Hearing somebody’s testimony about how Jesus has worked in their life is a powerful thing. Just recently, I saw a testimony online of a man whose life was saved through a pastor on the radio. He talked about growing up as a pastor’s kid who believed, but eventually drifted away from faith as an adult. He found himself getting more and more directionless in life till he reached the point of despair. Over and over, he would have a recurring thought that maybe taking his own life was the answer. He just wanted the pain and emptiness to end.
Then one day he found himself up in the mountains, once again dealing with that same recurring thought. He decided to try and cheer himself up with some country music on his radio, but as he turned the dial it was nothing but static for channel after channel. Then, all of a sudden, loud and clear, a voice came over his radio. It was a pastor whose words cut him to the heart. The pastor said, “There’s a young man out there right now. This is what you’ve been telling yourself.” And then the pastor said exactly the phrase about ending his life that this young man had been struggling with in his head. Then the pastor said, “The Lord wanted me to tell you that is not the answer.”
The young man took his shaking hand off the knob, knowing in that moment that God knew exactly where he was and what he was going through. As a kid, this young man had repeatedly lain awake in his bed, looking up at the motionless ceiling fan in his room and asking God to give him a small personal sign of His care by turning the blades a little bit. It never happened. But in that moment on the mountain, that memory came back to him vividly and he understood that right now, God was giving him that fan blade moment. God knew the thoughts he had been struggling with, He knew his pain, and personally spoke to him through that pastor in order to touch his heart in that moment. Praise God, right?! Maybe some of you have had a similar experience, where God has spoken powerfully to you through another person.
As we come toward the end of our liturgical year, the Church gives us scripture passages that focus on the last things–death, judgment, heaven and hell. This Sunday we hear Jesus predicting what will happen at the end of time. He borrows language from the Old Testament book of Daniel, where the prophet looks forward to a time when the Son of Man will appear in the clouds. This clearly points to the second coming of Christ. At the end of time, there will be that coming of Christ to proclaim His final victory over sin and death. Jesus’ language about the sun being darkened and stars falling is an analogy for the end of time, which was and is marked by the movement of the sun and stars. Jesus also speaks of the work of angels: “he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.”
All of this should focus us on the importance of answering the call while we have time, so that if this second coming happens in our lifetime, we will be prepared. Thinking about these last things actually shows us the best way to answer the Lord’s call, because right now we have a similar experience in the Church. As the Lord will one day come in power and majesty for all to see, so right now He comes in the same power, but cloaked humbly under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist, and cloaked in the humble, but powerful words of the priest in the Confessional, and hidden but powerful in the seemingly ordinary waters of Baptism and all the Sacraments. Jesus comes to us through the Church to strengthen us to be sent out. Just as angels will go out at the end of all things to call forward the elect, so each of us is called to be a messenger to call forward others to come to the Lord. The reality is that all of us can be a voice of truth in somebody’s life who truly needs to hear the call of the Lord.
As Jesus lay hidden in Mary’s womb, unknown to anybody but her, Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, prophetically said:
“And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God
by which the daybreak from on high will visit us
to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Jesus is that dawn from on high, whose light illuminates and saves each of us from the darkness of death and sin. As baptized members of His body, we are also called to bring that light to others. The word ‘angel’ in English comes from the Latin word angelus, which means messenger. That is what an angel is, a heavenly messenger. So each of us can be as the angels will be at the end of time, a heavenly messenger of grace to hearts struggling in darkness and the shadow of death. We can be the ones to bring the light of Christ. That is why each of us is here, why the Lord continues to meet us in the Eucharist at this Mass and to fill us with the light of His grace in every Sacrament, so that we can go out and bring others that light.
How often I have missed out on that opportunity, for shame! How often I’ve let that light of Christ remain hidden within me. But I ask for the Lord’s forgiveness and the grace to cooperate with Him, to be His vessel more and more. That is what He asks of all of us: to go out and proclaim the Good News. The end of each Mass is your commissioning: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life!” Tell people that they are loved by the Father, show them that love through your actions! Don’t be afraid to speak the name of Jesus around others. You never know when your voice might be the one to shine His light on someone dwelling in darkness, like the pastor on the radio did for that young man. And let me just say to any of you who might be thinking, “I’m that man; I feel useless; I don’t know my purpose,” the Lord wants you to know that you are precious to Him, that He died for you and has a purpose for you. Only trust in Him and open your heart to receive His love. He will never fail you and He will show you the way forward, step by step. Reach out to Him and to others!
+ Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you sent your son to die for us that we might have eternal life. Jesus, thank you for Your love which fills us with light. Please send us forward in Your light to shine upon those in darkness. Holy Spirit, help us recognize those around us who need the light of Jesus and empower us with the words and actions that will shine His light on them. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +