October and November, 1962. “The Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. During the standoff, US President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to war was “between 1 in 3 and even”, and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds. We now know, for example, that in addition to nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, the Soviet Union had deployed 100 tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba, and the local Soviet commander there could have launched these weapons without additional codes or commands from Moscow. The US air strike and invasion that were scheduled for the third week of the confrontation would likely have triggered a nuclear response against American ships and troops, and perhaps even Miami. The resulting war might have led to the deaths of over 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians.” (Written in 2012 by Graham Allison, quoted in “Cuban Missile Crisis” on Wikipedia.)
Is it the Last Day?
I remember that time. I was a freshman in high school and wondered, “Is the end of the world coming tomorrow? Is it time for “The Last Day?” As I read the Wikipedia article about the Cuban Missile Crisis this morning, it struck me again how very close we came to nuclear holocaust. While we came very close in 1962 and the Cold War has moved to war in the Ukraine, Afghanistan, and other places, the reality is likely that nuclear warheads could quickly end life as we know it today. The Last Day for us could be any day.
We have grown used to international mega-tensions, just as we have grown used to COVID. We go on with our ordinary lives with mega-dangers in the wings of awareness. In some ways, this is a detriment to us. Throughout history, sudden death from quick-killing infectious disease was a reality. People lived with awareness that “The Last Day” for them could be any day.
My grandmother’s response to literally any plan was, “If the Lord’s willing…” She lived with constant awareness that life could change radically in an instant, that God might come again ANY day. There was a value in her attitude. Lack of imminent danger causes us to think the world will go on forever, we will be in control, and maybe there isn’t even a “Last Day of Judgment.”
Our catechism and faith tell us differently. Let’s look at what our Church teaches as we look at today’s readings.
Malachi 3:19-20a
Malachi is a short book, most likely written after the return from Babylon. It describes topics that might give us pause: God’s love and fidelity, in spite of people’s sins; corruption of priests; scandals of family life; “the day of the Lord”; lack of generosity; judgment of the righteous and the wicked. The selection today is from “the day of the Lord” section. When I read it, it could describe a nuclear holocaust:
Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
and the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the LORD of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays
Luke 21:5-19
It could also describe the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, which Jesus’ predicts in today’s Gospel. The setting for today’s Gospel is Jerusalem, during Holy Week. Jesus is almost to Golgotha. If you read all the Gospel accounts of the first days of Holy Week, you see how hard Jesus works to prepare his disciples for his coming crucifixion and their need to “carry on.”
Jesus said, “All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
Jesus is talking about the Jewish temple—and the transition from “God’s chosen people” to “the whole world throughout the ages.” It could describe the Fall of Rome in 476 CE or the result for a local region of the devastation of war throughout history, including wars being fought now.
Jesus is saying that such awful times come AND that the important thing is for his followers to remain faithful with the knowledge that “by your perseverance you will preserve your lives.” He is talking about their “eternal lives.” In other words, the destruction of a world as it is known is not the important thing. Fidelity to God is what is important.
II Thessalonians 3:7-12
For all these centuries, some people say, “The Lord is coming, there is no need to continue with ordinary life.” We saw that the first year with COVID. I see it in Kentucky this past week within our pro-life activists. We lost the bid to provide a judicial protection of our state legislature’s right to make laws limiting abortion. We are down. Me, too. But we can’t be out.
Because there is a Last Day. On the Last Day Jesus comes to judge the world from a point of view of justice.
From the Catholic Catechism
Here is some of what our catechism says about the Last Day:
1038 The resurrection of all the dead, “of both the just and the unjust,” will precede the Last Judgment…”those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” Then Christ will come… Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left…. and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare. The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life…
1040 …Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming…We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. the Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.
1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them “the acceptable time, . . . the day of salvation.” It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God.
Prayer:
Lord, as I consider all this, what strikes me is that there are consequences to even little things I do that can extend for generations. And that is true for everyone. I need to treasure the small prompts You give me to daily, ordinary fidelity to commandments, beatitudes, and Catholic social teaching. I need to remember that I cannot see the panorama of Your tapestry of history from the position of my little thread. Lead me, guide me, Lord, to “do it anyway,” to see what I do as part of Your plan.
