20161124 VICTORY OVER EVIL AND LIBERATION FOR THE JUST
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Red.
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First reading
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Apocalypse
18:1-2,21-23,19:1-3,9 ©
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I, John, saw an angel
come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earth was lit up
with his glory. At the top of his voice he shouted, ‘Babylon has fallen,
Babylon the Great has fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging
for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird. Then a powerful angel picked
up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said,
‘That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be
seen again.
Never again in you,
Babylon,
will be heard the
song of harpists and minstrels,
the music of flute
and trumpet;
never again will
craftsmen of every skill be found
or the sound of the
mill be heard;
never again will
shine the light of the lamp,
never again will be
heard
the voices of
bridegroom and bride.
Your traders were the
princes of the earth,
all the nations were
under your spell.
After this I seemed
to hear the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, ‘Alleluia! Victory
and glory and power to our God! He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he
has condemned the famous prostitute who corrupted the earth with her
fornication; he has avenged his servants that she killed.’ They sang again,
‘Alleluia! The smoke of her will go up for ever and ever.’ The angel said,
‘Write this: Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb’,
and he added, ‘All the things you have written are true messages from God.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
99(100):2-5 ©
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Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Serve the
Lord with gladness.
Come
before him, singing for joy.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Know that he, the
Lord, is God.
He made
us, we belong to him,
we are
his people, the sheep of his flock.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Go within his gates,
giving thanks.
Enter his
courts with songs of praise.
Give
thanks to him and bless his name.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Indeed, how good is
the Lord,
eternal
his merciful love.
He is
faithful from age to age.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Mt24:42,44
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand
ready,
because you do not
know the hour
when the Son of Man
is coming.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Lk21:28
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stand erect, hold
your heads high,
because your
liberation is near at hand.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 21:20-28 ©
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Jesus said to his
disciples, ‘When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you must realise that
she will soon be laid desolate. Then those in Judaea must escape to the
mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country districts
must not take refuge in it. For this is the time of vengeance when all that
scripture says must be fulfilled. Alas for those with child, or with babies at
the breast, when those days come!
‘For
great misery will descend on the land and wrath on this people. They will fall
by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every pagan country; and
Jerusalem will be trampled down by the pagans until the age of the pagans is
completely over.
‘There
will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony,
bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they
await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then
they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When
these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because
your liberation is near at hand.’
VICTORY
OVER EVIL AND LIBERATION FOR THE JUST
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ REVELATION 18:1-2, 21-23,
19:1-3,
9; LUKE 21:20-28 ]
For us to appreciate
today’s scripture readings, we need to highlight two significant words in the
first reading. Firstly, we need to understand the usage of the name,
“Babylon”. We must not forget that at the time of John’s writing,
Palestine was under the control of the Roman Empire. Obviously, John
would be looking for trouble if he were to mention Rome directly or even to speak
of them as their enemies. This explains why in the Book of Revelation, he
had to employ symbols that were familiar to the Jews but not to others.
The Roman Empire was
paralleled to the then merciless and powerful Babylonian Empire.
Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians. They were led into exile in
586 B.C. They lost everything, including their Temple.
Babylon too was an evil city, a center for idol worship. The people lived
immoral lives, cheating, engaging in prostitution and sensual living.
Just as Babylon was the scourge of Israel, so too was Rome. Babylon
therefore was used by John as a symbol of Rome and all the enemies of the early
Christians.
The other word that John
used to describe the situation during the time of the early Christians was
their struggle against “the famous prostitute who corrupted the earth with her
fornication.” This prostitute refers to the seductiveness of the
world. Rome, like Babylon, had succumbed to the temptations of the world,
power, glory, sex, wealth and materialism. Indeed, those in government, in
business and even in religion were seduced by the worldly things of this world
and engaged in dishonest and immoral living. Of course, this is still
happening in our times when businesses use bribery, sex, food and luxuries to
tempt people into buying their products or to cooperate with them.
What happened during the
time of John is still relevant in our times. The Babylon of our
days is secularism and relativism. When man creates gods, supplanting the
place of the Almighty God, this is the beginning of disorder. To
think that we are gods and the ultimate in life is a lie. We know that we
are contingent beings. We come from somewhere and at the end of
time, we will have to die. So to make ourselves the absolute in life,
when everything is dependent on what we think and what we like, then, in that
sense we have made ourselves gods. The Church today seeks to defend her
faith against secularism where God is denied, and relativism when truth and love
are confused. Indeed, in relativism, man makes himself the judge of all
norms. He is a norm unto himself. He accepts no one’s opinions
unless others agree with him.
Secondly, the Church is
also facing the “famous prostitute” of the early Christians. It is
materialism. When God is removed from society, when man is reduced to an
animal, he becomes materialistic. He lives a self-indulgent life, seeking
to satisfy his bodily and sensual needs. His life is one of pleasure and
enjoyment. He is easily tempted not just by the things of this world and
the comforts of life; he is also enticed by indecency, sex, power and
glory. Truly, when our soul is denied and the spiritual thirst of the
human person is suppressed, he begins to look to the things of this world.
Yet, at the same time, no matter how much he tries to satisfy himself from the
things of this world, he finds no fulfillment, simply because nothing in his
life or any creature can quench his thirst and hunger. St Augustine says,
“You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart can find no rest until it
rests in you.” Since we are created in His likeness and image, only God
satisfies the desires of every human heart. Those who are spiritually
connected with God, they know that the joys of life are the transcendent
things, like love, peace, truth and unity. Only God who is the supreme
truth and good can satisfy our hunger.
However, in spite of the
dominating trends of the world going in the direction of secularism and
relativism, we should not be discouraged. This is the exhortation of our
Lord in the gospel. Jesus said to His disciples, “When you see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies, you must realise that she will soon be laid desolate.
Then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains, those inside the city must
leave it, and those in country districts must not take refuge in it. For this
is the time of vengeance when all that scripture says must be
fulfilled.” This prophecy of Jesus took place in 70 A.D. when a
Roman General put Jerusalem under siege before eventually destroying the
city. “They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to
every pagan country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the pagans until
the age of the pagans is completely over.” Thousands died during
the siege because of famine and the lack of water. This was all because
they did not read the signs of the times. Instead of living peaceably
with the Romans, they planned to revolt against Rome.
So too those who are evil
will die by their evil actions. What we sow is what we reap. For
not living a righteous life, we will die by the very sins we have
committed. For cheating, we go to jail. For lying, we cause more
division in our families, offices and community. For pampering our body
by indulging in food, drink, smoking and drugs, we will suffer from poor health
and illnesses causing untold misery and burden to our loved ones who have to
look after us. For indulging in free sex, having multiple partners,
sleeping around, visiting prostitutes, we punish ourselves by contracting
sexual diseases like AIDs. For those cohabitating, their relationships
remain forever insecure. For infidelity, we break our families and
destroy the future of our children. We are punished by the very sins
we commit.
Indeed, this is what John
tells us in the first reading, that evil will be overcome eventually. He
saw the vision of a powerful angel who “picked up a boulder like a great
millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, ‘That is how the great
city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again.’”
Those who think so highly of themselves, the mighty and arrogant ones; those
without fear and reverence for God and for the Sacred, those who commit all
kinds of evil and sin in their lives, judgment is ahead of them. They will see
their downfall. For not taking heed of God’s invitation to repent and to
attend the Wedding of the Lamb, they will suffer condemnation.
In the final analysis, no
matter how bleak the situation is, we know that God will triumph in the
end. St John wrote, “After this I seemed to hear the great sound of a
huge crowd in heaven, singing, ‘Alleluia! Victory and glory and power to our
God! He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he has condemned the famous
prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication; he has avenged his
servants that she killed.’” This victory is not won by men but by the
power of God. The justice of God will prevail and the truth of God will
expose the enemies of truth, those who promote falsehood and deceive the world.
As for those who are
faithful to the Lord, the angel said, “Happy are those who are invited to the
wedding feast of the Lamb.” Indeed, all Christians, like the bride of
Christ dressed in white, purified by His blood on the cross and His sacrificial
death, will be admitted to the Wedding Feast. There we will find true
union with God in Christ, abundant joy, love and happiness. As the
bride of Christ, we reflect the joy of our Lord in us. Only in
heaven is there complete joy, and the delights of God will satisfy all human
hearts and desires.
So until then, “when these
things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your
liberation is near at hand.” Let us be strong and not give up
easily. The judgment of God will come, even if it is not in our
time. We must trust in the power of God and His divine providence. He
alone will determine the end of history. So with confidence, in trust and
faith, we must live our faith according to the gospel as best as we can with
His grace. We leave judgement to God.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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