Saturday of the
Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(Revelation 22:1-7; Luke 21:34-36)
The words discipline
and disciple have the same Latin root
discere which means to learn. But this learning is not so much an
intellectual exercise as it is a moral training. Disciples learn a moral lesson by following a
rigorous rule. Today’s gospel conveys part
of the rule while the first reading describes the disciple’s reward.
In the gospel Jesus exhorts his disciples not to become
lax in the pursuit of virtue. They are
to watch out that they do not fall into either physical or moral
addictions. Physical addictions would be
alcohol, drugs, or sex. Moral addictions
would be power, greed, or pride. All of
these corrupt the spirit so that the person cannot inhabit the city of God
described in the reading from Revelation.
There, like a luxurious retirement community, the people live in health
and joy.
Today as the last leaves fall from the trees (in northern
climes), we have occasion to consider the fleetingness of life. Most of us ran fast in our youth and exhibited
soft skin and vigorous hair. Hopefully we
learned moral discipline then. But if we
didn’t, the Lord calls us today to change our ways. More precisely perhaps he is calling us to himself
in his heavenly city.
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