Saint Callistus

First Reading: Malachi 3:19-20

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:2-12

Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

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Today in the Gospel, Jesus describes the world’s violent resistance to the establishment of God’s kingdom. From the earliest days until the present, the community of Jesus Christ has been the focus of the world’s violence. The old principle of “killing the messenger” applies here. The Church will announce, until the end of time, that the old world is passing away, that a new world of love, nonviolence, and life is emerging. This announcement always infuriates the world of sin—always. The twentieth century proved this by being the bloodiest on record—and the one with the most martyrs.

Jesus promises to give us “a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” What do we do in the meantime? We maintain a detachment from this world that is passing away, our eyes fixed on the world that will never end. And we speak—confidently, boldly, provocatively—the message of the Gospel, the dying and rising of the Lord.