“The nations are sunk in the pit they have made”

Why is everything so wrong?

Why is the world having all of the problems it has?

Why do we have so much difficulty in this life?

Today’s readings tell us why.

In today’s first reading (1 Maccabees 6:1-13), a powerful king dies in frustration, anxiety, and regret: realizing too late that his evil deeds have brought evil upon him.

I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me;
and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.

The Responsorial (Psalm 9:2-3, 4, 6, 16, and 19) also makes clear the cause of worldwide trouble.

The nations are sunk in the pit they have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.

And in the Gospel (Luke 20:27-40), a group of wise men is befuddled because they are clueless about the life of the world to come.

Life in this world is troubled because so many people in this world, especially so many of those who are powerful in this world, have been too narrow in their understanding – failing to recognize the fullness of reality, let alone the truth of God – and have been misguided, selfish and sometimes outright evil in their actions.

We are all caught in this tangled morass of intellectual darkness and piled-up sin, even those among us who by the grace of Christ are relatively pure of heart, enlightened in spirit, sinless in thought and deed.

Yet, by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we can not only endure all the troubles of this world but even in world that seems to be sinking into a soulless twilight and confused frustration, we can shine like the angels of heaven.