You have to have courage and lift your head

Good morning, happy Thursday, and many blessings. 

In today’s Gospel (Luke 21:20-28) we have the continuation of the Apocalyptic Discourse which gives two signs, the 7th and the 8th, which should take place before the end of time or better before the coming of the end of this world in order to give place to the new world, to the “new Heavens and the New Earth” (Is 65, 17). The seventh sign is the destruction of Jerusalem and the eighth is the upsetting of the old creation.

For the disciples and loyal followers of Jesus, this gospel tells us it is a time to “stand up straight and raise your heads, for your redeeming is near at hand”. As we saw in yesterday’s Gospel, sufferings and tribulations are part and parcel of living the Christian life to the full.

But for those who have tried to live by the vision and values of the Gospel, for those who have tried to seek and find Jesus in all the people and events of their lives, who have spent hours with him in intimate dialogue, it is the time of their final liberation. It is a time when there will be no more sorrows, no more tears, no more hardships, no more disappointments. Rather, they will be entering an unbroken time of love and intimacy, of freedom and peace, of joy and consolation.

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans had already taken place by the time the gospel of Luke was written, yet these words still ring true even for us, two thousand years later. Persecution of the communities, destruction of Jerusalem. Lack of hope. Before the events which today make people, suffer, do I despair? 

Day after day in these Gospel passages Jesus is speaking with his disciples, bracing them against disasters. If he were preaching now he would speak of the atomic bomb, nuclear and ecological disasters, terrorist attacks. ‘Don’t lose heart’ he says to us, ‘God still directs human history and will bring good out of it – your redemption.’ Today I pray: ‘Jesus, when the evil and suffering of the world tempt me to lose faith, let the words of St Thomas Aquinas calm me. He writes that God is so powerful and good that he would allow no evil in any of his works unless he could bring good out of it.’

Let's look for a moment at what we are celebrating today. Thanksgiving is a popular tradition in the United States, characterized by thanking God for all the blessings he has given the people of this country. The Thanksgiving Day celebration has various origins and versions. However, the most popular story goes back to 1620, when 100 English settlers landed on the Mayflower ship in Plymouth, Massachusetts fleeing poverty in England.

They came to these lands and through the Manifest Destiny they declared that God had given them this land, therefore, they were part of expropriating, evicting, imprisoning, massacring, and dehumanizing those who lived in peace and harmony in these lands. In other words, this is the beginning of how native peoples, original peoples, were massacred and colonized in the name of "civilization" and "Christianity." These peoples lived through the apocalypse that this gospel today announces.

For this reason, far beyond celebrating in ignorance, this is a day to celebrate in repentance. We can call it a day of liberation because we rescue the historical memory of what happened. Therefore, as we prepare our turkeys, or chickens, or whatever we eat, let us remember our sisters and brothers from the indigenous peoples who still live waiting for their lands to be returned to them and be accepted as first-class citizens.

Today we commend to God in prayer the thousands who live in desolation and omens, victims of war and hunger. God, in your kingdom look with pity on the suffering people of Cuba and Venezuela to whom an inhuman and illegal blockade was imposed by the United States government and other places of misery, including my homeland Puerto Rico who lives under the yoke of colonialism. For many people, whether they are Muslim or Christian, we are their only safe haven. Today I invite you to ask God about our responsibility to change these injustices. Let's start bringing heaven here on earth this "Thanksgiving Day." We must stand up and lift our heads, because our redemption is near.

Blessings,

Fr. Luis +