Originally published at National Catholic Register
User’s Guide to Sunday, Nov. 17
Sunday, Nov. 17, is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is atop the Mount of Olives with his apostles. From this vantage point, they look across the Kidron Valley to see the magnificent Temple. The apostles marvel at it’s beauty and size. Indeed, it was one of the wonders of the ancient world, so beautiful and majestic.
But Jesus challenges their admiration. He shocks them with the admonition that all the glory they see is soon to be destroyed, that not one stone will be left on another, that it will all be thrown down (Mark 13:2). Shocked, the apostles ask him when this will happen and what signs will precede this awful event.
In what has become known as “Mount Olivet discourse,” the Lord warns, in detail, of the coming destruction of the Temple and all Jerusalem. This did, in fact, take place, 40 biblical years later, in A.D. 70, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple; 1.2 million Jews lost their lives in that fruitless and horrible war that Jesus warned against.
