Reflection By Diana Cannizzo, Parish Secretary Yarram & Foster parishes.First Reading Malachi 3:19-20; Second Reading 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Gospel Luke 21:5-19
Today’s Gospel is not a prediction to fear – it’s a promise to trust.
Jesus’ message to us is “do not be afraid, I will give you words and wisdom, not a hair on your head will perish, stand firm, and you will win life”.
For the disciples, the temple was the centre of their lives, a beautiful place of worship, where their hope and future lay. To be told all would be gone, destroyed, nothing left, was not an easy thing to hear or understand. Jesus however, was preparing the disciples to have faith in what is eternal, not in things that will pass.
Things such as worrying ourselves about when the end of the world will come to pass. Occasionally, certain groups of people will give us an exact date that the world will end. Do not live in fear of this, and do not be gullible to these dangerous and ignorant speculators.
Let us look instead to the temples in our lives. Temples of security, love, peace, homes, work, health, family life, etc. However, when we experience the death of a loved one, an illness, the loss of a job, addiction, or a divorce, then our temples collapse. Our dreams and hopes are shattered. In our world today, we hear of wars, nations against nations, plagues, famines, even religion against religion. Where has our security and peace gone? In its place we live in a state of fear, wondering when it will all end.
So, do we give up and walk away in despair? Think that all is lost and there is no longer any hope? Do we look for someone or something to blame? Do we become angry and frustrated? Or do we even accept it all as God’s will or God’s punishment?
Jesus prepares us to endure such hardships and fears in our lives. He tells us that when our temples fall, we must be steadfast, faithful and persevere. These are the ways in which we offer God the fallen stones of our temples. He will not abandon us, but with our fallen stones, God will rebuild our lives, one stone at a time. We, then become the temple of God. We do not need any other temple. We are the temple, and that is our opportunity to testify. To tell our story of how God put us back together. How He never abandoned us. Our story with God continues always as a story of God recreating life out of loss and ruin.
We need not live in fear of what the future holds. We must live in the moment knowing that God is always with us, and that by our endurance we will gain our souls.
