RENUNGAN – 16 NOVEMBER 2025

33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR   C
Malachi 3:19-20;    2 Thess 3:7-12;   Luke 21:5-19

REFLECTIONS:

As we draw close to the end of the liturgical year, we are reminded of an article of faith which we professed in our Creed: The Lord Jesus Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”. Meaning we should always be prepared since we do not know the day or the hour that Christ will come again nor the moment of our death. At the end of every liturgical year, it enables us to evaluate our spiritual progress after so many years of Christianity if we are better lovers of Christ. Todays readings speaks about necessity of endurance: To endure in righteousness, to endure in our imitation of the saints and to endure in our living faith.

We heard through prophet Malachi, that Christ our Lord tells us that God wants the eternal death of no sinner, no matter how wicked we be, but rather that – we sinner be converted and live eternally. God as a loving Father, wants us all to be His loving, obedient and grateful children and with this knowledge of the God of love we can put fear aside.

We have also heard that we are on a journey of life, which will end on the shores of eternity. It is God’s plan for us that during our journey we should earn entry into that land of freedom and plenty by ‘working our passage’. All we need is to examine our consciences and see if we are honestly ‘working the passage’ to eternal live. We know that God gave us the mental and physical gifts we possess and that one day render an account of the use we have made of the talents God gave us.

St. Paul said, ‘we must not be idle, awaiting things that will not come to pass. We must move on with our lives, be fruitful in the work of the Holy Spirit, while awaiting the final return of Christ that will proceed Judgement Day and the resurrection of the bodies. Time and again we are reminded to persevere in our living faith by taking our crosses and carrying them as Jesus did so that we too may arrive to our eternal glory.

Perhaps the challenge that confronts us is learning how to live with the unruly busybodies in our community. We will need to be for those who have yet to learn how to be for others. It will be a struggle to patiently and consistently be an example and a corrective to behaviors that are not fitting for the kingdom of God. In our sure hope of the coming of the fullness of the kingdom, we live out now what we look forward to enjoying then. And we seek to help others grow in the same direction — namely, peace with God and man – a peace that means we are fully for one another in the same way God is fully for us.

Jesus was telling His disciples and us now about the trials and tribulations we would encounter – ‘not to give in to false prophets’. Of all the tragedies that could happen to us, betrayal of Christ would be the most serious. However, every Christian is convinced as Jesus said, ‘Your endurance will win you your lives’ – in every mass we say, ‘we proclaim Your death O Lord and profess Your resurrection until You come again’. We are not to think that we are better than others or superior to them. We are expose to the same germs of evils as all others. But perhaps the greatest threat is not that we might become victims of real evil, as we might simply vanish into the crowd, and to lose our identity and sense of mission as Christians. We have to be true that we must be ‘in the world and not of the world’. Holding on to faith as Prophet Malachi said, we will see ‘the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays’. And by holding on to hope, though we be crushed by the gigantic forces of evils, we will triumph over them to rise with Christ, and that by holding on to love, at every crisis which we may confront in our life, we will come through our ordeals even stronger in spirit than ever before. Christ also reminds us that nothing of this world will last forever no matter how precious they are to us. The only thing that will endure is our soul and faith in Christ.

So, we got to recharge our spiritual batteries everyday by personal prayer, regular   communication with God – through worship, prayers, listening to Him through reading the right books. Daily examination of our conscience and asking God’s pardon and forgiveness for the sins of the day will also prepare us to face God any time to give Him an account of our lives. Do we have better control of anger, lustful appetites, pride, vanities and selfishness? The Church wants us to think of our last days : The day of the Lord – that is, Death, judgement, hell or heaven? Scripture warns us, ‘Today if you hear God’s voice, ‘harden not your heart’. Our eternal future will depend on whether we listen to His call today, as tomorrow may be too late.

Prepared by:
James Jimmy Totu,
St. Michael Parish Penampang.