We are coming to the end of this present liturgical year.
Next Sunday is Christ the King, followed by the first Sunday of Advent and the
beginning of a new year. This year we are now completing is year B in the three-year
cycle of Sundays and the gospel of Mark has been the principal source for our
gospel readings. Next year is year C and the gospel of Luke will be our gospel
source.
The gospel readings of late have included references to
end times, as we see in today’s gospel. In these days we are reminded that God’s
salvific plan for us is contained in a framework of time, as is the whole of
creation. It begins in time, unfolds for a time, and when completed the end
time arrives. That there is to be an end time we know for certain. What we don’t
know is when the end of time will come.
The first generation of the Church for the most part
believed that the second coming of Christ would be in their time. But this
seemed not to be happening and some began scoff at the idea all together. St.
Peter addresses this in his Second Letter to the churches.
Know this, that in
the last days scoffers will come to scoff, living according to their own
desires and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? From the time when our
ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of
creation.”
The Lord does not
delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not
wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the
day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away
with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth
and everything done on it will be found out. 2 Pt. 3:
Down through the ages there have been predictions of the
imminent end of the world which aroused many people with fear. Some of you may
remember the Cuban missal crisis of 1962. For 13 days, from October 16–28, Russia
and the United States stared down the barrels of their atomic bombs at each
other. Fear of Armageddon was real and palpable. I was in the seminary at the
time and some America students studying with us were notified to be ready to be
called home for military duty at any moment.
Today a new doomsday warning is being issued to the world
from the environmental scientist – that we may be destroying the planet we live
on.
But aside from the question of end times, each of us
knows well that our own lives are governed by time and like sands in the hourglass
time is passing. For the spiritual direction of these days the Church is counselling
us to take to heart the many texts of scripture that exhort us to use wisely
our God-given days of time and to live holy lives.
“Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with
your lamps lit, like servants who are waiting for their master to come back
from a wedding feast . . . How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if
he should come at midnight or even later . . . you, must be ready, because the
Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.” Lk. 12:35
Take some time during these next couple of weeks to check
the progress of your spiritual life. How am I doing? What needs to change? What
might I do better? Am I ready for that knock at my door?
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