33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nov. 17, 2013
Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M.
Diana Nyad is not a household name to most people. However, this 64-year-old woman has done something that no other human being has. Diana is the only person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a using a shark cage. She accomplished this amazing feat this September, but it wasn’t her first attempt. Diana had tried to do this four other times! The first time she attempted the swim was in 1978 when she was much younger. The first thing that Diana said to the public after completing her mission was “never give up!”
Check out the new Mercedarian friars’ video of Pope Francis’ pro-life homily, given before he was Pope, below. The homily is heard against the exciting backdrop of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro recently.
This remarkable accomplishment has something to do with talent. It has quite a bit to do with hard work and training. But, more than anything, Diana’s accomplishment is about the virtue of perseverance. Perseverance is the moral virtue or habit disposing one to continue in a good work without being deterred by difficulties or discouragement.
Restore all things
In our Gospel today, we are encouraged to persevere through the tribulations that will necessarily come before the Second Coming of Christ. Yes, Jesus will come again. We pronounce this at each Sunday Mass when we recite the Nicene Creed saying, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.” In our readings today, this Second Coming seems like a terrifying event. Essentially, though, it is the fulfillment of all Jesus came to do: to restore all things to the Father. God will fulfill all things in Himself and bring about a new heaven and a new earth. We too will be restored as we receive the incorruptible body, or the resurrected body.
This is not to say that the final days will be easy. It is clear in the Scriptures that there will be a time of trial as evil and sin are destroyed forever. However, when the Son of Man rises in the East a peace beyond imagining will come upon the faithful for all eternity.
Be vigilant
When will this occur? We do not know and, thus we must be vigilant. It may very well not occur during our lifetime, but we just do not know. Yet, we do know that each of us will die and experience the particular judgment. Then we will see Jesus face to face and experience a profound understanding of ourselves. In the face of all that is true, we will recognize the truth about ourselves. We have not loved as we should; we have sinned.
The Gospel today exhorts us to persevere in living our faith authentically, in prayer, and in charity toward others. Those who are in a communion with God have nothing to fear from the Second Coming. They have already begun to see God’s face in prayer and in their neighbor. When the time comes for them to meet Jesus, they will stand erect knowing that their “redemption is at hand.”
Grace of perseverance
Even for those who are striving to have an authentic relationship with God there are times of profound suffering and sorrow. At other times, there is joy and happiness beyond words. In all these ups and downs we must ask for the grace of perseverance to remain faithful. To see in suffering a sharing in the Lord’s Passion; God purifying us like silver. During the times of happiness, we must have perseverance to see that this is just a foretaste of the true joy in heaven.
Just as an athlete, like Diana Nyad, must persevere to achieve their goals, we need the supernatural virtue of perseverance to achieve eternal life. Our readings today remind us that the pilgrim walk on this earth is full of challenges. Suffering and all kinds of evils exist in this fallen world. Our eyes must be kept on Jesus who will grant us the grace of perseverance to remain faithful until He comes. His Second Coming will be a moment of rejoicing for all those who have remained faithful and now receive their reward of Eternal life.