In my 40 years of ministry, I can’t count the number of letters I’ve received from people whose marriages and families were destroyed because of adultery, drugs, or alcoholism.

How do you destroy yourself? What “death habits” consume your life? One death habit is materialism. When you put things over people or when material things consume your time and attention, your relationships get strained. 

But we also destroy ourselves when we neglect our “life habits” or the things we do that promote our growth. 

These life habits include caring for four areas—your body by doing simple things like drinking more water, getting enough sleep, exercise, sunlight, and nourishing food; your mind by always learning; your home by spending more time with your family; and your soul by putting God first. 

So nurture your life habits. 

And don’t forget to destroy your death habits by bringing them out into the light. Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

Reflect:

What life habits can you strengthen? What death habits do you need to remove to live a fulfilling life?

Father, give us the grace to choose life in the midst of tribulations. Amen.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld, pray for us.

First Reading | Jeremiah 33:14-16

The Israelites are referred to as the People of the Promise. The Promise originates in the Proto Evangelium of Genesis 3:15. It is then diversified in the promises given to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). Finally, the promise is encapsulated in the Messiah. His coming is the most anticipated event in Israel’s collective history. The irony of it all is that the Jews failed to recognize the Messiah when He finally came.

¹⁴ The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

R: To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

⁴ Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, ⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and for you I wait all the day. (R) ⁸ Good and upright is the Lord; thus he shows sinners the way. ⁹ He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way. (R) ¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees. ¹⁴ The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction. (R) 

Second Reading | 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

As we read one of Paul’s prayers for the Thessalonian community, we realize that he wants the best for others. He does not allow jealousy to affect him. Here we have a crucial aspect of discipleship. The best spiritual directors will desire that their directees will outdo them in holiness. As we pray for others, let us cultivate the attitude that they outdo us in holiness and discipleship. True love always seeks the best for the other person. Let us remember that they will be praying the same thing for us.

¹² Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, ¹³ so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. ^4:1 Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God—and as you are conducting yourselves—you do so even more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Gospel | Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

The Second Coming of Jesus will be different from His First Coming as a helpless child born of Mary. He will come in glory. All people will recognize who He is and every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord of all (C.f. Philippians 2:6-11). It is a tremendous blessingto have the opportunity to begin our relationship with Jesus now. Let us remember the person who introduced us to Jesus, and may he/she inspire us to bring Jesus to our family and friends.

Gospel Acclamation

Show us, Lord, your love; and grant us your salvation.

²⁵ Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶ People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. ³⁴ Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise ³⁵ like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. ³⁶ Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 CORINTHIANS 9 - 13 today.

Fear Not the End Times

“Brace yourselves! The end is near!” “Be warned! Perilous times ahead!” These are only some of the slogans street preachers use to scare people off about the end times. For centuries, doomsdayers have prophesied the apocalypse. But there’s a tiny catch: None of the end-of-world predictions ever come true. I remember that toward the end of the second millennium, people around the world feared that the world would end simultaneously with the beginning of the year 2000, or Y2K. Still, it didn’t happen.   

Concurrently, the Gospel passage speaks of various cataclysmic and apocalyptic signs to indicate the end. The description is not a pleasant one: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth, nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world . . .” (Luke 21:25-26). However, the Gospel has a very different ending as Jesus enjoins His followers that “when these signs begin to happen, they are to stand erect and raise their heads because their redemption is at hand” (Luke 21:28). The Gospel’s invitation to us followers of Christ is not of fear, but rather of courage and of faith in our God. There is fear involved but not the servile kind of fear that paralyses us. Rather, it is the fear of the Lord that makes us wise, vigilant, and ready for His coming.   

For us disciples of Jesus who have tried to live by the values of the Gospel, the end times is our final liberation. It is a time when there will be no more sorrows, no more tears, no more hardships, no more disappointments. The end times signal the unbroken time of love and intimacy, of freedom and peace, of joy and consolation. Hence, the end that the Gospel is pointing to—calamitous as it may be—must not be an ending to be feared but instead to be welcomed. We welcome the end because we look for the fullness of life with God in His Kingdom. On this day, may each of us stand with courage and hope to face our end. Fr. Rick Montañez, AA

reflection question

What is you attitude toward the end times? 

Lord, grant us faith to courageously face the reality of our end—of the end times. Make us look forward to coming home to You in Your heavenly Kingdom. Amen. 

Today, I pray for: _________________________________