33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mal.3:19-20a; 2Thess.3:7-12; Lk.21:5-19)
Today we celebrate the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, and next Sunday is the last Sunday of this liturgical year. Then we begin a new liturgical year with Advent.
As we approach the close of the liturgical year, the Church does something very intentional: it gives us readings that sound like thunder—words about fire, judgment, wars, persecutions, earthquakes, and even the collapse of the Temple itself.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks directly into this kind of world. He is standing with his disciples, looking at the great Temple of Jerusalem—an immense, magnificent structure at the very center of Jewish life. It looked indestructible. And yet Jesus says to them: “The time will come when not a single stone will be left upon another.”
He is right, of course. The Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 AD.
Then Jesus adds that there will be wars, earthquakes, famine, persecution, and betrayal—signs of collapse and turmoil. His disciples must have looked shocked, because he immediately reassures them: “Do not be frightened… your endurance will win you your lives.”
There is a similar sense of desperation in Ridley Scott’s film The Martian (2015). Astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is stranded on Mars after an accident. His crew believes he is dead and returns to Earth without him.
On the red planet, the air is poisonous, there is no food, and there is no one to help. You would expect him to panic and despair, but he doesn’t. With a cool head he says, “If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.”
Using his technical skill—and plenty of duct tape—he starts planting potatoes, rationing his supplies, and repairing equipment.
He becomes an icon of calm endurance in the face of catastrophe.
In his book A Non-Anxious Presence, author Mark Sayers says this kind of calm presence is essential for our time. Why? Because our world is becoming increasingly complex, chaotic, and overwhelming. We all live in a “grey zone,” he says, a world caught between two eras, where the old certainties are crumbling but the new order has not yet arrived.
In such times, anxiety spreads like wildfire. But Christians are called to resist this contagion. Rooted in Christ, we can be calm, prayerful, and resilient—a non-anxious presence in an anxious world.
Sayers argues that the root of our anxiety is our disconnection from God. Without a deep faith and trust in him, we cannot have the stability we need to navigate life’s storms.
This idea is not new. The saints have long urged us to find peace in God during troubled times.
St. Teresa of Ávila prayed: “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; all things are passing; God never changes.”
These words were born out of her own struggles and the reforms she led in a turbulent era. She teaches that when we anchor our hearts in God, no disaster can steal our peace.
St. Francis de Sales, known for his gentle wisdom, said something similar: “Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”
He reminds us that calm trust in God is itself a witness—people notice when Christians remain serene while others panic.
All these voices echo Jesus’ words: Don’t be scared. Endure. Hold steady. Trust God.
When you look closely at the history of God’s people, you see that God consistently brings good out of disastrous situations.
Joseph is betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, yet God raises him up to become governor of Egypt (Gen 37–50).
St. Paul is imprisoned in Rome, yet during that time God inspires him to write letters that still guide the Church today.
And of course, Jesus suffers the ultimate evil on the cross—and God transforms it into the greatest good, the salvation of the world.
In the life of faith, crisis often precedes renewal.
At the end of The Martian, Mark Watney says, “I guarantee you that at some point, everything is going to go south on you… Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work.”
Today, Jesus invites us to stay calm, prayerful, and resilient. Our stability does not come from human powers or global institutions, but from our unshakable faith in God’s love.
Trust Jesus. The world may shake and stones may fall, but Christ remains our firm foundation.
Let us together say: Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you.