Thirty-third Sunday of the Year, C – Nov 13, 2016: The Closing of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in Local Churches.
Readings: Malachi 4:1-2a; Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:5-6,7-9ab,9cd(R.cf9cd); 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Gospel Luke 21:5-19.
Theme: A Merciful Judge, False Prophets & End-time Prophesy!
Friends in Christ, as we prepare to round up the Church’s Liturgical Calendar, our readings speak to us about a merciful judge, false prophets and end-time realities. The readings are timely because today, the Universal Church mandates Local Churches to officially close the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy although the grand finale will be holding in Rome on November 20, 2016. It will be recalled that the Holy Father, Pope Francis inaugurated the Jubilee Year of Mercy on December 8, 2015.
What does this mean for us? Well, the Mass that concludes the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy is essentially a Sunday celebration of the Eucharist which offers the faithful an opportunity of thanking God for his kindness and mercies. It is basically a Mass of thanksgiving as found in (no. 49) of the Roman Missal. This is why after the post-communion prayer, the Priest is expected to invite the faithful to give thanks to God for the graces received during the Jubilee Year. The ceremony of closing the Door of Mercy then follows.
The celebration provides Local Churches with opportunities to reflect on whether the principles contained in the Bull of the Jubilee, Misericodiae Vultus which was issued on April 11, 2015 by the Holy Father have been lived to the full. Also, have they truly demonstrated that indeed “The Church has an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of her own experience of the power of the Father’s Mercy” as indicated in Evangelii Gaudium? Have the faithful been Merciful as the Father¸ Misericordes sicut pater as the title of the Jubilee Year says?
Other questions begging for answers are: Have we put the year in perspective in terms of pushing the frontiers of its Mission Statement of bringing glad tidings to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and letting the oppressed free based on Luke 4:18-19?
Have we fulfilled the Vision of the Jubilee Year by being advocates of God’s unfathomable mercies in thought, word and deed throughout the Jubilee Year in line with the mandate of the Holy Father and in keeping with the corporal works of mercy?
We could also access ourselves to ascertain if we have made visible the spiritual works of mercy: To instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offences willingly, comfort the afflicted and pray for the living and the dead. Were these good works done out of a show or were they carried out in modesty?
a). God as a Merciful Judge: Perhaps many Christians in our local communities have lost sight of God as a merciful judge and are imprisoned (not those in prison) by fear, drink, drugs, money, status, prejudices and other self-destructive attitudes. We may have ignored creating liberation programmes at all levels like working to empower the poor and involving them in projects that would raise their dignity and give them a sense of self worth with the assurances that God is merciful. This means that we have failed in redirecting them to the true image of God as a merciful father who forgives, heals and saves.
This is significant given the connection of the Jubilee Year and our liturgical readings. To be precise, the first reading (Malachi 4:1-2a) and the responsorial psalm (Ps 98:9) present God as a merciful judge. In the first reading, the prophet Malachi indicates that God punishes the arrogant and evildoers. For those who fear him, he lets the sun of righteousness to shine upon them and grants them healing. This is amplified in the response to the psalm which states: “The Lord comes to judge the peoples with fairness.”
b). False Prophets & End-time Prophesy: At every point, the Jews preferred to listen to false prophets than Jesus the Son of God who defied time and circumstances to tell them the truth. In the gospel (Luke 21:5-19), Jesus dared the consequences to warn them about the impending destruction of the Temple they so cherished. As usual, this did not go down well with them as some were angry and others, dismayed.
In the same manner, the world is filled with false prophets who claim they know the end of time. You hear predictions about people’s fate or the end of Christianity. These predictions are hot cake in our country as gullible faithful flock to miracle and counselling centres desirous of knowing when their end would come or when the Son of man is returning. Prophet T.B Joshua fell flat on his prediction that Hillary Clinton would be the next US president, you would say.
Perhaps they would have us believe that episodes like the recent sighting of a strange cross five feet way from a Mosque in Assakio, Nassarawa state by a 15 year-old girl, Hajara Hussaini on her way to an errand by her parents as well as the appearance of a shining light on the crucifix in St. Augustine Catholic Church, Nenger, in Makurdi, Benue State are signs of the end time. Well, Jesus insists that no one knows when the Son of Man would return (Matthew 24:36).
Fake pastors even go as far as suggesting to people that the world will come to an end so they should not work. This was the situation in Thessalonica which Saint Paul tackled head-on in the second reading (2 Thessalonians 3:7-12) by urging the faithful to go about working quietly and earning their food.
Sadly, Churches which preach repentance and Christianity of the Cross are considered out of date and bereft of the Holy Spirit. Many a Christian would prefer sugar-coated lies than the truth of the gospel. Where does this leave us as a Church and country? A land of religiosity without righteousness, churches without Christ, clerics without courtesy, collections without compassion, crusades without contemplation, followers without fidelity, flamboyance without fellow-feeling and fluency without fellowship.
Prophesy in our age and time seems to have lost its biting force because prophets who are supposed to interpret theological realities for the people have shamelessly given in to fear, the allurement of wealth, craze for power, politics and ethnicity or nepotism to mention a few vices.
To hit the ground running, we must dissociate prophesy from fore-telling the future. Old Testaments prophets often comforted the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable. More so, in biblical understanding, prophets of Jeremiah's time did not necessarily forecasted future events - they extrapolated. They analysed currents happenings in the light of the Word of God and often warned the people against sinning. "If you sin, Yahweh will forsake you, if you repent, he will receive you back." As such, whenever they were faithful, the words of the prophet came true.
Today, it is disheartening that prophesy has been pegged as fortune telling. I make bold to state that claiming to see tomorrow belongs to the school of false prophets. Beware of the prophets of Baal. The contest at Mount Carmel between Prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal gives us a hint about the dirty deals of "Fake Prophets" (Cf.1 Kings 18:20-40).
The claims for miracles, call for crusades and establishment of mega camps as well as opening of miracle centres sure belong to "the school of fake prophesy" since they merely promise wealth not salvation – here, the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:38-45), being a call to repentance is a recipe. The second reading gives a proviso for living the Christian life – it calls pastors of souls (prophets) to live by example and prepare the faithful for every kind of good work. This entails preaching the theology of work and insisting that through work, we can praise God.
If both contemporary prophets as well as the faithful eschew laziness and seek true repentance from the merciful judge, the lessons of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy would have been learnt. If the faithful are properly fed and led to green pastures, trained contemporary prophets would no longer lose their voices in society and fake prophets would lose their relevance. Have a blessed week!
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