Open with a prayer: God, all powerful, ever-living source of all that is good, from the beginning of time you promised your people salvation through the future coming of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Help us to drink of his truth and expand our hearts with the joy of his promises, so that we may serve you in faith and in love and know forever the joy of your presence. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Sharing of life: What memories does Thanksgiving hold for you? What are you most thankful for this year?

Facilitator reads focus statement: As the liturgical year ends, the focus of all three readings is on the End Times and the Second Coming of Jesus.

If you haven’t read the commentary on the readings, consider reading before or after each reading.

FIRST READING: Malachi 3:19-20a

Malachi is writing in the fifth century before Christ, to a community with very lax morals. In this reading, Malachi speaks in frightening terms of a ‘Day of the Lord’ that is coming. On that day the proud and evildoers will become stubble to be burned and the faithful will be vindicated.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 98

This psalm reaffirms the first reading’s emphasis on God’s justice.

SECOND READING: 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12

Because of the belief that the Second Coming was imminent, some people quit their jobs and became busybodies. Paul is urging them to quietly get back to their jobs. Then he offers himself as a model of hard work.

GOSPEL: Luke 21:5-19

Commenting on today’s reading and the type of literature, the authors of Living the Word write:

The end of the liturgical cycle always brings with it readings about the end times. It is helpful to know that there was a very specialized kind of literature, called apocalyptic, that was used by biblical writers when describing the end times. It is also important to know that apocalyptic literature was invariably written for communities undergoing persecution and fearful that their own "end times" might be looming. Such passages were mean to comfort and reassure those undergoing persecution by proclaiming a final, ultimate victory as the outcome of present suffering. Their function, in other words, was more to interpret the meaning of present suffering than to predict the future. Early Christians besieged and exposed to terrible persecution drew strength and comfort from the firm knowledge that Jesus had already overcome all of the forces of evil and that it was only a matter of time until his victory would be felt everywhere by everyone. The end time in apocalyptic literature was envisioned as an experience of reckoning for the evildoers and a time of deliverance for God’s faithful people.

This genre of writing used a great deal of exotic imagery in its attempt to describe the indescribable. Fantastic displays of nature, cosmic battles between the forces of good and evil -- these were stock images that apocalyptic authors used as a kind of code language. Much as science fiction filmmakers today use a familiar set of conventions to alert their audience to the developing story line, so biblical authors writing apocalyptic drew on images and situations that would have been familiar and readily recognized by their audience.

Today’s Gospel is taken from a larger apocalyptic section (Luke 21:5-30). Writing in the 80’s, Luke would have been familiar with the events of the 60’s and 70’s in Palestine (war, famines, and, of course, the destruction of the Temple), and it is likely that he shaped Jesus’ words of prediction in this discourse to reflect those and other historical events (such as the way Christians were being led before kings and governors). The specificity of Jesus’ predictions here would have been a source of comfort to Luke’s readers, particularly when linked to his reassurance of their ultimate victory.

FAITH SHARING QUESTIONS

1. What verse or image spoke to you most? Why?

2. The readings today are a bit scary. Should homilists today preach more ‘hell, fire and damnation’ sermons?

3. In the second reading, Paul says that those who are unwilling to work should not eat. What do you think? Should we refuse food to the lazy at our food pantries?

4. If you knew you had six months to live how would you spend it?

RESPONDING TO THE WORD

What is one way you can act on today’s readings? Suggestions: Pray for the persecuted Christians and for those who are seeking honest employment.

CONCLUDE WITH PRAYERS OF PETITION AND INTERCESSION

Pray especially for persecuted Christians and for those seeking honest employment.