'Take care not to be deceived'
33rd Sunday C
Cobh
16 November 2025
My friends,
A word we hear more often these days is ‘dystopia’ the opposite to ‘utopia’. While ‘utopia’ might describe the ideal world, the world of our dreams, ‘dystopia’ represents the opposite – all that is worst in the human experience. We hear of ‘dystopia’ so often because it represents so much and so well the experience of so many today. A dystopia (bad place), is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanised, fearful lives. A state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, totalitarian and environmentally degraded.
When you hear it described like that, it doesn’t take much to convince us that though we don’t live in a dystopia, a bad place; there are many dystopian or bad features in our society, which are leading to great suffering, injustice and oppression. The evidence for these observations is to be found in the level of violence that is perpetrated in our communities, even in our families. There are extraordinary levels of suffering being inflicted on vulnerable people due to drug and alcohol induced behaviours. This crime and violence is however on the surface, we can see and observe the criminal system. Much more subtle but yet more deadly, is the level of white-collar crime perpetrated by the consumers of the vast quality of cocaine and other chemical substances. They truly have ‘blood on their hands’ due to their failure to acknowledge their participation in such evil empires.
The scriptures today invite us to think of end of time – harvest time, when we’ll all be asked to render account of our stewardship. It is representative in the most dramatic of apocalyptic terms, “Not a single stone will be left on another, everything will be destroyed.”
We have no idea when such a thing will come to pass – though it has been predicted many times. In the event of these predictions, the Lord’s advice is “Take care not to be deceived, the end is not so soon.”
He does, however, point to the reality of persecution – that Christian believers will be subject to persecution and trial – but not to fear – see it as an opportunity to bear witness and he will give us the eloquence and wisdom for our defence.
When I reflect on these Readings from the Prophet Malachi and St. Luke, the Evangelist – I see so many of these dreadful things are taking place right now across the world – we have war in so many places, we have so many dictators who rule and kill at will, so many vulnerable women and children suffer want or are killed. So much killing is justified by securing borders and acquiring mineral rich lands.
So much suffering cries out for solutions. It tests our faith in the possibility of justice being done.
Still, we walk by faith, praying in a special way for the peacemakers – for strength and perseverance.
For ourselves, we take to heart the Lord’s counsel,
“Take care not to be deceived.”
