33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Malachi 3:19-20 | Psalm 97(98):5-9 | 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 | Luke 21:5-19
These are certainly interesting times.
It was just a few days ago that “President-elect Trump” became a reality, and analysts still can’t agree on whether “President-elect Clinton” would’ve been any better over the next four years. Millennials are demonstrating in the streets against a soon-to-be-leader they hate, rather than the electoral college system that put him there, and there are serious rumblings in California about seceding from the United States, much like Scotland was considering a second referendum after the Brexit vote.
Not quite the apocalyptic vision that Jesus shared in today’s Gospel, but it certainly feels like the “end times” for some folks in America.
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Half a world away in Singapore, locals are also slinging online mud at Trump. Granted that his recent rumblings might point towards an economic stance that may disadvantage us in the short and medium term, but to read their venting on Facebook, and rampant sharing of vitriol from elsewhere, you might have thought they were talking about a second Hitler.
Stop feeding the fear, brothers and sisters! Social media amplifies moods almost exactly like alcohol; that’s why I try to spend as little time as possible on it.
I don’t know how good a President he will be, but I suspect he’s not actually out to do evil, despite his campaign rhetoric. Instead of declaiming him as the Anti-Christ, why not pray that he surrounds himself with level-headed advisers that he’s wiling to listen to, and that Congress spends less time butting heads with him and more time getting productive legislation passed?
After all, as Christians, aren’t we a people of hope?
Amen.