Jesus said to
his disciples: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its
desolation is at hand. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let
those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not
enter the city, for these days are the time of punishment when all the
Scriptures are fulfilled. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those
days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment
upon this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as
captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the
Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
“There will
be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in
dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die
of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of
the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a
cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand
erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
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Reflection:
There are two
sets of human sufferings that comes to us. The first set of suffering is one
that we create for ourselves. For example, a drunkard who has been told time
and again by his relatives to stop for it would result to his getting sick. But
the drunkard would not listen to their wise counsel. Eventually he got sick
with cancer of the liver caused by his excessive addiction to liquor.
The second
set of sufferings that comes to us are those sufferings that we don’t bring to
ourselves. Example of this is sickness that comes with getting old or any kind
of suffering that we don’t create for ourselves.
In our gospel
for this Thursday Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem and its
people. They could have easily avoided this kind of sufferings if they listened
to the messengers of God (the prophets) who called on them to leave behind
their sinful ways. But they did not, they continued to sin they killed the
messengers that God sent them including His Son Jesus.
As we close
the curtains of this liturgical year and as we enter the door of Advent. We are
called by God to listen to His voice who calls upon us to humbly repent from
our sinfulness. And the best response that we could ever do is to humbly submit
ourselves to the Healing Sacrament of Confession.
We have to
remember that we are all sinful and we are all in need of Jesus’ Mercy,
Forgiveness and Healing. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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