33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C.  November 14, 2010.  Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30, 6PM.  Malachi 3: 19-20a.  2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12.  Luke 21: 5-19.

As we approach the end of the year Jesus and the Church talk to us about future trials and the end of the world.  Science testifies to the fact that there is a time and a season for everything in our universe.  Stars are born and stars and galaxies burn out and die. Dinosaurs came and went. Ice ages have come and gone.  As the Lord of the universe Jesus reminds us that the world as we know it is passing away.  As his disciples were looking at the great beauty of the temple Jesus said, “Everything that you see here – the days are coming when not one stone will be left on top of another, but everything will be torn down.”  Jesus went on to talk about earthquakes and wars, violence and persecutions, and many good people being condemned to death. Jesus tells us that the world and the present order of the world will not remain the way that it is.  Both science and the words of Jesus remind us that the world as we know it is very fragile.  As much as we would like to stop the world or protect ourselves from uncertainty and change, the world as we know it is passing away. Yet, the love and faithfulness of the God of the universe remains forever.   The only sure foundation for a secure life now and forever is the love of God. 

In midst of the changes and disruptions caused by the re-organization of the Archdiocesan parishes, schools and structures in the new strategic plan, the Archdiocese put on a workshop for priests. It was meant to help us deal with frustration, upset and change.  One of the things handed out was Fr. Richard Rohr’s Five Promises of Manhood.  I think that the promises apply to women too.  Our lives are changing every moment from the moment of conception to the moment we die.  What do we need to know to live in the real world as it is?

The first promise in seeking maturity is “Remember, life is hard.”  No matter how many labor saving devices there are or how many pain relievers are invented, there is no such thing as an easy life in the real world. When we deal with life honestly and realistically we know that a good life takes courage, strength, and deep trust in God’s presence.  We shouldn’t be surprised that life is hard.  Real men and real woman deal with it.  We try to eliminate unnecessary drudgery and suffering.  Having done that, life in the real world is still hard.  God doesn’t take away the harshness of life. In fact God embraced the hard path of human life on the cross. Maturity is always measured by the way that we deal with hard realities.

The second promise is “Remember that you are not that important.”   Getting ourselves in perspective is the struggle of a life time. In a universe that is huge beyond our imagination and living on a planet with 5 billion human beings on it, the importance of each of us is rather small.  Even the importance of the greatest among us shrinks as history moves on. How many of us even know the names of our great grand parents, or for sure, our great-great grand parents? Trumpeting our individual importance is not only folly, it is the road to great unhappiness.  The only place where we have immense and eternal value is in the mind and heart of God.  Mature men and women know this.  Those who are not mature try to prove that they are more important than they are.

The third promise of adulthood is “Remember that your life is not about you.”   The life of each of us is about all the people who surround us and everyone whose lives we touch. Believing that our life is just our own, or just for us is the path to self-centeredness that leads to hell now and forever more.  It is hard to understand how anyone could see themselves as the center of our very complicated world.  There is a God and that God is not us.  Mature people know how to find their importance is something much bigger than themselves.

The fourth key to being a mature adult is “Remember that you are not in control. We are much too small to control the path of the stars or the actions of other people or even the complexities of our bodies.  When we are honest we know that seeking to take charge of the world is far beyond what we can do. With God’s help we can often make the world around us a better place. Mature people know that trying to change the weather, what people think or how they act, or to rewrite human history is beyond us.  Feeling guilty about not being able to make everything right most often amounts to feeling bad about things that are beyond our control. 

The fifth key to maturity is “Remember you are going to die.”   We have only so many days, hours and minutes in our lives.  That is true of all of us.  Living in the light of our death and in the light of an eternity filled with God’s love is an important feature of mature adult life. Life is a gift.  No moment of life should be wasted.  We live well when we live every day as if it were our last day – recognizing that in fact we are going to die.   The fact that we are going to die is a gift that keeps us from wasting our lives.   

Jesus said “Nation will rise against nation and there will be powerful earthquakes, famines and plagues from place to place, and awesome signs in the sky. They will persecute you and they will lead you before kings and governors because of my name.  Do not prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you wisdom in speaking.  They will put some of you to death.  By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Mature faith and love are all that we need to face an always uncertain future.  Jesus didn’t promise us a stress free, painless future.  Jesus promised to be with us to guide and strengthen us no matter what happens.  Through our perseverance he leads us to victory daily and at the other end of life.  For Christian maturity we give God thanks and praise.