Thursday, XXXIV Week of Ordinary Time
(Luke 21:20-28)
In 1960 when the first of the baby-boomers were growing up, the popular entertainer Pat Boone addressed himself to them. Twixt Twelve and Twenty was the title of both a song and a short book Boone wrote. In these works he gave sound advice for navigating these often difficult years between childhood and adulthood. The song asks whether teenagers are old enough to understand the devotion that love entails. Of course, it answers its question positively but also notes how faith and trust must accompany love to avoid calamity.
When Jesus speaks of “the times of the Gentiles” in the gospel, he is also referring to in between years. He sees the time of the Jews as passing away with the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, an event which takes place in the year 70. But we should not take this to mean that God has abandoned the Jews. Rather, Jesus’ envisions what his apostle Paul writes to the Romans: God has turned His attention to the Gentiles or non-Jews so that their conversion will move the Jews to also recognize Jesus as Lord.
In these in between years before the fulfillment of time with the coming of Jesus, we are also to love faithfully as Pat Boone suggests. When we truly care for others, we do not have to worry about getting mud on our faces from the difficulty of it all. Indeed, we can lift our heads high at the signs of Christ’s coming because he means to save us.
