The first reading of today Catholic liturgy opens with Heb. 9: 15, 24-28: "Christ [who] is mediator of a new covenant...did not enter a sanctuary made by [our] hands,...but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf....Christ [who] offered [a sacrifice] once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time...to...bring salvation to those who eagerly await him" (Heb. 9: 15, 24-25).
No wonder, in the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy, we pray: "Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds" (Ps. 98). This awesome, caring, loving God has secured salvation for each of us by the death of His beloved Son, who now sits at His right hand interceding for each of us, eagerly waiting for the unfolding of the Father's plan when He will come a second time "to...bring salvation to those who eagerly await him" (Heb. 9: 28). He waits for us to enter this Paradise more eagerly than we ourselves wait for eternal life. He truly wants us by His side in heaven forever, where we will no longer suffer the atrocities that can happen to us here on this earth--atrocities of humankind's inhumane treatment of each other such as the Holocaust, which we remembered yesterday,or the Newtown massacre, the daily slaughter of infants in their mother's womb, the oppression of cultures or persons perceived as a threat to our power and control and convenience, the kidnapping of young girls and boys in the billion dollar industry of human trafficking or drug trafficking and so many other forms of violence, including international war games. Jesus and Mary must be weeping as they intercede for the end to this madness and irrational behavior, as they, too, wait for the second coming. Yes, Christ will come again to "bring salvation to those who eagerly await him" Heb. 9: 15, 24-25).
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