured suffering, humiliation, and death just to give us a chance at life with him. The God who can bring an end to all things, who will come in justice and judgment, is also the God who encounters us personally and intimately, who knows every corner of our hearts and who approaches us in mercy and love. So while there is much that we don’t know about what the end days will look like, there is one thing that we know with certainty: that our good and loving God has made us for eternal life, and if we live every day in relationship with him, then that joyful eternity has already begun.

Jule Coppa, Penn Campus Minister