30TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

The sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

How’s your imagination? Can you picture the “glory to be revealed” in the whole creation once Christ returns to establish his kingdom (Romans 8:18)? It might mean roses without thorns, summer nights without mosquitoes, clear running streams without pollution, and the end of violent weather and disease. How would the world’s people experience that kingdom? Surely there would be no more war, exploitation, tyranny, poverty, hatred, addictions, or divorce.

If this little exercise taxed your imagination, you’re in good company. When St. Paul describes this kingdom—“what God has prepared for those who love him”—he says it’s something that “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart” (1 Corinthians 2:9). That’s the mystery of the hope we have in Christ. Not only will we ourselves be restored in glorified bodies, but creation itself will also be restored.

Of course, this will only be fully realized in the new heaven and new earth. Suffering and the consequences of sin are all too apparent in the world around us, and we can “groan within ourselves” under the weight of it all (Romans 8:23). But instead of groaning, let’s pay closer attention to the eager longing the Holy Spirit has placed within us. Let’s try to heighten our expectation of the glory to come.

We can see traces of this glory all around us. It’s there in each multicolored autumn leaf or chrysanthemum in full bloom. You get a glimpse of it when the varied voices at church join together in praise of God. Or when people love one another sacrificially.

When the Lord opens our eyes to this glory, we can live with the joy and hope that it will one day be revealed in its fullness. Don’t let the sufferings of this present time distract you or discourage you. Keep looking for the ways that God is ceaselessly at work. He is making all things new!

“Jesus, strengthen my hope in the glory you have in store for me when you come into your kingdom.”

Romans 8:18-25
Psalm 126:1-6
Luke 13:18-21