Readings:
Apocalypse 15:1-4
Luke 21:12-19
Reflection:
Today’s first reading, like other readings in these last two weeks of the liturgical year, is drawn from the book of the Apocalypse, using powerful and arresting imagery to proclaim the victory of divine justice over the forces of evil. For us, what is of greatest importance is the religious message conveyed by this imagery: despite the great sufferings of this life, and the anxieties we may feel in the face of world events, pandemics and the two-edged swords of IT and AI, God does not abandon the human race. As Jesus said to his disciples at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, ‘Remember, I am always with you, to the end of the age.’ (Mt 28:20) This divine reassurance is at the heart of our Christian confidence in God. Inspired with this reassurance, we too can sing in praise of our liberating God, like the song of Moses and his sister Miriam (Exodus 15) when the Israelites are liberated from captivity. Psalm 97 sings in the same spirit, extolling the wonders of the Lord, his justice and loving faithfulness to the house of Israel. The Gospel from Luke 21 expresses this firm confidence in God’s mercy in relation to those persecuted in Christ’s name, a persecution which, alas, is in living memory for many members of our parishes and which continues unabated in today’s world: ‘For the Lord comes, he comes to rule the earth’ (Ps 97).
Robert Gascoigne is a parishioner at St Brigid’s, Marrickville. He is a theologian who taught for many years at the Australian Catholic University.