See, upon the mountains there advances the bearer of good news, announcing peace!
Our first reading for today was celebrating the good news that Assyrian Capital of Nineveh in 612 BC was destroyed.. Assyria was the local bully and savagely cruel to the people they conquered. Hence the cheering.
Why do we cheer when someone we don’t like finds themselves in bad times?
Part of my freshman College English class assignment was to read the short story called, “A Good Man is hard to find” by the Catholic author, Flannery O’Connor. When I read it I was eighteen or nineteen year-old. I thought the story was dark and depressing. I was looking for something to cheer about and the good guys winning the story. It didn’t end that well.
Recently, I read a article in the “The Eastern Oklahoma Catholic” which is part of the Diocese of Tulsa. One of the authors, Mason Beecroft said of Miss O’Connor that , she filled her stories with distorted characters and shocking events to communicate theological truths to her readers. They are also filled with dark humor. Miss O’Connor argued that she wrote for an audience who, for all it Sunday piety and sentiment, did not share her belief in the fall of humanity and its need for redemption.” The article went on to quote Miss O’Connor, “My audience are the people who think God is dead. At least these are the people I am conscious of writing for.”
If you are reading this you probably don’t believe that God is dead. Jesus didn’t either. As a part of the Blessed Trinity, He couldn’t. Nonetheless, Jesus knew that the road to Heaven would not be easy. In Matthew’s Gospel today Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life wisll lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” The life Jesus is speak is our eternal life.
When I was a young child, my Mom would know when I was doing something wrong. One time I almost set the house on fire when I played with matches. Of course I was caught, thank God.
Novels and stories don’t always have happy endings. Neither, does this life. However, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct.”
We celebrate our redemption everyday in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Taking up our cross and how we conduct our lives is how we save our lives. That is the happy ending we seek. The Son of Man is watching.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
