“If you stand firm, you will obtain life” (Lk 21, 19)
Dear brothers and sisters, I greet you with the usual affection and wish you all good in the Lord, on this thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time, penultimate Sunday of the Liturgical Year and day of the World Day of the Poor. On this ninth day, Pope Leo gave us a message entitled: “You, Lord, are my hope” (cf. Ps 71, 5).
He says in the message: “The poor can become a witness to a strong and reliable hope, precisely because he professes it in a precarious condition of life, marked by deprivation, fragility and marginalization. He does not trust in the security of power or having; on the contrary, he suffers them and is often a victim of them. His hope can only rest in another place. Recognizing that God is our first and only hope, we too make the transition from ephemeral hopes to lasting hope. In the face of desire Having God as a companion on the journey, riches are relativized, because the true treasure that we really need is discovered. The words with which the Lord Jesus exhorted his disciples resonate clearly and strongly: ‘Do not accumulate treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume them, and thieves pierce the walls and steal them. pierce and steal’ (Mt 6,19-20)”. (Message of the Holy Father Leo XIV for the IX World Day of the Poor, n. 2).
The Holy Father continues saying: “The most serious poverty is not knowing God. This is how Pope Francis reminded us when in ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ he wrote: ‘The worst discrimination suffered by the poor is the lack of spiritual care…”.
And then he continues quoting Saint Augustine to remind us of the meaning of spiritual poverty: “The words of Saint Augustine come to mind: ‘Let God be all your presumption: feel yourself destitute of Him, and thus you will be filled with Him. Everything you possess without Him will cause you a greater emptiness'” (Ibid. no. 3).
Later in his message, Pope Leo tells us that: “Poverty has structural causes that must be faced and eliminated. While this happens, we are all called to create new signs of hope that testify to Christian charity, as many saints of all times did.” He then indicates that: “The poor are not a distraction for the Church, but rather the most beloved brothers and sisters, because each one of them, with their existence, and even with their words and the wisdom they possess, provokes us to touch with our hands the truth of the Gospel. Every form of poverty, without excluding any, is a call to concretely live the Gospel and offer effective signs of hope.” (Idem. n. 5).
Later he explains to us that: “The poor are not objects of our pastoral care, but rather creative subjects who encourage us to always find new ways of living the Gospel today. Faced with the succession of new waves of impoverishment, there is the risk of getting used to it and resigning ourselves.” Given this, he emphasizes to us that: “Helping the poor is, in effect, a question of justice, rather than charity. As Saint Augustine observes: “You give bread to the hungry, but it would be better if no one were hungry and you had no one to give to. You clothe the naked, but I wish everyone were clothed and there was no need to clothe anyone!” (Idem. n. 6).
Turning to the Word of God this Sunday, in the Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians, the Apostle reminds them of his own example, because among them he worked with his own hands to obtain their livelihood. He knew that he had the absolute right to live by preaching, like the other Apostles, dedicating himself in some places, full-time, to the task of evangelization. But where appropriate, such as in Thessaloniki, he set to work to show them the dignity and sanctity of work. It also happened that some members of that community, thinking that the second coming of Christ was imminent, even stopped working.
Saint Paul says in this passage: “Whoever does not want to work, let him not eat either. And now I come to know that some of you live like idlers, doing nothing and, furthermore, meddling in everything. We beseech these such and command them, on behalf of the Lord Jesus, to set to work in peace to earn food with their own hands” (2 Thes 3, 10-12).
There are people who say that the poor should go to work, but the truth is that many of them, although they are very hardworking, have not had job opportunities, or perhaps some illness or accident prevents them from doing so. We, like Saint Paul and many saints who worked to help those in need with the fruits of their labor, can also have the privilege of being in solidarity by supporting those in need with the fruits of our labor.
In today’s gospel, when Jesus heard the people praise the solidity of the temple and the beauty of the votive offerings that adorned it, he told them: “Days will come when not one stone will be left upon another of all this that you are admiring; everything will be destroyed” (Lk 21:6). We already know, as Christians, or at least as sensible people, that everything material is relative and temporary.
Those listening to Jesus ask him when this prophecy would happen. Thus Jesus took the opportunity to announce that, before he returns, there will be wars and various catastrophes, although they will not mean the end. He also warns them that they should not give credit to anyone who tries to deceive them by presenting themselves as the Messiah. The truth is that we have already had enough of all that and we will continue to have it.
Then he announced to them the persecutions they would suffer for being his disciples, and that some would even be martyred for believing in him. In this regard he tells them: “Everyone will hate you because of me. However, not a hair of your head will perish. If you remain firm, you will obtain life” (Lk 21, 17-19). Of course Jesus was talking about eternal life.
Messages similar to this gospel, according to Saint Luke, already appeared in the prophets. Thus we have today’s first reading, taken from the Book of the prophet Malachi, where it speaks of the “Day of the Lord”, in which the proud and wicked will be like chaff thrown into the fiery furnace. On the other hand, that day means salvation for faithful people. The text says: “But for you who fear the Lord, the sun of righteousness will shine, bringing salvation to you in its rays” (Mal 3:20).
Let us not fear the second coming of Christ, which should be a reason for joy for believers and faithful, as we express it today in Psalm 97: “Let everyone rejoice before the Lord, for he is coming to govern the world. Justice and righteousness will be the norms with which he governs all nations.”
Have a very happy week everyone. Praise Jesus Christ!
+ Gustavo Rodríguez Vega
Archbishop of Yucatan