Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(Daniel 2:31-43; Luke 21:5-11)
Today’s gospel is a shorter version of the one read a week
ago Sunday. One preacher offered an
extraordinary interpretation which is worth summarizing. The preacher named the “awesome sights and
mighty signs” as the resurrection of Christ.
It has relativized everything. Everything,
that is, except its own authority to stand on earth as the supreme witness to
God in heaven.
The first thing relativized are humans constructs like the
Temple and votive offerings. People marvel
at buildings and art pieces, contemporary examples of which are the Taj Mahal
and the Mona Lisa. As amazing as human artifacts
may be, even the best will crumble one day.
Nor will nature forever support life as it now does. Rather it will turn into upheaval as Jesus
predicts when he speaks of “earthquakes, famines, and plagues.” Not human constructs, not nature but the
resurrection of the dead, which Christ’s resurrection promises, gives ultimate
meaning to human lives. It can be said
that the resurrection is the “stone hewn from a mountain” crushing all creation
of which Daniel prophesizes in today’s first reading.
Some say that emphasizing resurrection to eternal life is
too “pie in the sky” to be proclaimed regularly. But this advice would betray the preaching of
the apostles and the lives of the saints.
As Christians it is Christ for whom we live and for whom we are to die. If he were just an ancient sage with an
interesting ethic, he is hardly worth staking our life on. But as the eternal Lord evidenced by his
rising from the dead, he deserves our utmost devotion.
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