Our children and grandchildren?
The god, for many, has become secular materialism and religious relativism. The result of this is the growth of Marxism, rampant divorce, single parent families, abortion, rampant growth in crime and the list could go on for quite a while.
How many of our children still practice their faith? How many of our grandchildren are even familiar with God and Jesus?
Image by DanaTentis
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion!
By Lou Occhi
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092521.cfm
Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15
Luke 9:43-45
The book of Zachariah was written shortly after the Babylonian captivity in the late 6th century BC. The fundamental reason of the captivity was the rejection of the Word of God and the worship of other gods and idols. The Babylonian captivity was a form of great tribulation because of the loss of faith in the true God. It turns out that during the exile the Jews began to realize what they had lost and began turning back to God. In a way it was a preparation for the return of the Jews to Jerusalem as the people of God. In verses 5-9, we see the prophecy of the restoration of Jerusalem.
At the time, there was no wall around Jerusalem so God tells Zachariah that he will build an encircling wall of fire to protect them. These verses also are a prophecy of the rebuilding of the temple. Ultimately, the temple was rebuilt in 520 BC and the walls surrounding Jerusalem were restored.
In verses 14 – 15 God proclaims that He is “coming to dwell among you. Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they shall be His people and He will dwell among them.” These couple of verses are obviously the prophecy of the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, and that all nations will become His people.
As I thought about these few verses, it occurred to me that these prophecies were not just for the Jews, but for us today. In the early part of the 20th century, divorce was minimal, out of wedlock pregnancies were rare, most people were affiliated with some religion, and atheism and Satanism were looked down upon. This was true for all people, especially the poor and middle class. For gosh sakes, even the murderous Mafiosi were declared as Catholic. Not that these social and religious problems did not exist, it is just that it was not the norm.
Today, large numbers of people declare that they do not believe in a God and those who do believe are frequently ridiculed in the media. The god, for many, has become secular materialism and religious relativism. The result of this is the growth of Marxism, rampant divorce, single parent families, abortion, rampant growth in crime and the list could go on for quite a while. How many of our children still practice their faith? How many of our grandchildren are even familiar with God and Jesus?
Now, all of this seems to be doom and gloom. Think how the Jews felt during the Babylonian captivity and how they began to turn back to God. For some time it must have seemed there would never be an escape from that situation. Despite the dilemma of the Jews, God never forgot them and provided them a way to return to Jerusalem.
Today, we know that Jesus is still with us. When we go to mass we receive Jesus into our body and we become one with Him. Matthew, Mark and Luke tell of the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus garment and was healed. How much more contact with the Son of God is there than when we place the Eucharist on our tongue. Jesus tells us that with Him we will find peace regardless of what is happening in the world.
When Zachariah said that God would dwell with us, he had no idea that He would take human form and live with us. We now know He did live with us and was subject to all the joys, pains, tiredness, hunger, sadness and sickness that we all suffer. Like us, He was also subject to the temptations of Satan. In the end, Satan incited the people to crucify Jesus and thus declare victory. How Satan must have rejoiced seeing Jesus’ followers crushed over the immense torture and death of their Messiah. Yet three days later Jesus resurrected from the dead. Initially the apostles and disciples of Jesus did not believe that it occurred even though Mary Magdalene told them she had seen Him. In a short time, they all saw Jesus and believed. Sometimes Thomas gets the wrap for having to see to believe. In fact, none of the apostles and disciples believed until they saw.
Since the time of Christ, there have been prophets. We don’t hear much about them unless they are sensationalized like Nostradamus. Unfortunately. Nostradamus makes no sense at all and you have to force his prophecies to make even a bit of sense. On the other hand, there have been prophets who spoke clearly about coming events. One such person was Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres in Quito, Ecuador. She experienced apparitions of our Blessed Mother in the 17th century.
The Catholic Church approved those apparitions. One of the prophecies specifically addresses the 20th century. The prophesy claims that beginning in the late 19th century and just past the middle of the 20th century there will be a total corruption of customs (morals). Marriage will be profaned. Some priests will bring shame to the church and the good priests will suffer shame because of them. Religious education will suffer. The list of 20th century prophecies goes on.
She said that not many will know of these prophecies until the end of the 20th century. In the end, God will triumph. If you want to know more you can Google Our Lady of Quito or Our Lady of Good Success. I will put a link to a short article on the prophecies at the end of this reflection. Now that you know this, I don’t want you to become preppers. There is no sense in running out buying five years supply of meals ready to eat and raising chickens in case the end is near. There were several centuries between Zachariah’s prophecies and the coming of Jesus. No one except the Father knows when that will be.
We now return to our dilemma of the present day. Perhaps we are going through a tribulation just as the Jews in Babylon did. Looking around at all the chaos in the world it would seem there is no solution even though we know God is with us and is in charge. In the meantime, we are called to believe and trust in Him without seeing. Perhaps this is just a wakeup call for us, and an opportunity to put our trust in God. He tells us over and over in the bible, “Be not afraid.”
This seems to be a good time to recall the words of God to Zachariah.
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they shall be His people and He will dwell among you.”