There is a scene in the recent Hobbit movies when one of the supporting characters is recounting the great deeds of the group’s leader.  He tells the story of the battle long ago when their people had been forced out of their homes and their army being overrun by their enemy.  At a critical moment, “just as all was about to be lost,” he looked up, and there was Thorin Oaken Shield, the king, standing tall, with nothing but an oak branch for a shield and calling out to his kinsmen to stand up and fight.  It was a moment of strength and conviction, of great power, poverty and humility.  It was even his poverty of the moment, a physical poverty in having no proper weapons, a poverty of charity in standing alone, and spiritual poverty, without hope or support that made this moment special. 

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, we hear our Lord warning the disciples and us about the coming of the end, the arrival of the great battle, and promising that they would face fierce attacks and persecution— He promises that we will face persecution and hardship.

We typically want to do everything to avoid these times, to avoid any hardship, and when it comes, we tend to pray to our God to help us flee and escape: deliver us from our trials and inequities.  But what if that King in the Hobbit, instead of this moment of standing in the face of great evil and destruction, instead had led his people toward a secret passage and escaped? Even though this was a fictional account, we also understand how different the story would have been.

As our Lord said to the disciples, again He says to us, that these things happen so that we may give testimony.  From the beginning, our faith has been about giving testimony to the Son of God. Our virtue, our perfection, our Love and Mercy, none of these exist for our own sake.  John the Baptist did not go into the desert baptizing so that people could see his greatness; he was not the light, but came to give testimony to the light.

We also are called to be in the footsteps and way of John the Baptist, first to give testimony to the Son of God and Salvation through the forgiveness of sins. We do this by standing in the midst of hardship, persecution and suffering,to be witnesses to the power and Graces that our God has bestowed upon us, to show His strength in our poverty-

That we may pray for the strength, virtue and gifts of the Spirit to endure all that He gives us for the Kingdom and so be that same sign and symbol, that when others feel that they stand on the edge of defeat and all is nearly lost, they may receive the witness of Hope that you and I have received.