November 13 - Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jesus left the Temple and departed from it

First Reading  Malachi 3:19-20
The day of justice is coming, says the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 98:5-6,7-8,9
Sing praise to God, who rules with justice.

Second Reading  2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Paul urges the community to follow his example and to earn their keep.

Gospel Reading
Luke 21:5-19

In today’s Gospel Jesusportrays for us, graphically, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. ForJews, the destruction of these two things was equivalent to the end of theworld. Precisely for this reason, the Church uses this gospel passage as one ofits readings for the end of the liturgical year. It wants us to reflect on theend of the world. But what’s the significant it has in our lives? What does itmean to us personally? We read the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus, before Hisprediction of the destruction of the Temple, ‘left the Temple and departed fromit’ (24:1). Jesus not only went out of the Temple, He also departed from it andnever returned to it. He did not depart on His own accord, they drove Him off;He did not reject them, rather they had rejected Him. When He departed from theTemple, its sanctity, glory and defense departed. The most beautiful and magnificentTemple in the world turned into the most ruinous heap. Three days after Hedeparted the veil of the Temple was rent – making everything in the Templecommon and unclean. Woe descends upon anyone from whom the Lord departs. If wedrive away His presence from our souls, it will become desolate, as desolate asthe Temple of Jerusalem. That will be the end of the world to us. When Jesusdeparts from my life, that is going to be my experience of the end of theworld.