29 November 2018 - to the mountains

Today's Readings (Audio)

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.
She has become a haunt for demons.

Worldly permanence is an illusion. Rome certainly seemed like an empire that would last forever but now even it was thrown down. Judgment was harsh on Rome because it did not use its influence over the great ones of the world but instead led them astray. This may make us realize just how precarious our situation in America actually is. We need to trust in the LORD and follow his word or we risk encountering the same sort of destruction for which the moral decay of Rome was the trigger.

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
know that its desolation is at hand.
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Let those within the city escape from it,
and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
for these days are the time of punishment
when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.

The temptation, then, would be to be afraid. We risk throwing in our lot with the sinful world around us, struggling as they struggle to preserve the status quo. But we need to be ready to be a remnant God preserves. We need to be ready to leave the areas of destruction and go as Church to gather at the mountains. If we are all destroyed than Christians can be of no help as society rebuilds. This, perhaps, is what people mean when they speak of the Benedict Option. Flying to the mountains can be more or less literal but there is nevertheless a call to be more of a separate and definite community apart from a society which is self-destructing. After all, we are called to be a city on a hill (see Matthew 5:14), set apart as an example and as a refuge.

If we listen to Jesus we have nothing to fear. He knows his plans for his people and they are good (see Jeremiah 29:11). Perhaps we are being led toward former Pope Benedict XVI's vision:

"She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges. In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members. "

If we follow the LORD when he tells us to flee to the mountains we may become a remnant. We may be able to take less for granted. But we will see deliverance. 

And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.

When the world begins rebuilding from the ashes of its failures the remnant, by definition, remains. We are able to make known the Son of Man. He is the only firm foundation on which renewal can begin.

Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.