Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lectionary: 499

I, John, had a vision of an open door to heaven, and I heard the trumpetlike voice
that had spoken to me before, saying,
"Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards."


Psalm 73 describes a moment of insight as the singer/songwriter ponders a very deep mystery, a conundrum we know as theodicy, the problem of evil: Why do good people suffer bad things? Why does an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-wise God tolerate evil? 
The psalmist has been listing his complaints: 

I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they suffer no pain; their bodies are healthy and sleek.They are free of the burdens of life; they are not afflicted like others. Thus pride adorns them as a necklace; violence clothes them as a robe. Out of such blindness comes sin; evil thoughts flood their hearts. They scoff and spout their malice; from on high they utter threats. They set their mouths against the heavens,their tongues roam the earth. 

So my people turn to them and drink deeply of their words.They say, “Does God really know?” “Does the Most High have any knowledge?” Such, then, are the wicked, always carefree, increasing their wealth.

Which of us hasn't asked the same questions, especially as we see wealth disproportionately handed to one percent of the American people; and, among them, a controlling amount redistributed to one-tenth of that one percent? And they're admired by many people as they hire contractors to manipulate the media, the electorate, lobbyists and Congress! If money can't buy love it can buy admiration, respect and power. The psalmist worried over these things until,

I entered the sanctuary of God and came to understand their end. You set them, indeed, on a slippery road; you hurl them down to ruin. How suddenly they are devastated; utterly undone by disaster! They are like a dream after waking, Lord,dismissed like shadows when you arise.

In today's first reading the Seer of Patmos was invited to, "Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards." 
While it's true that no one knows the future, we have been given a glimpse of God's plans. Everybody makes plans. Unlike other earthly creatures, humans have this amazing ability to surmise what might happen and to plan accordingly. Aware of the past, even of events that occurred long before we were born, we sketch out what might happen and how we can succeed through it all. 
But the Lord has a deeper command of all history, human and divine, and a clearer vision of what must occur. God "sees" the future and permits his beloved to glimpse what must occur -- especially the end of wealth. 
I have visited historical sites around the United States: stately homes, manors, mansions and palaces of nineteenth century plutocrats. Inevitably someone in the room will ask the tour guide, "Where is the family today?" 
They're scattered about and not particularly wealthy. Undone by disaster, dismissed like shadows.
The Psalmist, seeing the future, is reassured:

Yet I am always with you; you take hold of my right hand. With your counsel you guide me, and at the end receive me with honor. Whom else have I in the heavens? None beside you delights me on earth. Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.

Our destiny is communion with one another and the Lord, a wealth beyond human comprehension, and far beyond the grasp of the arrogant.