14TH NOVEMBER 2021
GOD WILL BE WITH US UNTILL THE END
Dan 12: 1-3; 2
Heb 10: 11-14.18
Mk 13:24-32
On this thirty-third Sunday, we celebrate the climax of the end of time. The readings of this Sunday are set in a prophetic tone. In other words, they point to the future deliverance of the people of God through Christ's redemptive work.
As we approach the end of the Church year, the Gospel invites us to consider Jesus’ predictions and teaching about the end of the world, the final coming of Jesus to take all peoples and all creation to himself. For Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega: the beginning and the end of all things.
Many people live in fear of the end of the world, the end of time, the great gathering of people by the Lord God. It is awesome to think that one day we shall all be gathered to the Lord with all who have gone before us and those who may come after us. The fear comes because there is always the possibility that I will not be counted among those who are chosen.
The second reading is from the Letter to the
Hebrews. The point of this selection today is to remind us that any human high priest cannot make a complete amendment for our sins. Neither you nor I can atone completely for our sins. It takes Jesus, who is God and man, to make the one sacrifice for sins that never needs to be repeated. Sin is vanquished in Christ Jesus. On the other hand, sin in us is only overcome when we become one with Jesus Christ. God truly loves us and sends His Own Son to take away our sins so that we can live forever with Him.
The coming of the Son of Man
Today Jesus speaks of the appearance of the Son of Man in glory and the final establishment of the Reign of God. Many people will come under that Reign, probably many, more than we may expect. Others may reject it forever and choose the outer darkness. In rejecting the Way of Jesus and the Kingship of God (and this is not necessarily the same as rejecting Christianity), they choose to be outsiders forever.
The Son of Man here is understood as Jesus, the man on earth that the disciples knew and loved, but now appearing in all the unparalleled glory of God's majesty. Today’s Gospel is speaking about the Son of Man "coming in clouds with great power and glory", this echoes a passage in the Book of Daniel, as it was read in the first reading, but here, the Son of Man is even more victorious.
It is clear that no one knows the day or the hour of the final coming of the Lord. How often do we hear predictions based on Scripture about when the end of the world will happen? We should always listen politely in our hearts the words of the Lord: “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father.”
The task is not to know when the end is coming but to live today as if the end will be right now. There is no sense in pretending before God. God knows our hearts and our minds, even more than we do. We must simply get on with living now as if this is our last moment—with no fear and without upsetting ourselves, completely trusting in the love of the Lord.
Let us recognize the “second coming” of Jesus in our daily lives through everyday occurrences, always remembering that Jesus comes without warning. But let us not get frightened at the thought of Christ’s Second
Coming, because Jesus is with us every day, abiding with the Father and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, dwelling in our Church in the Holy Eucharist, teaching us in the Holy Bible, and unifying us with Him and each other in our worshiping communities.
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