25 August 2020
Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Recently, there is a columnist who wrote an op-ed piece about a rising female star politician, who – according to her opinion, is the future of the Catholic Church in the United States. Her main argument is that, first, the rising female star politician represents the demographic future of the Catholic Church. Secondly, her passion for justice and human dignity, plus her courage and integrity are the sign of hope for the future of the Catholic Church in the United States. Regardless of the political or worldview of this rising star politician, I don’t think the future of Catholic Church in this country will depend on her. The past, present and the future of Catholic Church will always depend on Jesus Christ, instead of a rising star politician or a veteran politician.
In the scripture today, we hear that St. Paul warned the Thessalonian, “let no man deceive you by any means.” St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on St. Paul’s letter to Thessalonians, explains that deception can be occurred in several ways. First, it could be the occasion of some people were going to claim to be Christ. Moreover, St. Thomas explains that demons frequently pretend to be Christ. These days, many people have a savior complex and present him or herself as the new Messiah here to save the world. So, we should be careful not to be deceived by people who claim to be the new savior. Second, St. Thomas explains that the deception by the Anti-Christ will come as the man of sin and the son of perdition. He is called the man of sin because he will have given his life wholly over to sin. As Christ is better than all the saints, this man will be worse than all the wicked. He is also the son of perdition, (i.e. the devil) through his wickedness. Interestingly, the Anti-Christ can disguise himself and so the whole wickedness will be hidden. For that reason, many people can be deceived by his appearance.
St. Thomas explains that the reason people can be deceived is that they do not want to accept the truth of the Gospel. We are living in a very deceptive world that is full of lies. The question is whether we can hold on to the truth of the Gospel and believe that Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever.