Thirty-Third Sunday November 18, 2007

Malachi 3:19‑-20 Ps 98 2 Thes 3:7‑-12 Luke 21:5‑-19

1. Our readings today are an Advent before Advent. In advent, we will hear John the Baptist say, “prepare ye the way of the Lord & you know the “every mountain and every valley” bit. Today we are also called to be prepared. The Day of Lord is at hand. It will be a day of judgment, terror and torment for the unjust. But for the righteous, it will be a judgment day when justice will finally be done. The problem is we wonder to which group we belong. Will we be like stubble and burnt up, or will the Sun of righteousness bring healing in its wings?

2. The No-name prophet is called Malachi which means messenger. What we hear today is the conclusion of the Book of Malachi. He is very much like a liturgist in our church today. He is very concerned that the structure of the Temple Life is falling apart.

blemished animals are being offered in sacrifice. Ch.1:6

priests are haphazard in their rituals and office. Ch 2: 3

people are becoming miserly in their collections (tithing) ch 2: 8

superstition and idolatry are becoming quite common ch 2: 10

It was enough for Malachi’s blood pressure to go sky high.

2a. Many a catholic thinks that the Catholic church is on the verge of imploding as well. There is no Holy Water at the entrances of the Church. People chew gum during the Mass. People read the bulletin or the Catholic newspaper during the Readings. Priests come with unprepared and rambling homilies. People approach Communion as if they are walking in the No Frills store, they wave to friends, they crack jokes, they point to people. It seems we have lost the Sense of the Sacred, we do not have the desire to become Holy as the Heavenly Father is Holy.

3. However, this may be only the external signs of an internal meltdown. In the Gospel the worshippers are caught up with

the Wonder of the Temple

the beauty of the stone work

the votive offerings that decorate the Altar.

But all this is merely “religion” in the crude sense. It is not “religion” but relationship that Jesus puts before the Apostles, and before us. It is an invitation like Malachi gives to his own people: an invitation to be faithful to a Faithful God. Jesus calls us not just to wash the outside of the cup and leave the inside full of vice and corruption. Luke 11:39. If we acknowledge as the psalm says, “The Lord comes to rule the Earth” then even if the external structures fall apart, our faith will not be shaken.

The temple could be destroyed

there would be wars and insurrections

the believers would be personally persecuted. Yet we would have a peace and serenity which the World cannot destroy or steal or take away from us. In that sense we have the advent atmosphere of being “prepared”.

4. However some Christians in the time of Paul and the Apostles considered that the Day of the Lord had already arrived. They considered themselves to be saved. There was no need of further discipline or work. They did not involve themselves in any commercial enterprise or work to earn a living. Today they would max out their credit cards. They would always fly first class. They would buy the very best. Why bother saving. The Day of the Lord is heard and they were saved.

2000 years later, some of you might say: we have the same situation in our families and in our church. Buy, buy, buy. Do you need it? No, but it is on sale ! In the Apostolic times, these Gnostics, these who believed that they were already saved proved to be a burden on their family and on their society. The meagre resources of the Church was taxed to the limit. Paul therefore came out with that bold and harsh statement: “You do not work, you do not eat !”

5. The People of Israel considered the Presence of God to be permanent and timeless. This presence was symbolized by the Temple. Today we speak of the unbroken link to the Apostles as symbolized by the Vatican. Both the Temple and the Vatican are also expected to be permanent and timeless.

However, our preparedness for the Day of the Lord comes from a deep and personal commitment to God through our baptismal promises. The Temple and the Vatican are but external signs of relationship to God which is unseen, invisible. And as we promised in Baptism, we are challenged to keep the flame alive until the Lord comes to meet us.

In five weeks time, we will be celebrating Christmas. We will sing that beautiful Christmas Carol:

Risen with healing in his wings

Light and life to all he brings,

Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!

Hail, the heaven‑-born Prince of Peace!

It is an echo of Malachi’s prophecy of the Sun of Righteousness bringing Healing in its wings. Charles Wesley applied these words to the birth of Christ. It is an Advent of an advent: Prepare yourself for the Day of Lord, Prepare ye the Way of the Lord.

“Some people are like sugarcane; even when crushed in the mill, completely smashed, reduced to pulp, all they yield is sweetness.” Dom Helder Camara

I hear giggles, chuckles and shy feminine laughter: I enter a room where the wives of AIDs patients meet every Saturday afternoon. They laugh as Shilpa sitting in the middle tells a joke. She’s in charge of the group and from a bunch of despondent, depressed women she’s turned their Saturdays into a day of fun. I watch as she gets up, hesitantly straps on calipers to her polio‑-stricken leg and limps out.

“Hi Bob!” she yells and goes out and home to an alcoholic husband! I close my eyes and ask, “How have these so crushed yielded such sweetness?

Here are people who have not stopped at the wonder of the Temple or the beauty of the stonework, or the grandeur of the Votive offerings. They have gone beyond to the permanence and fidelity of a God who is the Sun of Righteousness.