Looking Beyond – – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Steve Jobs is one of the most well-known names today. He was not an engineer or a designer but he was the most influential innovator of our time. His greatness lies in his ability to maximize the use of technology to be user-friendly for anyone. Despite his iconic character as Apple co-founder, he succumbed to a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2003 which was discovered accidentally on a CT scan of his kidneys. He died almost exactly eight years after, at 56 years old.
In a speech he delivered at Stanford University in 2005, he revealed that since he was 17, he already thought about death to live right. “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectation, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.. Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent.”
Our Sunday Gospel today points to us about the reality of the end. Not only does it remind us that each person dies, but the very earth we live will someday vanish. Luke uses apocalyptic language common during the time of Jesus when speaking about God’s action in the world. The imagery is not literal but symbolic of the hard times the faithful might have to endure before the final victory of good over evil. Luke warms Jesus’ followers not to be distracted but to persevered in the end. Death can truly be a change agent to those who have faith in Jesus for we will have the optimistic hope that the best is yet to come.
Prayer:Lord, teach me that the world and life itself will someday end. Give me the faith and optimism to look beyond what my eyes can’t see. Amen.
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