We always have a chance to make things better. While we live, God gives us time to improve things.
In August of this year, we asked why Jesus often makes us wait. Why do we have to wait for healing, for a child, a job, or to own a home, for help? The answer was because He wants us to look forward to heaven, so that we desire the greatest gift.
Another reason is because He wants us to make things better on the inside. Why does He make us wait for the people we love to change, to get their act together? So that we learn to love imperfect people, the way He loves us. One reason why God has made us wait for the Parish Centre is because this 11-year process has made us grow in generosity and industriousness—do you think that’s better than getting the building? If the goal of life is to become like Jesus, then it is. The most difficult part of my week is writing these Sunday homilies; I get stressed every Thursday. Why doesn’t God just give me a clear message right away? Because, in His mercy and in His love for me, He gives me a chance every Thursday to become more patient. I don’t enjoy it… but it’s good for me, and so I accept it. Actually, that’s not accurate, I struggle to accept it.
God loves you, and, as we said last week, His desire to give us gifts outweighs our desire to receive them. He’s giving us the gift of time, the chance to make things better. Do you know what gift He’s trying to give you, on the inside?
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Here’s the context for today’s Second Reading: St. Peter writes, “First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’” (2 Pt 3:3-4). The leading theory is that these ‘scoffers’ were people who followed the Greek philosophy of Epicureanism, believing only in the material world and denying spiritual realities. They questioned Christians: Your own apostles said Jesus would come again, but it’s been almost 30 years since He left. When’s He coming? He’s not!
There’s a similar voice in our head that says that waiting is pointless.
In response, St. Peter writes that we need to understand something about God, “Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (3:8-9). God doesn’t exist in time, and that means that He sees the big picture of our lives and knows what’s best for us. The main problem with the world is not the economy, or climate change, or something ‘out there.’ The main problem with the world is human behaviour, most importantly that we don’t love God; most of humanity is separated from Him.
There’s a famous story, which no one has been able to verify, but it’s been told so many times about the Catholic author G.K. Chesterton that we should be familiar with it. Apparently, an English newspaper The Times sent out an inquiry to famous writers about what’s wrong with the world, and Chesterton wrote back, “Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton.”
The great thing about focusing on changing ourselves is that things improve right away. Now, I’m not saying that we don’t have to address other people’s behaviour, we do! But, that’s us growing! For example, most of us wait too long to talk to people about the way they hurt us—that makes us the problem, not them. So, God gives time right now for us to grow in courage.
St. Peter also implies that we’re not ready for heaven. If an asteroid were to crash right now and wipe us all out, none of us would go to heaven directly because we’d bring all our imperfections with us! So, God is being patient: giving us time to turn to Him and change the way we love.
Venerable Fulton Sheen once said: “Heaven is not way out there. Heaven is in here. Hell is not way down there. Hell could be inside of a soul. There is no such thing as dying and then going to heaven or dying and going to hell; you’re in heaven already, you’re in hell already. I’ve met people who were in hell” (Your Life Is Worth Living, 376-377), and then tells the following story:
One time, he went to visit a man in the hospital, and the man said, ‘I suppose you’re going to tell me I’m going to hell.’ ‘No, I’m not.’ ‘Well,’ the man said, ‘I want to go to hell!’ Sheen said, ‘I have never met a man who wanted to go to hell, so I think I will just sit here and watch you go.’ Now, Sheen was sure that if that man had some time to himself, he would rethink his idea, so he sat with him for 20 minutes, saying nothing. At the end, the man said, ‘Do you really believe there’s a hell?’ Sheen asked, ‘Do you feel unhappy on the inside? Are you fearful? Are all the evil things of your life coming up before you as specters and as ghosts?’ Eventually, the man made peace with God.
This is a good point: Do we ever feel unhappy on the inside? That’s a kind of hell which God doesn’t want for us.
Last week, we talked about the gift of looking ahead and holding on to Jesus. Today, we see that the gift of time reveals God’s heart. Advent and Christmas are times for gifts, and because God loves us, He gives us the gifts we need, not the gifts we want.
This is why St. Peter’s words about judgment are actually a gift, because deadlines help us grow: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed” (3:10). No theologian knows for certain what it means by ‘the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire.’ The important points are that this world is temporary, we will be judged on how we love, and we don’t know when we’ll be judged. Deadlines encourage us to face reality, otherwise, we might choose to stay miserable and never turn back to God.
We all have to wait. This time is God’s gift to us, a chance to make things better, to turn to Him, and especially to become like Jesus.