Dear Parishioners and Friends,
When I begin to read a novel, sometimes I read the final paragraph first, and then start back at the beginning to see how the author reaches that concluding paragraph.
Someone has said that God created humans because God enjoys a good story. And a compelling story requires genuine human freedom. A novelist creates and develops characters according to an overall plan. While it may be tempting to think that God acts the same way, that is true only in regard to Christ’s ultimate victory.
A novelist’s characters lack free will; the writer’s only constraint, if you will, is whether the characters are credible or believable. Because the people God creates have free will, both Adolf Hitler and Mother Teresa of Calcutta are credible because we know that they existed – even though we also know that they made very different choices in life.
The first reading for Mass this weekend, from the Book of Daniel, is very hope-filled. Although this book is set in the 6th century before Christ, it was finalized for a Jewish audience only in the 2nd century B.C. In second-century Syria, King Antiochus tried to wipe out Judaism. He had already desecrated the temple in Jerusalem by placing a statue of a pagan god there. The king’s plans were vigorously opposed by the Maccabee family and their allies.
We realize that the Maccabees prevailed, but the original audience for the Book of Daniel didn’t know that. The revolt was still taking place. Today’s reading introduces the archangel Michael as God’s warrior who will defend the Jewish people. The suffering of good people does not prove that God’s ways are weak and ineffective. Rather, reward and punishment are often beyond human reasoning.
Today’s Gospel affirms that God ultimately wins. The Gospel of Mark may have been completed after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 70 A.D. Even if the Gospel was completed before that year, it was soon read in light of those catastrophic events. Jesus affirms that the forces of evil will not prevail. God is still in charge and keeps wanting to share life with us. A novelist can guarantee a certain ending. God chooses not to do that, but rather to encourage people to choose ways that are good and life-giving.
Perhaps in the past we have had some doubts about whether God will, in fact, prevail. Perhaps we have similar doubts even now.
God helps us to live freely so that eventually we can share divine life fully. At any given moment, we don’t know which people will enter our life’s story and whether their influence will ultimately be positive or negative. But we have a significant say about that.
Through the proclamation of God’s word and the sharing of Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we are constantly reminded that, no matter how difficult things may be, God is always with us and will ultimately prevail. No novel can guarantee that with equal certainty, because God has already written the final chapter.
Blessings on your week ahead!
Fr. Tim Shreenan, O.F.M.
Pastor
