“No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’re from, no matter where you’re going, no matter how good or bad things seem, you are always welcome.” (Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mission Statement)
This Sunday’s Gospel is intense to say the least! I remember this Gospel reading was refereed to as the “Markan Apocalypse” when I was in theology classes, not exactly a message that excites us when coming to Mass on a Sunday. If you’re like me, when readings like this come up in Mass you tend to roll your eyes and think of all the terribly produced action movie sequences about the apocalypse or end time prophesiers on city street corners. As difficult, strange and gloomy this reading can be, it is important to look deeper, as a mentor once told me on my glib remark that the Church should re-edit the Bible, these difficult and seemingly strange readings are here for a reason. So let us go deeper.
For us today, this poetic and at times scary talk can be off-putting, but it’s important to note that Jesus isn’t using language that is strange to his initial listeners. The people of Israel would have understood the imagery being used by Jesus as being highly influenced from the prophet Daniel (just check out the first reading). Furthermore, Jesus doesn’t just start speaking out of nowhere. Mark’s thirteenth chapter begins with: “As Jesus was leaving the Temple…” and “one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!’” (Mark 13:1). Jesus, leaving the Temple goes outside and uses nature (a topic he often returns to) as his image of beauty blossoming but ultimately passing. So what’s the takeaway? Should we be depressed realizing all things will come to an end? No! Praying over our Gospel, that simple image of Jesus walking outside commenting on nature keeps returning to me. So maybe our lesson is just that, go outside.
We are so incredibly blessed at Our Lady of Mount Carmel to have a physically beautiful church building filled with beautiful people that, as our mission statement says, welcome everyone, no matter who they are. I am so proud to say that we have become a welcoming Catholic community and we have taken that challenge to welcome everyone seriously. I also think it is time for this community to go outside, bring that sense of welcome to those beyond our beautiful building, town or county. We may not see the “Son of Man coming in the clouds,” but I guarantee you’ll see the Son of Man smiling, quietly saying thank you, at the soup kitchen, the food bank, the children’s hospital.
I’ll be seeing you,
Elliot