Image: Photography Courtesy of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles
This world is passing, but He is constant.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33).
As we end the liturgical year, we hear this important reminder from Jesus at daily Mass. We have been hearing about the end of the world in the Gospels. The first readings have been slightly-terrifying visions of Daniel that must have seemed disconcerting to him or his early readers. But here we have a reassuring reminder from Jesus.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
It’s a good reminder to us to put our trust in Him.
We don’t want to think about anything passing away, except maybe suffering or crosses. Most of us probably despise change. We like comfort and we would rather not think about any disruption to the status quo. Uncertainty makes us squirm. Stability is good; turmoil is bad.
But Jesus doesn’t promise stability or lack of turmoil in this life.
After all, the Prince of Peace told us, “do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword” (Mt 10:34). He promised us that people would hate us, misunderstand us, and reject us (Jn 15:18-25). Jesus promises us happiness, even in this life, but he never promised us it would be easy.
The liturgical year is a cycle of feasts and fasts, life and death, beginnings and end. As it draws to a close, our thoughts are already on Advent – preparation, new life, and birth. Everything is changing, everything is passing. Nothing is constant.
…Except for God and His Word. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
We can get attached to this world. Love of comfort turns to complacency.
But our Lord reminds us that we live not for this world, but for the next. In the big picture, our earthly lives are but a moment. A time of joy is fleeting, but so is the greatest pain and suffering of this life. Everything is always changing, passing, moving. Except for God. Perhaps our dislike and discomfort with change points to the fact that we know that in God there is no change. And we were made for Him.
Our challenge in this passing world is to find peace in the turmoil. To find hope in the uncertainty. To find serenity in the change.
And we can only find that in Him and His Word. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
Whatever threatens your peace, remember to examine it with the eyes of the Lord. The Lord is here. He is faithful. There is no reason to doubt Him. This world is passing, but He is constant. And He is on your side.
