Each year, the priests of the Archdiocese of Toronto go on retreat together in the month of May. These retreats used to take place at St. Augustine’s seminary in Scarborough. I can remember well an experience that I had there when I was on retreat in May of 1999. After one of the talks I went out for a walk. While out on my walk I ran into one of the other priests who was on retreat. As we walked along Kingston Road, this priest began to tell me with great certainty about his conviction that the world was going to end in 2000. He quoted many of the news stories of the time and emphasized the expected collapse of the computer systems that control all of the daily aspects of society’s life with the approach of the new year and the expected glitch for the year 2000. For him there was no doubt that the end was near. I was actually a little concerned about the amount of joy that he seemed to take in thinking about the impending chaos. As we walked along Kingston Road and got to the intersection of Kingston Road and Midland Avenue, my companion who was so caught up in his description of the end of the world, stepped out into the intersection in front of a quickly moving car. He was so caught up in his view of the way the world was going to end, that he was not paying any attention to what was happening to him in the present moment. After I pulled him back from the approaching car, I remember saying that if he did not watch for God in the present, he might not live to see the end of the world, which he seemed to be so excited about. He had such a strong conviction about the way that world was going to end, that he almost missed the fact that he was about to meet God in a completely different manner if he did not stay awake and keep his eyes on the present.

Last weekend, I had a chance to see a movie which witnesses powerfully to the need for people of faith to act and live as though each moment were the most important moments of their lives. Mel Gibson’s new movie, Hacksaw Ridge, tells the story of Private Desmond T. Doss and his refusal to pick up a gun and kill during the Second World War. In the movie, Private Doss is presented as a young American who knows that he has a duty to serve his country during the time of war. When he goes to the Army enlistment centre, he is told that he can serve as a medic and will never have to touch a gun or kill. He enlists, thinking that this is the truth. Once he arrives for basic training, he learns that he was simply told this as a way of getting him to enroll. His sergeant and other officers go out of their way to try and make him pick up a gun. The drill sergeant of his unit does everything to try and get him to leave the army, telling the other soldiers that they should never rely on Private Doss to fight with them and save their lives. Private Doss was subjected to a military trial for being a conscientious objector and it was only there that his right not to carry a gun and to serve as a medic was accepted by the military. Finally, when the unit goes to war in the Battle of Okinawa, he becomes the hero of his unit for his bravery. Without ever touching a gun, in the fierce battle that his unit faces against an overwhelming Japanese force, he saves 76 members of his unit. His bravery makes him the the most loved and revered member of the unit which had previously made fun of him and attempted to reject him. In the end, he became the first conscientious objector to win the Medal of Honour. His story is a powerful reminder of the call that belongs to all people of faith to recognize the importance of standing up for the faith and witnessing to it in the present moment, even in the face of death.

We are now coming to the end of our liturgical year. As we do so, the readings for the liturgy are concerned to speak to us about the end of time and the Second Coming of Christ. This Sunday, the Gospel is taken from near the end of the Gospel of Luke, the one which we have been reading throughout this liturgical year and the Year of Mercy. As Jesus enters the Temple in Jerusalem, people ask Him how they will know when the Kingdom and the end are near. He tells them that people will speak about all sorts of different scenarios for the end of the world. We are told not to listen to any of them, for we cannot know the hour or the day. Instead, the Christian is called to give witness and to testify to the coming of the Lord no matter what the suffering and persecution that he or she faces. We must be ready at all times. This is sort of the same advise that we are given by Paul in today’s second reading from his Second Letter to the Thessalonians. He tells them not to go about causing trouble by engaging in rumours or stirring up trouble by not minding their own business. Paul simply tells them to keep to their responsibilities and be certain that God will give them the help that they need in their time of difficulty. For all of us then, these readings provide a real call to simply be faithful to our Christian duty and to be confident that by doing so, when the Lord does come, we will be ready.

The reason why Christians are to persevere and remain faithful to Christ is the focus of the feast that we celebrate next Sunday to conclude the liturgical year. Next Sunday, the Church celebrates the Feast of Christ the King. As the liturgical year comes to an end, we proclaim that at the end of time, Christ will come victorious over all of the sufferings that we can and will endure. The great anthem of this feast is: “Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.” This is translated as “Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands.” This was the anthem of the early and persecuted Church. They were convinced that because of His resurrection, every struggle and form of suffering that they could be subjected to would fall to the power of Christ and His resurrection. In the face of this certainty about the resurrection of Christ, these early Christians were never afraid to defend their faith and witness to it. They were able to live their convictions with the same courage and strength of conviction that Private Doss lived his faith in the Battle of Okinawa.

One of the very subtle realities that we live with today is that given that we live in a culture of tolerance and acceptance of different opinions, it is not always easy to know when we as Christians are called to witness to our faith. Often we are frightened and afraid to stand out as people who live with conviction. One of the most subtle areas where our culture is attacking our faith and what it is that we believe about the sanctity of life is in the present movement to make euthanasia a common way for people to end their lives. It is in fact at these very moments when life becomes difficult and we are suffering that Christians are called to witness to their belief that Christ’s victory over death has the last word about suffering and how we are called to meet our Saviour. The Christian is not one who believes that he or she has the last word over life. The Christian proclaims that life is a gift from God and that God alone has the last word about its beginning and end. Many Christians who live faith filled lives are now approaching death and the last moments of their lives under the false premise that they have the right to decide when they are to leave this world. What is even more disturbing is the number of elderly people who now consider euthanasia as an option to prevent them from being a burden to the children that they saved and sacrificed to raise. In the face of the acceptance of euthanasia in our day, I think all Christians are called to witness to the same kind of conviction that called Private Doss to witness to the fact that he believed he did not have the right to take a life— no matter what the circumstances. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of all the difficult situations that people will be called to face during their lives and tells His disciples that they are called to endure until the end, confident that with the power of the Holy Spirit they will be able to overcome all trials and remain faithful. Surely, there can be no greater challenges to this call than the moments of difficulty that come with sickness and diminishment of health. Here, Jesus tells us that we are to seek to encounter Him in our sufferings and to be certain of His presence at our side in the face of these difficulties.

For me there are a number of very powerful images that proclaim the message that Jesus is calling all of us to today. One of these is the photo of Pope Francis visiting the death camps at Auschwitz while he was in Poland this year for World Youth Day. Here, in this image, we find a powerful reminder that evil never has the last word and that Christ and His people will always conquer over death and evil if they remain faithful to the duties of the present moment. The only way for any of us to be certain of meeting the Lord at the end of time when he comes, is for each of us to be ready to encounter Him “today” in the present reality of our daily lives. Christ comes to us each day in the different challenges of our routines and vocations. If we meet him in the NOW of our lives and seek His face in the different situations and challenges of the moment, then we will always be ready for His Second Coming at the end of time— whether that be at our own personal end or the end of time. This is the way that we are called to live our lives in the “Our Father” that we pray each day. In this prayer we ask for the strength and daily food for our journey, so that the Lord’s Kingdom may come among us. In the beautiful words of this prayer we find the guidance to ensure that we are prepared for the Day of the Lord, as we pray each day— “Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven….”

Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor, St. Peter’s Church— Toronto.