Finding Light in the Darkness of Grief | Sunday Reflection | 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

It can be difficult to express the deepest kinds of grief in words. Simply saying, “I am sad” or “I am down” cannot do justice to real anguish. When we are suffering some terrible loss and attempt to describe it, the words that come out are often very similar to those we hear on the lips of the Lord Jesus in today’s Gospel. We speak of feeling like the world is falling apart around us, of being shaken to the core, of the lights in our life going out and being lost in darkness. Deep anguish can feel like the end of the world.

When the Lord speaks of the stars falling from the sky and the sun and moon no longer giving light, He is speaking of a number of realities all at once. First and foremost, He is speaking of the passing away of the old order of the world with His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. This is an upheaval that shakes the universe to its very foundations. The ordering light of the old covenant will go dark to make way for the dawn of a new and endless day. A new world is coming to birth through His death and resurrection and will reach its completion when He comes again.

But His meaning is not exhausted by these great happenings. What is true for the cosmos is also true for every single soul. We too face trials and tribulations. The pillars we lean on in life crumble and inevitably fall down. Our guiding lights fade away and go dark. These things happen to us when the relationships that form the fabric of our life begin to fray, when we face serious illness, or when we experience major setbacks in our workplaces. Christ’s words comprehend these small, personal apocalypses as well. His message to us in the world’s tribulations is the same one He speaks to us in our personal trials: He comes to us then in power and glory.

In this life, Jesus is never closer to us than in those moments when our world seems to be crashing down around us. In those moments, He is preparing to make us a new creation. As the lesser lights by which we make our way through life fade away, He invites us to claim Him as our sun and stars. As the foundation of our relationships and even our sense of begin to crumble and crack, He calls us to rebuild our lives on the solid rock of His unshakable love.

“Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The best way to prepare for our passing away, our death, and the life of the world to come is to cleave to the word of Christ today. The birth of the new world and our new selves is painful. They involve loss and darkness, yes, but only for a time. Christ comes to us in and through these trials. He is the new heaven and the new earth, and, by cleaving to Him, we are made new as well.