This week I learned for certain that we are living in the End Times. We must be. The evidence is overwhelming. ‘Wars, rumors of wars, false messiahs, earthquakes’, and now, Justin Trudeau is officially dating Katy Perry.
And what a handsome couple they make. But really? A former Prime Minister of Canada dating a raunchy, celebrity pop singer? They aren’t the first odd romantic couple, of course. At school when I was studying ‘Death of a Salesman’ my teacher told me that Arthur Miller had married Marilyn Monroe and I seriously thought he was joking. ‘What did they find to talk about?’, I remember wondering.
By then I’d also learned that Edward VIII had given up the best job in the world to marry Mrs. Simpson. That seemed rash and rather unnecessary. But these two mismatches did not foretell the end of the world, so maybe Katy and Monsieur Trudeau are a match made in heaven. Who am I to say? It’s the second week of Advent. How’s it going? Ready for the End? Can ‘t wait for
Christ to return and God’s kingdom top come fully? Fed up with the darkness and desperate for the light? Well, here’s some encouragement for these troubled, decaying times, by the Jesuit writer Daniel Berrigan.
“It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss—
This is true: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’
It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty,
death and destruction—
This is true: ‘I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly.’
It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war and
destruction rule forever—
This is true: ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful councilor, mighty God, the
Everlasting, the Prince of peace.’
It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world—
This is true: ‘To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, and lo I am with you,
even until the end of the world.’
It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the
prophets of the Church, before we can be peacemakers—
This is true: ‘I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall
prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall have dreams.’
It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of justice, of human dignity of
peace are not meant for this earth and for this history—
This is true: ‘The hour comes, and it is now, that the true worshipers shall worship God
in spirit and in truth.’
So let us continue our Advent pilgrimage in hope. Let us see visions of love and peace.
Let us affirm with humility, with joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ is coming.