17 November 2019
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
I always used to flip to the back of the book. I wanted to know how things were going to end, and what I could expect beforehand. This same desire motivates the people coming to Jesus for knowledge of the end times. They want to know what to expect and what will happen when everything comes to an end. Jesus gives them no details, but only a sage piece of advice: “see that you not be deceived” (Lk. 21:8).
There are many ways we can be deceived. We can be given false hope, as with those who claim “I am He” or false despair, as with those who claim “the time has come” (Lk. 21:8). These are claims we hear all the time ourselves. All those who offer a claim of being the messiah, that if we merely follow them and we will survive the terrors, in a sense claim “I am He.” All those who offer claims that we are doomed and the world is ending claim “the time has come.” Whether we think that Christ is with us, or that the end is in sight, we must keep our wits about us and not be deceived.
How can we manage not to be deceived if we do not know exactly what the end will look like? By knowing who Jesus is. No one would try and deceive me by claiming that they are my mother (nor my mother by claiming they are me). We know each other too well. If you know Jesus well enough, you will not be deceived. Go to Him in prayer. Return to Him through confession. Spend time with Him in the Eucharist. Know Jesus, and never be deceived.