Teacher, When Will This Happen?

Enrique Simonet [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays. (Malachi 3:19-20)

The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.  (Psalm 98:9)

Brothers and sisters: You know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them!” (Luke 21:7-8)

Piety

Lord, help me to wait for the unfolding of Your plan on Your time.

Study

Predictability.

We might say we like uncertainty, thrive on the fact that our lives are never the same one day to the next. But uncertainty drains us. It causes us to always think ahead, always wonder about what is coming and how we’ll deal with it. We sacrifice the present because we are focused on what might happen in the future.

When we believe in the Lord’s goodness, the uncertainty and anxiety go away or are at least reduced. Sure, there will be bumps in the road ahead, some of them very serious and difficult—chronic illness, the loss of a loved one, persecution and betrayal and abandonment. But those crosses are easier to bear when we are able to remember that we do know how the story ends. We have the ultimate in predictability. The signs are all there when we believe in Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection and the promise of eternal life. There’s no need to concern ourselves with when it will happen; all we have to do is believe that it will and strive to live as He desires today, confident in His promise in the way the story will end.

Action

Try to spend a single hour today not thinking or saying, “What if?”