Today\u2019s readings have an eschatological character, that is, they deal with the \u2018end of days\u2019 theme and have been chosen to signal the end of the liturgical year. The new liturgical year begins with Advent in two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malachi 3:19-20 –<\/strong> Scholars have difficulty dating the book of Malachi because there are no definite indicators in the text. The best estimate dates the book in the post-exilic era of the mid-400s BC . This was the period when Persia was the dominant power in the Middle East. The major theme in the book is the covenant relationship between God and Israel and the importance of the people of Israel remaining faithful to their God. Where this might break down, the onus is on the Israelites to return to God and do their best to restore the relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malachi\u2019s imagery argues that should infidelity, corruption and various kinds of wickedness occur then the unrepentant evildoers will be destroyed by fire. Comparing the divine judgment on the wicked to a consuming fire is common in the prophetic writings. The conviction is that God cannot tolerate wilful and persistent wickedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who remain faithful to God, living according to the terms of the covenant, will receive the favour of divine justice. The expression \u2018sun of righteousness\u2019 is a metaphor referring to God\u2019s goodness and justice beaming down like healing rays of the sun on those who strive to walk in the way of the Lord. The Hebrew for \u2018healing\u2019 is marpeh. It is based on the root rafa\u02bb, which means restore, make whole, bring calmness and rest. Notice the Hebrew name Raphael, where the \u2018el\u2019 refers to God and the name means God heals\/restores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The blessing of Numbers 6:25<\/strong> – \u2018may the Lord make his face shine upon you\u2019 contains a similar kind of metaphor that associates warm life-giving sunbeams with the healing rays of the face of God that retore and make whole. This is truly a rich blessing to give a person. Do I make a point of allowing my face to shine on others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psalm 98 –<\/strong> This psalm invites the community at worship to praise and honour the Lord as ruler of the universe. It comes from the postexilic period and pays tribute to God for having released the exiles from the power of the Babylonians. The poet is confident that this victory will reveal the cosmic mastery of the Lord to all nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Thessalonians 3:7-13<\/strong> The problems dealt with in the second letter to the Christian community in Thessalonica, in northern Greece, are persecution, disagreements about the end-time and refusal to work. The writer, whether Paul or one of his co-workers writing in his name, considers idleness to be a form of inappropriate behaviour for a Christian. If idle persons go further and actually interfere with the affairs of others, then they are all the more out of order. This would be socially unacceptable and in defiance of Christian ethics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Strive to be a giver and not a taker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The writer offers the example of himself and co-missionaries who took seriously the obligation to pay for what they used or consumed. This was to avoid being a burden on the community and to further their own commitment to be one with every community they encountered. Such missionaries were the arm of encouragement that gave a \u2018lift\u2019 to their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking at the social situation of these early Christian communities we can appreciate the importance of each person minding their own business. We could go back to Plato who argued in the Republic (433A-B) that attending to one\u2019s own business is a mark of virtue. Christian leaders in the early days were keen to promote a lifestyle among Christians that commended itself to others. Society in general should see nothing in Christian behaviour that would conflict with accepted ethics and high standards of virtue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A valuable takeaway from this reading is, strive to be a giver and not a taker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luke 21:5-19 –<\/strong> The scene with Jesus talking about the temple in Jerusalem and its architectural magnificence is an immediate reminder of the prophet Jeremiah railing against the attitude of the religious authorities of his day. They were convinced that God was firmly on their side and regarded the splendour of the temple as proof of divine approval and support. Bear in mind this was in the later years of the 600s BC before the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 586 by the Babylonians. That devastation caused the Judeans to radically re-think their relationship with their God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus is speaking here of the signs of the end-times when all the symbols of security and assurance will be torn down. He is speaking in the aftermath of his confrontation with the moneychangers, a highly symbolic action that showed his condemnation of the way the temple was being used, not as a house of prayer, a forum of contact with God and the spirit of divine revelation, but as a den for rip-off merchants. Jesus is here using the language of Jeremiah\u2019s equally vigorous criticism (Jeremiah 7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is now pronouncing the destruction of the temple and the religious world it presides over. These events and times of accompanying distress will herald the end time that leads to the coming of the Son of Man. While giving notice of the signs of trial and adversity Jesus issues a call to the faithful ones for readiness. There will be false charismatics with hollow claims to be the messiah and there will be persecutions for the Jesus people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nero\u2019s persecution of Christians occurred in 64 but that was largely confined to Rome. Luke will allude to these times when he describes the sufferings of the witnesses to Jesus in his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles (possibly written around 90-100 AD ) . The first empire-wide persecution happened in the reign of Decius in 250 AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life is about achieving your potential<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus finishes on a note of encouragement. Through all this mess and affliction \u2018you will win your lives\u2019 he assures his people. The Greek of this statement may be paraphrased as: through your steadfast endurance and fortitude you will gain possession of your very self. It amounts to the theme that Jesus has stressed all along – life is about achieving your potential, of becoming what you can be. He pinpointed this with the expression, I came that they may have life, and have it to the full<\/strong><\/em> (John 10:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life as a follower of Jesus is not primarily about avoiding sin or getting to heaven, it is about living life to the fullest by nourishing our relationships with God, others, self and the environment we live in. It is about reaching out to strive for wholeness by living out the priorities Christ has underlined and exemplified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A man who had had a few too many staggered on to the 902 bus and sat opposite a well-dressed businessman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018G\u2019day mate,\u2019 said the man, \u2018what\u2019s your name, then?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Paul,\u2019 replied the businessman, quite embarrassed that the other passengers were looking at him. The drunk was silent for a few moments and then asked, \u2018Tell me, did those Thessalonians ever write back to you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Laurie Woods<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s readings have an eschatological character, that is, they deal with the \u2018end of days\u2019 theme and have been chosen to signal the end of the liturgical year. The new liturgical year begins with Advent in two weeks\u2019 time. Malachi 3:19-20 – Scholars have difficulty dating the book of Malachi because there are no definite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[38,45,26,44,24,55,8,32,50,41,25,51,34,54,47,31,42,39,48,46,52,40,37,35,28,43,53,36,27,33,29],"class_list":["post-28419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","tag-ancient-wisdom","tag-contemplative-prayer","tag-enlightenment","tag-guided-meditation","tag-inner-peace","tag-introspection","tag-lectio-divina","tag-lectio-divina-for-beginners","tag-life-transformation","tag-meditation-guide","tag-meditation-mastery","tag-meditation-tips","tag-mindfulness","tag-mindfulness-meditation","tag-mindfulness-practices","tag-mindfulness-techniques","tag-personal-development","tag-reflect-and-transform","tag-reflective-living","tag-sacred-reading","tag-self-discovery","tag-self-help","tag-soulful-journey","tag-soulful-living","tag-spiritual-awakening","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-spiritual-guide","tag-spiritual-insights","tag-spiritual-practice","tag-spiritual-reflection","tag-transformative-journey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-scaled.jpg",2560,1920,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-1024x768.jpg",1024,768,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-2048x1536.jpg",2048,1536,true],"menu-24x24":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-24x18.jpg",24,18,true],"menu-36x36":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-36x27.jpg",36,27,true],"menu-48x48":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pexels-photo-20764515-20764515-48x36.jpg",48,36,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Woods","author_link":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/?author=18"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Today\u2019s readings have an eschatological character, that is, they deal with the \u2018end of days\u2019 theme and have been chosen to signal the end of the liturgical year. The new liturgical year begins with Advent in two weeks\u2019 time. Malachi 3:19-20 – Scholars have difficulty dating the book of Malachi because there are no definite…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28420,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28419\/revisions\/28420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/em> – Mahatma Gandhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n