Sunday, November 17, 2024
We are coming to the end of this Liturgical Calendar and concluding weekly Readings from Mark’s Gospel. After next Sunday, Christ the King Sunday, the start of the Advent Season marks the beginning of a new Liturgical Cycle. The Readings chosen by the Church for this Sunday point us to the end of time and invite us to reflect on death, judgment, heaven, and hell. The term “apocalypse” is associated with the end of time and is widely used as a synonym for catastrophe, calamity, and devastation. Fear not, the word comes from the Greek word “apokálypsis,” which means “revelation” or “unveiling.” It refers to the theology of death, judgment, and the final victory of good over evil from the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation.
In today’s Reading from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus spoke during Holy Week of the Coming of the Son of Man and the Lesson of the Fig Tree at the close of His ministry in Jerusalem. He would soon be arrested, crucified, and die. Consider how you would feel as one of His twelve disciples! How do the past three years of ministry you spent following Him only to see it all come to an end feel? In speaking about the end of time, Jesus assured us and His disciples, who were about to be scattered after His death, that He would come again with great power and glory to gather all who believe in Him—a reminder of our life’s end and what awaits us thereafter.
With darkness due to daylight savings time ending two weeks ago and Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas fast approaching, the end of time and being prepared are themes for this week. Are you ready for Christ’s return and to be face-to-face with the Creator? Is your name recorded in the Book of Life? If you’re unsure of your answer, the good news is there is time to choose to love and be united with God, whose will is for everyone to be saved, but it takes our response and commitment to His will. “We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. “Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.” (Catechism §1033). We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to reject sin against Him, others, and ourselves.
Let us purposefully prepare for Jesus’ return and wait with hopeful and joyful anticipation, not fear. “God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God’s purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.” (Saint Ignatius of Loyola).
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord.