The End is Near – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Daniel is giving a vision of the end times.  Jesus speaks of what “those days after the tribulation” will be like (readings for 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B).

Daniel writes of “a time unsurpassed in distress.”  Jesus speaks of the days when “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.”    

There is a lot of distress in the world today.  There is a lot of darkness in the world today.  Many have lost the Light of Christ.  We experience distress because of the radical individualism and polarization that exists today.

Seeing the distress and the darkness, people sometimes ask me if I think we are living in the end times now.  I can answer this in two ways.  Without question, we are experiencing the end of Christendom as a time where much of the world accepted Christian morals.  That time has ended.  With this, we see a breakdown in solidarity, in loving our neighbor, in the radical individualism that has arisen.  The rejection of Christian morals by many has contributed to the polarization we see today.

Without a doubt, we are experiencing the end time of society as it has been.  I see it as an end towards something worse.  Only God knows what time will bring.  Nothing is impossible for God.

The second way I can address the question, “are we living in the end times,” is to look specifically at the final end, the end that our readings today point to.  This is not just an end.  It is the end when Jesus will come a second time and the world as we know it will cease to exist.

This question is much harder to answer.  Everything the Bible says will happen before the Second Coming has happened.  So, the Second Coming could happen today.  When it does happen, we will know it because we “will see the ‘Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and might.”

Many people fear the Second Coming.  Well, actually, I don’t think they fear the Second Coming itself.  Rather, they fear the judgment that will happen at the Second Coming.  They fear not being ready but if one is among the elect, then there is nothing to fear because the angels with gather the elect and take them to our Father’s house. 

Yes, it will be “a time unsurpassed in distress” but all those whose name in “found written in the book” will escape the distress.  The rest will face “everlasting horror and disgrace.”

There is a Heaven and a Hell.  God deeply desires everyone to be in Heaven but not everyone will make it.  Some have rejected God in the way they have lived their lives.  There are consequences to our actions. 

Why do people think they can do whatever they want in this world and still be welcomed into Heaven?  Because they take God’s mercy for granted.  They are right in thinking God stands ready to forgive everyone who asks with a repentant heart.  The problem is that if we take the Lord’s mercy for granted, have we repented at all?

If we want to enter Heaven, we must set the Lord ever before us, meaning we must put God as the center of our lives.  We must follow Jesus as the path to eternal life.

Will we fall short at times?  It seems likely.  We have a habit of sin.  God knows that.  That’s why He sent Jesus to save us.  Jesus gives his life for us as the one perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus laid down his life for us as an act of love (see Jesus’ own words for this in John 15:13).  The appropriate response on our part is to love him in return.

Loving Jesus means that we will not take his mercy for granted.  It means we will listen to what Jesus teaches and do our best to follow it in the way we live our lives.  When we fall short, we know we can ask for mercy with a truly repentant heart.  We will weep when we know we have offended Jesus.  At that moment, He will take us into his arms with the biggest hug there is.

People try to determine the date of the Second Coming.  So far, everyone who has tried has been wrong.  Jesus said, “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Then how can we be ready? 

If you truly follow Jesus all the time, then you are ready.

If you have sinned and truly repented, Jesus will make you ready.

If you want to know when the Second Coming will happen so that you can live your life however you want until just before the Second Coming, and then turn to Jesus, you have a problem.  Why?  Where is the repentance in living that way?  Death bed conversions do happen.  I’m just afraid that people who have lived taking the Lord’s mercy for granted don’t allow themselves to truly repent.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff