For those of you who are as old as I am, it can be hard to believe that it has been more than twenty years since we began the new millennium. Given the expectations that awaited the change of millennium in 1999, it is actually amazing how well things have gone—with the exception of COVID 19. At the end of the 1990’s, there were all sorts of scenarios about how the world was going to end when the clock struck midnight and the new millennium came in. Not too surprisingly, there are many historical accounts which tell of the same kind of hysteria at the time of the millennia change in the year 999. One of the biggest concerns in 1999 was a fear that all computers were going to shut down because they had not been programmed in order to take into account the new dating for the years 2000 and after. As we approached midnight on December 31, 1999, many were waiting to see if chaos and total collapse of all computer networks was going to be the great tragedy of the new millennium.

We have seen more of this kind of speculation about the end of the world recently as we have all experienced the uncertainties of the COVID 19 pandemic and the differing theories on if and when it will ever end. Anything new and uncertain can cause others to start to speculate about the end of time as we know it.

I am sure I have told you this story before, but one of my favourite end of time stories took place at about the time of the millennium change. During the priests’ seminar in 1999, I was out for a walk one evening with a young priest, who at the time was a few years older then me, but not yet forty years old. We were out for a walk on Kingston Road and as we were walking, with great delight this priest explained to me how he was absolutely convinced that the world was about to end and that we were living in the last days. He sited every difficult news story in the papers at the time as proof that the world would soon be coming to an end. And while I found myself quite saddened by his accounts, the more detailed he got about his description of the end, the more celebratory his own mood seemed to get. As we neared the intersection of Kingston Road and Midland, he seemed to hit the height of his joy, as he explained the total chaos and near civil war that was going to embrace the world after all the computers shut down in 2000. So excited was he about his anticipated view of the end of the world, that he did not notice that the light had changed red and he stepped out into an on-coming car. Now, because I was not as enthralled with his description of the end of the world, I was able to reach out and pull him back from the on-coming car. At which point, I explained to him that he was so caught up in his theoretic version about how the world was going to end, that he just about missed his own end.

This is the message that Jesus is asking us to think about in today’s Gospel. As we come to the end of the liturgical year, and a new year will begin on the First Sunday of Advent, Jesus is challenging us to be ready for Him when he comes at the end of time, by being ready for Him as He comes to us today. Each year, we start the liturgical year with the season of Advent. This is a time to prepare ourselves for the birth of Jesus. After Christmas, we return to Ordinary Tine and recall the early events of Christ’s life. Throughout Lent, we get ready to renew our baptismal promises at Easter and then throughout the Easter Season we focus upon the life of the early Church and what it means for us to be anointed members of the Church. After Pentecost, we again return to Ordinary Time and the latter events of Christ’s life. The liturgical year always ends with readings about the end of time to remind us that one day each of us must be ready to meet Christ when he comes to meet us. The last Sunday of the liturgical year celebrates this call to be ready with the Solemnity of Christ the King. This feast reminds us that Christ will come at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and to rule all things through the power of His resurrection.

The problem is, that as Jesus tells us, we do not know when that will occur.  The way to be ready to meet Christ at the end of time, is to be ready to meet Him today. To be ready to meet the Lord, our eyes should be set on the present and the search to find God’s face in the daily events of our lives.

One of the very significant words in our Church’s liturgy is “today.” The prayers at Mass, are always asking that “today” we might experience God’s love for us and live in His presence. In the “Our Father,” the very prayer that Jesus taught us, the importance of today is heavily emphasized. In that prayer, we pray that we might do God’s will and that He will give us the food that we need for the day in order that we might do that. The focus is on today. The only way to be ready to meet God when he comes for us at the end of time, is to be ready to meet Him as He comes today in our brother or sister in need, or in the daily events of our lives.

This year, Pope Francis has asked the Church to reflect upon a person who is a model for living in God’s presence no matter what might be asked of him. The Pope declared that December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021 would be a year in honour or St. Joseph. In his letter, Patris Corde, (entitled in English “With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis points to St. Joseph as one who responded to the ever-changing needs of his journey with patience and love for others. The Pope says that in many ways, St. Joseph lived his life as have the many parents, health care workers, and those who live in the shadows of today, as they meet the needs of others in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic despite not knowing what the future will hold. St. Joseph responded to the real challenges of his life without fleeing and not ever knowing how the situation would end. He is an example of trust in God’s will and mission.

Think about all the surprises that St. Joseph faced in his life. They match the challenges that we have faced in the midst of COVID 19, and in many cases, his were much greater. Like all of us, St. Joseph had great dreams for his future and the married life he desired to enjoy with Mary. Pope Francis speaks of the confusion and doubts that must have arisen in his mind when he learned that Mary was with child and the angel Gabriel announced to him in a dream that this child would be the Son of God. Rather than running away, as I always imagine myself doing in the face of difficulties, Joseph patiently remained at Mary’s side and assured her safety. He trusted that even though he could not explain God’s will, God would not let him down. His faith sustained him when perhaps his mind was not able to do so. St. Joseph teaches us about what it is to trust in God’s will for us each day.

As the Holy Family was faced with the danger that was posed by Herod’s attack on the Holy Innocents, Joseph takes his family to the safety and freedom of Egypt where they will be safe. We see St. Joseph simply responding to the realities of his life and doing God’s will no matter what that means or where it will take him. As he did so much to care for his family, we see so many others today who have done the same in the midst of this pandemic. Nurses, and those who work in hospitals and seniors’ residences, have heroically done what was asked and required of them. Without knowing how the story will end, they, like St. Joseph, have done what they can to serve and remain faithful to those in their care. “In this way,” Pope Francis writes, St. Joseph “placed himself, in the words of Saint John Chrysostom, ‘at the service of the entire plan of salvation.’”

So much of our present world is orientated at avoiding reality and responsibility. Addictions provide people with a constant escape. A whole generation of people are happier relating to imaginary people in virtual reality that to the real people in their lives and God’s presence in their midst. St. Joseph responded to the chaos in his own life by faithfully doing each day that which he was called to do by the Lord. In St. Joseph we see a model of constancy for the uncertainty and constantly changing reality of our own times.

St. Joseph is known as the patron of a happy death. His death is said to be happy because by doing God’s will, he lived in Christ’s presence and dies with Jesus and Mary at his side.  God promises us that if we do His will, He will also be at our side and give us the grace to see Him at the end of time in the Kingdom of Heaven. To live in God’s presence today, by doing His will every day, in the routine events of our lives, is the way that God invites us to be ready to meet Him when He comes at the end of time. Living the spirituality of the “Our Father,” seeking to do God’s will each day, is the way to be ready to meet Christ when He comes to judge the living and the dead. Like St. Joseph, we do not know what God has in store for us. Like him, as well, by trusting faithfulness and responding to God’s call faithfully each day, we are assured that we will not miss Christ when He returns for us.

Many will have theories about how the world will end. Christ reminds us only God the Father knows when our time will come. Our time might come through our own individual death or the Second Coming of the Lord in our day. We do not know. To be ready, we must remain faithful to the small and real tasks of our life and vocations. In this regard, Jesus’ earthly guardian is our best model and example. By his faithfulness, St. Joseph died in Christ’s presence and has been given a place there for all eternity. Let us all pray and strive to follow his example.

As we come to the end not only of this liturgical year, but also this year dedicated to St. Joseph, I would like to conclude this reflection with the prayer with which Pope Francis concluded his letter on St. Joseph:

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.

 

Blessed Joseph, to us too
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen

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

This reflection based on the reading for Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B: Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-14,18; and Mark 13:24-32.