+ No, the author of the Book of Daniel was not on drugs; although, it seems like it.
And it is even hard to imagine the creatures cooked up in this story —
“I was considering the ten horns it had, when suddenly another, a little horn, sprang out of their midst … … This horn had eyes like a man, and a mouth that spoke arrogantly.”
Yikes! I take it back. Maybe the author was on drugs!
Or, we have a perfect example of apocalyptic literature, some of which was written after Christ, like the Book of Revelation.
But like both Revelation and the Book of Daniel, and like apocalyptic verses that sometimes appear in the Gospel, like today, they have a distinct purpose.
First of all, they are written to be misunderstood by some but understood by others.
The ones who were to understand were the people of faith who needed to be uplifted and encouraged in their faith.
When a people are dominated and ruled and misruled by others, that people tend to lose their faith and hope.
The dominating people are like beasts, and often are arrogant and completely disrespectful of those dominated, and of their beliefs.
But those dominated reading this book would see clearly, in every beastly detail a hope that, like these beasts, is finally destroyed.
So would these rulers over them one day be destroyed.
Their hope in a saving and ultimately victorious God would come through for his people.
They needed to be confident and wait with hope!
+Jesus, today, tells a parable about waiting in hope, too.
Like a fig tree with buds and blossoms bursting open to announce the coming of summer, so also the announcement of the coming of the kingdom of God is near.
And to be sure, the coming of the kingdom was present in Jesus is to come in a final way at the “end of time.”
Jesus’ words about his words were stated, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
And so, even now over two-thousand years later, we still talk about the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God as being present now and here, and it will also come about finally at the end of time.
+ These readings today point to the uniqueness of the Bible as a book containing many genres, or types of literature.
And, for the most part, whether they be historical books or poetic books or songs like the psalms, they are all intended to encourage us in our faith, and call us to hope, hope always!
Like today per Daniel and per Jesus, we, too, are called to open up with confidence to the kingdom of God proclaimed in the word, and to believe that, ultimately, God will and does prevail!
Father Perry Dean Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com.
