Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
2 Peter 3:12–15a, 17–18
Sometimes we look at the world
and wonder:
How long can this go on?
So much noise.
So much anger.
So much waste.
So much beauty being wounded.
The earth is still beautiful.
The sea still shines.
The mountains still stand.
The trees still breathe.
The morning still comes
like a quiet gift from God.
And yet,
something is not right.
We feel it.
In the world.
In society.
In our own hearts.
Today Peter speaks of
“the Day of God.”
He uses frightening words:
the heavens passing away,
fire,
melting,
the old world shaken.
At first, it sounds like destruction.
But Peter is not trying
to fill us with panic.
He is trying to awaken hope.
Because the Day of the Lord
is not the victory of darkness.
It is the victory of God.
It is not the end of meaning.
It is the end of sin,
the end of injustice,
the end of death,
the end of all that ruins
God’s beautiful creation.
Peter says:
“We await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.”
That is the promise.
Not emptiness.
Not nothing.
A world made new.
A world where righteousness lives.
Where peace is not fragile.
Where love is not mocked.
Where the poor are not forgotten.
Where the innocent are not crushed.
Where creation is no longer wounded.
Where death no longer has the last word.
This is what Christians wait for.
But waiting does not mean doing nothing.
We do not sit with folded hands
while the world burns.
We wait by living differently.
Peter says:
be at peace.
Be without stain.
Do not be carried away.
Grow in grace.
Grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In other words:
live already
as citizens of the world God is making.
If we await a world of justice,
we begin to practice justice now.
If we await a world of peace,
we begin to make peace now.
If we await a healed creation,
we begin to care for the earth now.
If we await a world filled with God,
we begin to make room for God now.
The new creation
has already begun.
It began on Easter morning,
when Jesus rose from the dead.
That was the first light
of the world made new.
Sin was crushed.
Death was broken.
Hope stood up from the grave.
And now that light
moves quietly through history.
Through every act of mercy.
Every word of forgiveness.
Every hidden sacrifice.
Every heart that turns back to God.
So do not look at the future only with fear.
Look with longing.
The world as we know it
will not last forever.
But God’s promise will.
A new heaven.
A new earth.
A healed creation.
A home of righteousness.
And until that day comes,
we walk gently on this wounded earth,
with hope in our hearts,
with care in our hands,
and with our eyes fixed on Christ,
who makes all things new.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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