Homily: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 17, 2024

My dear brothers and sisters, this Sunday is the penultimate Sunday, the last but one Sunday of this liturgical year. As we draw close to the end of the liturgical year, the readings of today focus our mind on the last things of this earthly life and the eternity that will follow our earthly life. Just as we began the liturgical year and are gradually coming to its end, our life on earth that began someday will one day also come to an end. Everything about the month of November and this season of fall reminds us about this raw truth. The month was ushered in with the festival of Halloween. In the Church we started the month with the solemnity of All saints on November 1, followed by the commemoration of All Souls on November 2. The gradual falling of leaves and drop in the temperature in this season of fall all join to add color to the season and remind us that one day we too shall fall, we can never last forever on the earth.

The book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, tells us that “for everything there is a season, a time to be born, and a time to die.” Dearest brothers and sisters, living our lives totally oblivious of this eternal truth is a complete lack of wisdom. It is against this backdrop that the readings of today call us to action. The first reading of today from the prophet Daniel reminds us that a great day is coming, on that D-day, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky and those who led many to righteousness shall shine like the stars forever. In the gospel reading of today, Jesus Himself tells us that on that D-day, the son of man will come in the crowds with great power and glory, He will send out His holy angels to gather his elect from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

These readings are not meant to terrify us, to put fear in us as if God is a very strict and mean judge waiting for us on the last day to condemn us for all our wrongdoings. No, instead, they are meant to fill us with hope that our labors and our sacrifices are not in vain. In all the good works that we do to live well as children of God and be closer to God, we should say more power to our elbows. If we are trapped in a lifestyle that contradicts the gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, delay is dangerous, the end would be a disaster. If one gets a punctured tire on a railway, does the person relax there, make merry and pop champagne, if the person delays, the train will surely come and crush the person to death, so also if our spiritual life becomes punctured by a bad lifestyle, we should not delay to avoid being crushed to hell by the evil one.

I remember this story by Thomas Pazhayampallil in one of his reflections, one day an elderly man and a young man were sitting together in a train going to London. The elderly man observed that the young man was so restless and in pains, so he asked him what the matter was. The young man explained that he is running away from the police to London to hide himself. He explained further that he and his two fellow workers attempted to break into a house and steal. The watchman gave the alarm. The watchman was shot by one of his fellow workers. His two fellow workers were caught and only him managed to escape. His fellow workers lied to the police that it was him who shot the watchman, so the police were after him. The old man advised him to kindly go and submit yourself to the police and tell the whole truth to them. The young man though was very afraid, but he took the advice. On the day that he was arraigned in the court for trial, behold the judge was that same old man he met in the train. He retold his story, and he was acquitted of murder, he paid only a little for attempted robbery and his life changed forever. Brothers and sisters, we cannot flee from the reality that eternity will come on a day we do not know. No matter the condition, let us get back to Jesus with the whole truth of our life. Jesus is everything for us, if Jesus is for us in this life, He cannot forget us in the life to come.