The Liturgical Year C will soon be coming to an end. 
Soon our attention turns to the 
Incarnation of Jesus 
who is the center of our belief and the light that is so desperately 
needed in our world. 
First, let’s look at today’s Gospel. It speaks of the end of times: 
with descriptions of 
the destruction of the temple; of the suffering of the disciples 
as they look forward t
o the Second Coming of Christ. 
We have to realize that Luke wrote this Gospel 
about 50 or more years after Jesus died and after all these things 
ad actually happened. 
Many people have a hard time reading these passages 
because they are frightening, yet even in this Gospel reading, 
it ends with hope with these words 
“By patient endurance you will save your lives”. 
In spite of any adversity, we need to continue to live 
fully and with purpose, 
We have to continue to believe, to love and live out our 
values each day into the future.
Richard Rohr made an eye-opening statement that 
“the Second Coming of Christ is us”. 
We are the ones who bring Christ to life again. 
That in itself is an amazing message. 
Do we believe this? Can we believe this? 
The two readings today taken from Laudato Si were chosen 
to flesh out the call that we each have to be that 
light of Christ in the world.
It would be remiss for me to not mention the elephant in the room – 
the election! 
Each of you voted according to your conscience and 
that is good and to be respected. 
The results were very difficult for many, however, 
for many reasons. 
Many of you worked on campaigns and even ran for office. 
Yet this is a democracy 
and it doesn’t always turn out as we hoped. 
It is also very difficult when your “team” 
loses. 
However, in the writings of Pope Francis, and for that 
matter the Gospel, 
let’s not lose heart as we go forward. 
With this new awareness of our call to love, and that
 includes social love, we can be agents of change for 
the common good. 
One thing I learned a long time ago was that the 
opposite of love is not hatred, 
it’s indifference. It is too easy to just stand by and 
let someone else do it. 
Pope Francis said it so well in the first reading – 
“Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, 
is also civic and political 
and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to 
build a better world”. 
We can do this. As he so fittingly added 
“God is calling us to intervene with others 
in these social dynamics, we should realize that this too 
is part of our spirituality, 
which is an exercise of charity and, as such, matures 
and sanctifies us. 
Let’s move forward with greater conviction to live our truth, 
to live as Jesus 
lived and to put in action what Richard Rohr reminds us – 
‘the Second Coming of Christ is us” .
Q’s In these times of uncertainty and chaos, 
what do you draw from as you
 look to the future? And how will you be that ‘light of Christ”
 to others?

 STATEMENT OF FAITH