Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Mal 3:19-20a
2 Thes 3:7-12
Lk 21:5-19

The liturgical readings in these days are pointing us toward the end of time, and the culmination of salvation history. It is good for the preacher to point out that the themes about the second coming, in these final Sundays of the liturgical year, will blend smoothly with the first part of Advent, when the theme is likewise the second coming of the Lord.

The readings of today convey conflict on many levels - within oneself, in families and communities, between Church and state, between nations, and in the heavens. Although God is almighty, he allows good and evil to conflict with each other, and allows his people to choose sides. Once we choose, we have to fight for what we have chosen, and even when we are on God's side, it will not be easy. There is always a price to pay for doing what is right, because evil is always fighting against the good.

This is the overall context in which the Church's defense of human life in our day needs to be understood, and in which our own acknowledgement of the sanctity of life needs to be understood. It is never enough just to be content with acknowledging to others the beauty of life and presenting that beauty. Some, in doing this, consider themselves exempt from the full-scale war that has been launched against the sanctity of life in our day.

John Paul II's encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" (The Gospel of Life) makes it clear that nobody is exempt from this war. Some pay a higher price than others for their conscientious objection to the forces of death - for example, medical professionals who refuse to take part in actions that take or endanger the very lives they are committed to serve. Our suffering may, on the other hand, simply be the ridicule or misunderstanding of family, friends, or fellow Christians when we take a strong stand against abortion.

We have to be ready to fight, both as individuals and as a Church community. We have to be fearless in the face of laws and public policies which contradict the Gospel of Life, and challenge those laws. In the end, "not a hair on your head will be destroyed."