16 November 2025 – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19
HOMILY
The words we have just heard were written nearly two thousand years ago, and many times during those two thousand years, tragic events seemed to herald the end of the world. First there was the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, which seem to be what our Gospel is primarily announcing. Then, in the West, there were successive waves of ‘barbarian’ invasions, which marked the end of a society, followed by the Black Death, which killed two-thirds of the population of Europe; and, closer to home, the two World Wars, and since then the constant danger of a nuclear cataclysm.
On the international stage, events seem to give new relevance to the prophetic words of Jesus: The Gaza Strip has recently been the target of destructive violence once again, and Ukraine has been suffering the same fate for several years now. Elsewhere, entire nations continue to be denied the right to exist; other nations continue to be subjected to sanctions that deprive entire generations of any hope for the future; latent genocides continue to be perpetrated on several continents. Terrorist acts are multiplying almost everywhere.
Nature itself seems to be getting involved. Natural earthquakes are increasing in number, becoming ever more violent and devastating, due to climate change caused by man's predatory activity on planet Earth.
What attitude should believers have in the face of all these situations? First of all, there is the recommendation not to fear, which recurs constantly in the Gospel. And in today's Gospel, there is a call to perseverance: ‘It is by your perseverance that you will obtain life.’
A text by Rabbi Abraham Jeshua Heschel could serve as a commentary on our Gospel text. This text was written in Germany in the late 1930s, when almost everyone, including great philosophers, theologians and bishops, was seduced by Nazi mysticism and followed Hitler – much as we are easily seduced today by ‘holy wars’ fighting each other. Abraham Jeshua Heschel was one of those who, along with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, understood very early on what was happening. In a lecture given in 1938 to a group of Quakers in Germany, he said:
"There has never been so much guilt, distress, anguish and terror. Never before has the earth been so drenched in blood. Fellow citizens have become evil, monstrous and bizarre spirits. Ashamed and helpless, we ask ourselves: “Who is responsible?”‘ And part of his answer was: ’We did not fight for justice and good; as a result, we must fight against injustice and evil. We did not sacrifice on the altar of peace, and so we must offer sacrifices on the altar of war.‘ And he added: ’History is a pyramid of efforts and mistakes; and at certain moments, it is the Holy Mountain on which God judges the nations. Few have the privilege of discerning God's judgement on history. But if a man has encountered evil, he must know that it has been shown to him so that he may discover his own guilt and repent; for what has been shown to him is also within him "
Here we have a call to personal conversion. This is also the call of today's Gospel. The purpose of Jesus' prophecy was not to frighten people, but on the contrary to invite them more seriously to a conversion of heart.
Few are called to work directly on the solution of the international problems I mentioned at the beginning. But we are all connected to one another and interdependent. Every time I harbour in my heart or in my life any resentment, any negative feeling or even hatred towards the people I live with or meet, I contribute to increasing the amount of evil in the world. And every time I bring love, understanding and compassion into my life, towards my brothers and sisters and towards all the people I meet, I contribute to hastening Christ's total victory over all the forces of evil.
Armand Veilleux