Using the Sunday Readings to reflect on our Journey in Faith
From the 32thSunday in Ordinary Time to the Feast of Christ the King
We are now moving towards the end of Year B in the Liturgical cycle and our thoughts are turning towards Advent and the twin themes of the Second Coming of Christ and the mission of John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord. The readings for November are based loosely on the end times and we have, over the coming weeks a great number of insights into those final sentences of the Creed “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen”
The readings for November are based in Ordinary time and conclude with the Feast of Christ the King; this month we will look at just three Sunday’s, this will enable us to look next month at the four weeks of Advent. Mark’s Gospel features two passages from the Jerusalem Ministry which comes just prior to the final Passion and Resurrection section of his Gospel. The Old Testament features the Book of Kings and then the Book of Daniel and, from the New Testament we come to the concluding passages of Hebrews. On the last Sunday of the year we have a reading from Revelation and from the Gospel of John.
In your RCIA groups you may be moving towards the end of the enquiry stage for your candidates; hopefully you started early this year because of the early date of Easter in 2016 and you may have completed eight weeks of the journey by the time you come to this set of readings. In Hartlepool we have tried something different this year and we are running Catholic Alpha as our enquiry section of the Journey. This has proved to be a very different way of running RCIA and, when we complete the Catholic Alpha programme in late November, I am hoping to write an article on our experiences with this, for us, new way of beginning the journey.
The 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time opens with a passage from Kings and features Elijah the prophet and a poor widow. The reading is set in a time of great famine in the land and there is starvation walking the streets of Sidon. Although the widow has nothing to give except a final meal prepared for herself and her son she shows compassion for the prophet and shares what little she has with him. This small group survives the famine as the food lasts until rains final arrive. No matter how small our faith maybe we should share it with others for, as the Lord promises, even the smallest of gifts will find its reward. The theme of today’s readings can be found in a simple reading of the psalm; today we are reminded that the love of Our Lord will sustain us through all our trials. The second reading reminds us of the humanity of Jesus; with mortal man an action must be continually repeated but with Christ his action once and for always brings us our redemption. Mark warns us in today’s Gospel from shows of pride as he contrasts the scribe in his display of power with the poor widow who gives what little she has. We are reminded that in our church all have equal status and, although at times it appears that some take precedence over the rest, in God’s eyes all are equal.
There is a great deal of similarity between the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation and often the two are difficult to separate. We begin the 33rd Sunday with a passage from Daniel which speaks to us of the final judgement at the end of time. Each Mass we attend brings us closer to that final Mass after which we will come to our reward and this reading reminds us that if we have followed our God of Love faithfully then we have no need to worry about these events. The letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus died once for all our sins and has brought us to perfection in Him. We have our faith in Christ and through our faith we are forgiven and our lives are sanctified. The passage from Mark reminds us that no time or date has been set for the last judgement but that. At that time, “he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the world to the ends of heaven”
The feast of Christ the King is the final Sunday in the Church year and the first reading is also from Daniel. The passage describes the return of Jesus to his heavenly Father and the conferring of sovereignty, glory and kingship upon him. A similar theme is found in the second reading, a passage from the Book of Revelation; this prophesises the return of Christ to his earthly kingdom and reminds us of his love for us and how his sacrifice has washed away our sins. The readings on the Last Judgement may be difficult to explain to those who are just coming to faith but they are a reminder to us of the inevitability of death. We believe however in eternal life for death has been defeated through the resurrection of Jesus and through our faith in him we are his brothers and sisters. This is the consolation we are blessed with, that life is changed not ended, and our place is with Christ and all who follow him. As a reminder of His resurrection the final Gospel passage of the year is taken from the Passion according to John and is set in the confrontation between Jesus and Pilate. The temporary ruler of this world, Rome, is face to face with the King of Kings and although Pilate has the power to crucify Jesus he has no real power over him. Jesus reminds us “I was born for this, I came into the world for this; to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice”