I am a fan of the Chicago Bears football team (that is, American NFL-style football). Now this is probably the first time I have actually admitted this in public. This out-in-the open confession would rank right up there with proclaiming my affinity for pigs feet as a delicacy or my having actually consumed baked lamb’s head. Not something you should discuss in proper company. But, yes, the Bears. And what is worse, I didn’t come to follow this hapless franchise until AFTER the 1985 version of the team won the Super Bowl. I missed the brief spark of glory experienced by the true die hard fans. And to make matters worse, I gave up being a fan of the Green Bay Packers in order to fly the Navy Blue and Orange of the Monsters of the Midway. It was right after this conversion that the Cheddar Heads from Wisconsin began winning themselves. My timing has never been that great.
4 weeks ago as of this reading, The Bears were playing the Washington Redskins (OK, the Commanders…but that is a conversation for another day). They had the game in the bag. They were winning by a score of 15-12 with only 3 seconds remaining and Washington backed up on their own 45 yard line. Their quarterback scrambles around for what seemed like a year and a half trying not to get tackled and tosses up what many phrase as a “Hail Mary” pass. This being a play that has only one chance of succeeding…the reciting of a plea to Our Lady. As miracles would have it, the ball gets tipped up into the air and comes down softly into the hands of a waiting Washington receiver IN THE ENDZONE. TOUCHDOWN WASHINGTON!! Bears loose. As they have for the next three games.
In the words of that great New York Yankees catcher, Yogi Berra…“It ain’t over until it’s over”
I, like most people, have a very difficult time with the book of Revelation. It is not easy to understand. Scholars have been interpreting, debating and theorizing about John’s work of apocryphal (writings relating to the End Times of history) probably since John arrived on the island Patmos. It is right up there with Ezekiel and Daniel in terms of what seems like writings from Woodstock. So I naturally try to avoid them if possible when writing reflections. So you can understand my consternation when I opened up the USCCB site to find the first readings from today was the 11th Chapter of Reservations. Umm, Revelations.
So I do a little research into what this section could possibly mean and then I look at the Gospel for today. Luke is writing about Jesus being tested by the Sadducees about the resurrection. As we all know the Sadducees do not believe in the Resurrection. That is why they are “Sad U See”. So they try to have a little fun with our Lord by giving him this whole strange scenario of 7 brothers marrying the widow of the first in sequence as each brother dies. They then want Jesus to tell them who will actually be the widow’s husband in the after life. Jesus does not mince words and explains to them that there is no marriage in heaven but the faithful will rise:
“The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.”
We WILL rise again. No matter what happens here on earth. As long as we are faithful to what Jesus asks of us. So now looking at Revelations thru this lens we see in today’s chapter from the “Mystery Book” a similar scene being played out. The section opens with talk of two witnesses, or two olive trees, or two lampstands. These witnesses/lampstands represent the prophets who are present in every age. Most scholars believe them to be Moses and Elijah because of the powers these witnesses are said to have (closing up the sky from rain and turning water into blood). And the Olive Trees produce oil which fuels the lampstands as the Holy Spirit fills the souls of the prophets (as is written in Zechariah 4).
These prophets defend the faithful with their power until the beast comes up and destroys them with the rest of the peoples and nations ridiculing their fate. Ah, but that is not the end. After 3 1/2 days the breath (the Spirit) of God re-enters them and they strike fear in all those who lay eyes on them. And God calls them to join Him “up here” to live with Him forever.
It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
And so it is with all of us. We all face hardships in our times. The loss of loved ones. Illnesses. Hopes dashed. Division within families. Wars, terrorism, political turmoil. But so has it been throughout history. The Israelites being taken captive by Babylon. The Temple being desecrated and destroyed by the Greeks. Jerusalem being destroyed by the Romans. And in recent times The Holocaust. Persecution of Catholics by the Mexican government. The Killing Fields of Cambodia.
Through it all we have brave souls stand up and preach the Gospel in the face of ridicule and martyrdom. St. Theresa of Calcutta caring for those who had no one. St. Maximillian Kolbe giving up himself to save a fellow concentration camp inmate. The assassination’s of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador. But also the single Mother raising a family on their own. The parents who care for their son in the last days of terminal cancer.
The secular world professes that we should get all we can out of this life because this is where it ends. But like the witnesses/prophets from Revelation, we too will rise on the last day if we stand true to the Gospel message of loving God and neighbor during this life. We just have to persevere and stay strong right to the end.
Unlike the Bear’s defensive secondary with 3 seconds remaining. Arghhhhh!!
