33rd Sunday
Knights of Columbus Mid-Year Meeting
Denver, Colorado
November 16, 2025
Doomsday?
Perhaps you like to watch apocalyptic movies, or, if you are like me, you avoid them all together. The way I figure it, there are so many catastrophes in real life there’s no need to watch fictional catastrophes. Nor do the books I read trend to the catastrophic, though I do read about historic events which, in their day, were pretty awful. For example, I’m currently reading a book entitled 1929 – the year the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. For many, the crash and its aftermath seemed like the end of everything.
Sometimes we too face situations and events that threaten everything we hold near and dear. Leading the Archdiocese of Baltimore into bankruptcy was a nightmare. Before reaching that decision, I agonized. In spite of assurances to the contrary, it felt like the end of everything. At some point in life, we all face moments something like that. It turns out, however, such crises are but preludes to the real apocalypse…the one that Jesus describes in today’s Gospel.
As if taking his cue from the Prophet Malachi, Jesus speaks to the people about the destruction of the most precious thing in their lives, the Temple of Jerusalem. Not one stone, he said, would be left upon another. Jesus goes on to speak of the wars, insurrections, and persecutions that will precede the end of the world. He warns, that if we want to preserve our lives, we must persevere in hope, come what may . . . .This is not a Gospel for the faint of heart. This Gospel is like a rock on which feel-good Christianity breaks apart. Amid earth’s closing thunders, half-hearted optimism will not stand the test
Where Is the Mercy?
Fearful images of the end times and of divine judgment might lead you to ask: “Well, then, where’s the mercy? Where’s the hope?” Isn’t this a rigorous version of the Gospel in which few are saved and most cannot expect to escape the ultimate catastrophe – separation from God and from the redeemed for all eternity?
In reply to these questions, let us remind ourselves what word “apocalypse” really means. Contrary to popular usage, the word “apocalypse” is not a synonym for “cataclysm”. It means “revelation” and refers the closing moment of human history when the Lord of History will return to reveal his glory. It is this glory we long to see; this is day we hope for. At Mass, we say we’re waiting “in joyful hope” for Christ’s second coming. This echoes the insistent prayer of the earliest Christians, summed up in the word, “Maranatha”, an Aramaic term that means, “O Lord, come!” – come again in your glory. But when we pray for the second coming, what we may really mean is, “Yes, Lord, come again, but please, not too soon!”
Cutting to the chase: If we are on the road to discipleship, if, through prayer, we are developing our relationship with God, if we are going to Mass and sharing in the Sacrifice of Christ, if we’re going to Confession with some regularity to obtain forgiveness, if we are devoting some of our time and resources to the poor and striving in God’s grace to live a virtuous life while avoiding presumption—well, then, as the saying goes, “the only thing we have to fear is – fear itself!” By living such an authentically Christian life, we answer the question – “Where is the mercy?” – “Where is the hope?” God’s mercy not only forgives, it also transforms. And as Pope Benedict taught, “Those who have hope live differently.”
Isn’t this what St. Paul is driving at in our second reading? Paul set the standard for a life transformed by mercy, as he worked night and day to benefit the Church at Thessalonica. He lived among those early Christians as an exemplar of hope. Conversely, Paul calls out disorderly busybodies, whose minds and hearts are not fixed on Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, but on gossip and trivialities. Paul admonishes them, and now he admonishes me and you, to reform.
Why It Matters to Be a Knight
None of this was lost on Blessed Michael McGivney. He founded the Knights, yes, to help widows and orphans, yes, to make men better Catholics and better husbands and fathers – but as a pastor of souls, his ultimate motivation was to ensure that his beloved parish family truly would be prepared for the day of judgment, so much so that, amid the passing concerns of the world, they would hope earnestly for that day of resurrection and new life.
This should motivate us, indeed, impel us to exemplify in our lives every Christian virtue, as we invite many others to join the Knights of Columbus, to discover in the unity and charity of our fraternity a path to friendship and communion, to virtue and holiness, to generous charity and service to those in need, indeed, a path towards eternal life with God, the deepest longing of our hearts. Let not the thought of Christ’s second coming fill us with servile fear but with wonder and awe as we say, again and again, “Maranatha!” – Come Lord Jesus – who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen! Vivat Jesus!