Homily for 31 Oct 2017

31 Oct 2017

“The sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed for us.”  Saint Paul sounds pretty confident about this future “glory.”  And he should be.  After all, he encountered Christ, the King of Glory, who died after suffering the Cross...but rose again and came to him.  Saint Paul had every reason to speak confidently about this future glory that awaits us.  In fact, this is how we Christians understand “hope.” 

Now to Jesus’ listeners, there was no doubt that a mustard seed would grow into a huge plant; there was no doubt that yeast would make dough rise.  And that’s how it is with the Kingdom and the glory of Heaven.  There’s absolutely no doubt that it will come, and that it will be a good and glorious thing when it does.  But this isn’t a matter of faith; it’s a matter of hope.

We Christians are a people of hope, but not just any kind of hope.  We live with “sure and certain” hope.  Even if we don’t know all the details of “the glory to be revealed for us,” there’s no doubt that it will come.  We are “sure and certain” about that.  And we have this confident hope because, like St Paul, we have also encountered Christ.

He’s revealed his glory to us by speaking his divine Word in Scripture, he shares his glory with us in the Eucharist, he lives within us and raises our spirits by the gift of his Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, “I am with you always, until the end of the ages.”  And he is.  He is trustworthy.  If there is glory to come, we believe him.  Our faith in him leads to hope—a confident hope.