* 33 (C), November 18, 2007
* Theme: with God, Hope is Alive

* Introduction:

* We are moving to the end of the Liturgical Year.
* Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day
* Next Sunday – the Feast of Christ the King
* In two Sundays – We celebrate the First Sunday of Advent
* Where did the year go?
* We seem to be hurling through space and time.

* Even so, the apocalyptical readings today seem a bit much:
* For most Americans, the biblical allusions to earthquakes, wars, and insurrections always had seemed remote and primitive sounding.
* However, since September 11, 2001 things have changed.
* The dreadful images – the kind we have in Malachi and Luke - do not seem as other-worldly as they once did.
* The seemingly indestructible has been an illusion, life is more vulnerable then we were willing to admit at one time.

* Readings: Malachi 3 and Luke 21 – The setting
* The book of Malachi is the last of the prophetic writings.
* Malachi wrote about the beginning of the 5th Century Before Christ. (B.C.E.)
* He is outraged by the loss of religious fervor among the people.
* The Religious Leaders were lax, and there was massive injustice in the land.
* Good people were losing faith in God, because evil people seemed to go unpunished.
* Malachi says a purge will happen and evil will finally be destroyed, “for the Sun of Justice will arise.”
* This language shakes us all up, but it is not meant to frighten us.
* It is meant to encourage us, that no matter what good people suffer, the God of Compassion and Justice will eventually prevail.
* Likewise, we realize that St. Luke is writing about the challenges that his community is facing around the year 70 AD when in fact the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed
* The followers of Jesus are suffering persecution, and Luke’s words are meant to console them and give them Hope.
* “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

* Similar struggles exist in our world today
* We see many signs of the presence of Evil, not only in the acts of terrorists, but also in the injustices that we experience daily – racial profiling, abuse of immigrant people, domestic violence, etc.
* Will the world ever be right?
* Will the struggle for justice ever be won?

* As a people of faith who are confronted with the power of evil in our world, we know that God will eventually prevail.
* However, we are called by the Gospel to live compassionate lives and to work for justice for all TODAY.
* Compassion enables us to stand with those who are broken, spiritually, psychologically, and economically, whether in this country or in foreign lands.
* Compassion forces us to leave our comfortable place and to walk in the shoes of others, and to embrace their brokenness.
* Compassion is what Jesus had for the “adulterous woman,” the tax collectors and outcasts, the good thief and the simple fisherman who would become his disciples.
* Justice sees the world from God’s perspective.
* It reminds us that all creation, including all people, belongs to God.
* We are stewards of creation.
* We realize that there will be no peace in our world unless we all stand together to work for Justice for all men and women.

* As we reflect on our personal and world problems, we sometimes actually try to ignore them.
* We can try to drown them with alcohol
* We can try to smother them with drugs - both legal and illegal
* Only to find out later, that these problems are still with us
* We just have to live with them, face-up to them and do our best to resolve them.
* Fortunately, however, we have not been left on our own
* For the believer, we know that God is on our side
* There is Hope that, “the Sun of Justice will rise with its healing rays.”

* As we continue with our Eucharistic celebration, we pray that God draw good out of tragedy
* We pray for our men and women under arms, for their safety and for a speedy end to world conflict.
* We pray for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq and their devastated countries.
* We pray that we might all learn to be compassionate people as Jesus was compassionate
* We also commit to do our part to bring about, as best we can, the Justice of the Kingdom of God for all God’s People.

* Amen.

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