My goal today is to talk about the future and my question is this:
What does the future contain?
I want to look at three answers to that question:
A certain very old movie has an answer.
The prophet Daniel has an answer.
And Jesus of Nazareth has an answer.
What does the future contain? That is the question. What does the future contain?
The first answer is in a movie which came out in 1932. The movie was called “The Man Who Played God” and the main character was played by George Arliss. The main character was a world famous musician who had made a ton of money by playing the piano in many famous concert halls. His life was suddenly changed when he lost his hearing. He could no longer play in the orchestra because he could not hear the other instruments. At first, he was quite upset. But then he came up with a bright idea. He decided to spend some of his money to have tutors teach him how to read lips. The he bought a pair of binoculars and rented an apartment which overlooked Central Park in New York City. He was able to figure out what people were saying by using the binoculars to read their lips. One day he noticed that a young man was praying, “Dear God, please help get some money so I can buy new shoes for my little girl when she goes back to school.” He put down his binoculars and gave ten dollars to his butler and said, “Give this to the man with the blue jacket in the park.” Another time he could see that one older woman was saying to another, “I don’t have a winter coat and I don’t know what I will do when winter comes.” He put down his binoculars and gave twenty dollars to his butler and said, “Give this to the lady in the brown jacket by the water fountain.”
He found great satisfaction in this new hobby of helping people in need. In fact, he decided to make it more than a hobby. He became a philanthropist and created a whole new life for himself. His whole future was changed when he lost his hearing. But he did not give up and crawl into a cave. He saw that the future was filled with new opportunities and possibilities. He went into the future with optimism and created a new life for himself.
So that was his answer to the question: What does the future contain? It contains opportunities and possibilities.
Let’s go now to the message of the prophet Daniel in today’s first reading.
Daniel was living in Jerusalem in the year 168 BC and the city was in chaos. There was more and more violence every day because the Greeks were systematically torturing and killing the people of the Holy City. Some of the leaders of the Jewish people were saying, “The situation is bad now and it will be even worse in the future.” But Daniel said, “I have to disagree with you. The future will be good because God will be in the future. God will be like the bright sunshine which brings healing to those who are hurting.” “What do you mean?” they asked him. Daniel said, “God will put order into the chaos. God will put things back into their proper balance. So place your trust in God.”
So Daniel was not afraid of the future. He was certain that God would be in the future and that God would bring healing to a hurting world. So if someone were to ask Daniel, “What does the future contain?” He would say that the future contains an abundance of goodness because God will be there when we get there.
We heard Jesus talking about the future in today’s gospel. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of the future because you will never be alone. Yes, there will be cataclysmic tribulation because the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky.
Question: What does the future contain? the sky…….. but I will be with you and you will never be alone.” Jesus says, “I will show you what to do and I will tell you what to say.”
Now looking at our situation today, I think that we should take those words of Jesus to heart. Why? Because we worry so much about the future. We worry about our health. We worry about the economy. We worry about the violence caused by terrorism. Today Jesus says to us, “It is foolish to worry about the future. Jesus says, “I will be in your future. I will be with you in the future and I be your companion through it all.”
I would like to close by going back to my original question: What does the future contain? The movie “The Man who Played God” says that the future is filled with opportunity. The prophet Daniel says that it is filled with God’s glory and God’s healing power. And Jesus says that it is filled with his love. And the future is filled with all the help which he will give us.
During our time of prayer today, let’s talk to God about the future. Let’s ask God for the grace that we need to move into the future with hope and with confidence.
Father Jerry