By Your Perseverance You Will Secure Your Lives

November 28, 2007

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Daniel explained the hand writing on King Belshazzar’s wall: “MENE, TEKEL, and PERES. These words mean: MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it; TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Daniel 5:26-28)

“You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (Luke 21:17-19)

Piety

Lord, hold me tight so that I may face with grace those who hate me because of my love for You. Let me conduct myself in a manner that I need not be fearful about Your hand writing on my wall.

Study

Today's Readings

A Christmas Carol’s Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come still gives me nightmares:

It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.

Back about this time thirty-odd years ago, I was a jolly Ghost of Christmas Present in a junior high production of the Charles Dickens work. But it was Wendy Rogers who stole the show without saying a word, only pointing, as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge was so busted for his past actions, yet somehow he summoned up the courage after seeing people squabble over his belongings and Tiny Tim gone too soon to ask: “Are these things what will be, or only things that may be?”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows us what will be: “They will seize and persecute you…they will hand you over…you will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name.”

But unlike the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Jesus offers comfort amid these apocalyptic words and shows us how we may bear it all: “I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute…not a hair on your head will be destroyed.” The key, he says, is our perseverance, which will secure our lives.

Let us envelop ourselves in Christ’s loving arms and have faith in his promises just as he perseveres in his love for us despite our human frailties. Unlike Scrooge, we know what awaits: the Kingdom.

Action

Make a list of the thing you most fear may happen in your life...the loss of a job, perhaps, or disappointment by a family member or friend. After an hour or so, write down the worst possible outcome if this thing did happen and how you would persevere with Christ’s help. Put the paper away for a few days, then burn it over your Advent candle.