Facing East

Aug 31: Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Having been born a decade and a half after Vatican II, I’ve never been to a mass that was celebrated ad orientem. But it’s really not as weird as it seems. The priest isn’t putting his back to the congregation; he’s facing the same direction as the congregation—the east, the direction Jesus is supposed to arrive from at the second coming.

Guess what today’s Gospel is about?

Reading 1

1 Thes 3:7-13

We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith. For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.

What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God? Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith. Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.

Paul knows that we can’t do anything alone. Of course, we need God’s help, but we need the prayers and support of our fellow Christians, too. Paul’s faith spread to Thessalonica; the Thessalonian’s faith not only spread amongst themselves, but reinforced Paul’s faith once again. It’s a virtuous cycle.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 90:3-5a, 12-13, 14 and 17

R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
You turn man back to dust,
saying, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!

Some psalms sing about specific events. Others, like this one, are more general purpose. Our lives are finite and short; god in infinite. We ask Him to remind us of this basic fact (“number our days aright”), so that, from that perspective, we can have wisdom, and gladness during our short time on Earth.

The change from here to the Gospels, though, is profound. Jesus tells us our short time on Earth isn’t all the time we have.

Alleluia

Mt 24:42a, 44

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Stay awake!
For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Anyone who tells you they know when the world will end is probably selling something.

Gospel

Mt 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples: "Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

"Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is long delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

Isn’t it weird that Jesus compares Himself to a thief in the night? Is He saying He’s going to steal something? Is He a threat?

Obviously not. The limits of metaphor show us the limits of language. Scott Adams points out that metaphors are great for teaching, but bad for arguing. People start to focus on the applicability (or lack) of the constituent parts of the metaphor.

We have to use our discernment to figure out what Jesus means. The overall point here is that we don’t know when the Second Coming is happening. So don’t relax and assume we have time. Our lives are finite, and we should live that way.