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Commentary on the Gospel for October 31, 2024
Bad times
We live in difficult times, where every day we have bad news for breakfast: corruption, wars, threats of destruction, violence, general demoralization, identity theft. Every day we have the option of falling into discouragement, bitterness, resentment, or resorting to violence to shake off the evil. No one can blame us. Sometimes the feeling of helplessness is so great that it does not seem worth resisting. So today it is comforting to hear that there is an «armor» to resist the evil day. It is not a cheap armor, nor a tin armor. That would not be enough. It is the armor of God, and it is nothing more or less than the cross. A symbol of scandal and weakness, the cross is the most powerful thing we Christians have. The cross implies an absolute confidence of victory in spite of all outward appearances and all the enormous difficulties we face.
Jesus was advised to leave his mission because it was difficult; he was persecuted. He was advised to flee. His life was in imminent danger. But Jesus replied that a hen protects her chicks.
That is, in the face of difficulty, a suit of armor that seems to lead directly to death; in the face of possible persecution and death, the protection of simple chicken wings with a very limited defensive capacity.
These are the paradoxes of Christianity. Faith does not deny them, because they are based on the rock of the Word of God. It is about the firm and sure conviction of the unstoppable power of the resurrection. What we have to do is to resist, to pray and to plead, as Paul says to the Ephesians. It is also to ask for the courage to speak, to proclaim and to denounce. And to say, like Jesus, «I must continue today and tomorrow and the next day. For the prophet must remain in «Jerusalem», even if it means his death. Even if our wings are as seemingly powerless before Him as those of the hen. Even if our armor is something as seemingly ineffective as the cross. Two thousand years of salvation; the sure voice of life tells us again and again and again that appearances deceive. This is our faith; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!