Reading 1
Dn 2:31-45
Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar:
“In your vision, O king, you saw a statue,
very large and exceedingly bright,
terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.
The head of the statue was pure gold,
its chest and arms were silver,
its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron,
its feet partly iron and partly tile.
While you looked at the statue,
a stone which was hewn from a mountain
without a hand being put to it,
struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.
The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once,
fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer,
and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace.
But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth.
“This was the dream;
the interpretation we shall also give in the king’s presence.
You, O king, are the king of kings;
to you the God of heaven
has given dominion and strength, power and glory;
men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell,
he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all;
you are the head of gold.
Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours,
then a third kingdom, of bronze,
which shall rule over the whole earth.
There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron;
it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others,
just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.
The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter’s tile and partly of iron,
mean that it shall be a divided kingdom,
but yet have some of the hardness of iron.
As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile,
and the toes partly iron and partly tile,
the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
The iron mixed with clay tile
means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage,
but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
In the lifetime of those kings
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people;
rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms
and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.
That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain
without a hand being put to it,
which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.
The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future;
this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure.”
Gospel
Lk 21:5-11
While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
Jesus said, “All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
Then they asked him,
“Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”
He answered,
“See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’
Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end.”
Then he said to them,
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”
Meditation: Luke 21:5-11
Have you ever been caught in a storm and heard the crack of a thunderbolt close by?
It’s a rather frightening sound, to say the least, and you know if that lightning hits you, you might not be around very long! You might be so rattled by it that you need a couple of minutes to catch your breath. Yet after witnessing such a display of power, you might find you have a sense of awe and respect for nature that you didn’t have before.
It’s possible to think of current events in the same way. It seems that every time we check on the news, there’s another disaster to read about—a murder downtown, a bombing in the Middle East, or a renewed conflict in Africa. What’s amazing is that Jesus tells us not to be terrified by such things (Luke 21:9). As awful as they may be, these aren’t merely random events. This apparent chaos is in fact a sign that we are drawing ever closer to his return in glory!
That doesn’t mean that God is busy planning to bring us misery. He is not the author of calamity, but he does bend it to his purposes. Neither does it mean that we should ignore the effects of disaster and sit around waiting for Jesus to come back. On the contrary, God wants us to reach out to those affected by tragedy in whatever way we can. Nevertheless, we can still be comforted and even amazed at the way he is using all of history—even its darkest chapters—to bring about his triumph.
On a smaller scale, we can also take a more positive view of our own suffering. It’s true that God is never the cause of anyone’s pain. But it is also true that he can turn even the worst catastrophe into something positive. When misfortune befalls you, wait to see how God will work through it. Believe that he can use the situation to strengthen your faith—and perhaps to bring victory out of what looks like certain defeat. He will make all things work together for your good (Romans 8:28) if you will trust him to do it.
“Lord, I thank you that you are in control, no matter what happens. I trust that you are holding me in the palm of your hand, today and always—and that you’ll never let me go.”
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