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Sunday 16 November 2025 Second Before Advent, Thirty-third in Ordinary time, Proper 28
Preaching Peace in Apocalyptic Times
Malachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19
Context: Sunday Parish Mass in a small suburban Catholic church (about 250 people)
Aim: to ensure that we remember the poor, the principal victims of the wars and upheavals of our age, and to find with them and for them a word of hope
We’re nearing the end of the Church’s year; this ending is always marked by the Church inviting us through Scripture readings at Mass to reflect on the end of time. The biblical passages we hear are what we call ‘apocalyptic’. In Biblical times you either experienced violence first hand (much of the time if you were part of an oppressed people), or you didn’t know that much about violence elsewhere because communication was different. Therefore ‘apocalyptic’ is often imaginative, and also designed to give hearers strength in the midst of persecution and suffering. This sort of writing in the Bible is both a stern warning and a message of hope.
Malachi’s is a message of hope; it’s a short book from the later Old Testament period after the people of Israel have returned from exile. People need their spirits to be raised up; the arrogant and evildoers will be punished: ‘the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings’.
The words of the Lord from the end of his teaching ministry in Luke are rather less positive. The Temple of Herod the Great in Jerusalem was an immense structure, thought to be one of the largest religious sites in the ancient world; Herod, like so many kings and presidents, was vain and wanted a big monument to himself. Jesus is here shown as predicting its destruction and the Gospel was probably written after it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. ‘There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’ – that’s what it was like; historical accounts show that the destruction of the Temple and of the city was an horrific event. The famous ‘wailing wall’ in Jerusalem is all that’s left of this fantastic building. We have seen this year, again and again and in so many different places, how much civilians suffer in war; we’ve become used to it, we’ve become desensitised. The apocalyptic imagery which the Church puts before us at this time of year should at the very least rekindle our detestation of war.
The popes have constantly pointed out that the poor of the world are always the primary victims of war – it suits nations to obscure this and to focus on those who do the fighting. Since 2017, in the Catholic community we have celebrated this Sunday as the World Day of the Poor. In our parish we’re marking that with a special collection of items needed by one of our local food banks. This is part of how the Catholic Church is constantly calling on humanity to turn away from war, to reject war. And we don’t simply show charity or compassion to the poor and other victims of war; we are taught by them in dark times. It’s so easy to patronise and even infantilise those who suffer. In his message for today’s special observance Pope Leo says this:
‘The poor can be witnesses to a strong and steadfast hope, precisely because they embody it in the midst of uncertainty, poverty, instability and marginalisation. They cannot rely on the security of power and possessions; on the contrary, they are at their mercy and often victims of them. Their hope must necessarily be sought elsewhere. By recognising that God is our first and only hope, we too pass from fleeting hopes to a lasting hope. Once we desire that God accompany us on the journey of life, material wealth becomes relativised, for we discover the real treasure that we need.’
Traditionally we teach that despair is a grave sin: the Christian message of hope, in the midst of the sufferings in the world brought about by war and poverty, can guard us from that danger. We’re brought back to Malachi and his message of hope: ‘the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.’
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