Gospel: Luke 21:29-33

 

The Gospel today presents the final recommendations of the Apocalyptic Discourse. Jesus insists on two points: the attention which should be given to the signs of the times and hope founded on the firmness of the word of God which drives away fear and despair.

 

Jesus says we can contemplate the phenomena of nature to learn how to read and interpret the things that are happening in nature. In the same way, when the seven signs appear, they are proof that “the Kingdom of God is close at hand!” Discerning this is not easy. A person who is alone does not become aware of this. By reflecting together in community, the light appears. The light is this: to experience in everything that happens the call to open ourselves to the present, to keep the horizon open, and to perceive everything that happens as an arrow directed toward the future.

 

Today, many people worry about the end of the world. The Christian communities of the first centuries faced the same problems. They lived in the expectation of the imminent coming of Jesus. Jesus was coming to carry out the Final Judgment so as to finish the unjust history of the world and to inaugurate the New Heavens and of the New Earth. 

 

But even today, the coming of Jesus has not arrived as yet! How can this delay be interpreted? Jesus is already among us, in the stranger, the poor, the sick and those who are “the least”. He is already at our side in the struggle for justice, for peace and for life. But the fullness has not yet been attained. For this reason, we wait with perseverance for the liberation of humanity and of nature.