My words will not pass away

Dan 7,2-14; C Dn 3,75-81; Lk 21,29-33
29 NOVEMBER

While the Christian lives the hope that is expected in faith, that the Word of Jesus is fulfilled entirely for him, in turn, he must be a sower of hope for others. Whoever does not sow the Word of hope attests that he does not live in expectation of the fulfilment of hope towards his person. He lives on a sick faith. Even his mission is sick of laziness, sloth, idleness and great omission. Hope is lived. Hope is sown. Hope is not lived. Never can it be sown in the hearts. This truth is announced at the well of Jacob by Jesus to his disciples. Today they gather the seed of hope sown yesterday. Today they must sow the seed of hope that tomorrow others will gather. It is sown and gathered.

Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work” (Jn 4,31-38).

The Letter to the Hebrews reveals that since the days of Noah passing on through prophets, righteous ones, patriarchs and every other man of God, the word of hope has come down to us, because while these men awaited for them the fulfilment of hope they were all sowers of the Word. If the Word is not sown, hope dies. The only seed of true hope is the Word of Jesus. The Word of Jesus is kept silent, hope dies in the hearts. This communion of life in the Word of hope and sowing of the Word of hope must never die. This communion dies, the Word dies and hope dies.

What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle, and turned back foreign invaders. Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point; they went about in skins of sheep or goats, needy, afflicted, tormented. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth. Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect (Cf. Heb 11,1-40).

Jesus says it with great strength in the Holy Spirit. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass. They will be accomplished in history and in eternity. If today there is a Christian sin it is precisely this: the Word of hope is no longer sown, because it no longer lived. Communion between life in hope and the sowing of the Word of hope has broken down. The world is without the Word of hope because it is no longer sown in it. Might the Christian ever indicate the Word as the only seed of hope if he no longer edifies himself on the Word?

He taught them a lesson. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Today our God has only one desire on the Christian: that he lives and sows the Word of Jesus.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every Christian sows the Word of hope.