OUR DAY OF SALVATION


FRIDAY, TWENTY SEEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  

Joel 1:13-15,2:1-5; Ps 9:2-3,6,16,8-9; Lk 11:15-26

The Day of the Lord

The character of the day of the Lord is variously presented in the scriptures. It is sometimes portrayed as a day of darkness and evil, a day of suffering, pain, and agony. At the same time, the scriptures have an alternative painting of a glorious day of the Lord. The various pictures fit into God's salvific plan for His people. In all that Yahweh does, he intends the salvation of the peoples. The day of the Lord is in any case, the day he decides to act in a decisive way for the salvation of the people. The divine action is always for the good of those who believe in him. Whether the day is that of physical calamities, pains, and sufferings, or that of goodness and physical blessings of a sort or another, the faithful offer praises to God for everything, for they see the hand of God in every event of life. But the unbelievers are wont to curse and reject whatever is not suited to their sensible pleasure. The day of the Lord designates the day God permits nature to balance the injustices of human beings against one another. God warns and attempts to bring us back from too much interest and attention on creatures and physical goods, by His permission of natural, human, social, and economic disasters. The cause of these disasters is the negligence of our spiritual goods that endure forever. Thus, the day of the Lord is a day the Lord speaks in a unique way to us, for our salvation and edification.

The prophet Joel’s description of the day of the Lord has a mixed tone of disaster and goodness. The passage we have today has more of the disaster. So, he calls the inhabitants of Jerusalem to fasting and prayer. “Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; elders, call together all the inhabitants of the country to the house of the Lord your God. Cry out to the Lord, Oh, what a day! For the day of the Lord is near, it comes a devastation from Shaddai.” This was in anticipation of an invasion by a distant army. The prophets call people to repentance and conversion to the Lord, because they always believe that everything in the life of the people of God is directed and used by the Lord to teach and correct his people. We should also learn the same lesson: God’s infinite knowledge and power orders all things for our good. He uses every one of our daily events to teach and direct us on our way to eternal life. The Lord’s judgment of the world is not only at the end of time, but ongoing. “But the Lord sits enthroned for ever. He has set up his throne for judgment; he will judge the world with justice, he will judge the peoples with his truth.” As our providential father, God does not let us continue in our evil ways until the last day. He judges and corrects us, so that we may not be habituated in evil and be damn eternally. The reason we are not getting better is our lack of attention to God.

Subsequently, the word of God does not come only to heal and bless us, but also to destroy impure and sinful structures in our lives and behaviour. Since evil spirits instigate us to sinful life and habit sinful and unholy structure in our lives and behaviour, the word of God also casts out these demons, who commune with us through our unholy thoughts, loves, and habits. These activities of the word are what we see the Son of Man carrying out among the people. “When Jesus had cast out a devil, some of the people said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? –since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils.” The words of these people reveal the darkness in their hearts, which they still harboured, even before the Eternal Word. Against such obstinate and evil structure, the Lord is wont they send calamities to destroy and uproot. They did not accept the Day of the Lord’s salvation; they will receive the day of the Lord’s destruction. Today is our Day of Salvation; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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