Are You Prepared for the final hour?

The lectionary reading from the Gospel of Mark for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary time before the feast of Christ the King is a great foreshadowing of apocalyptical literature. As Mark’s gospel chapter 13 verses 24-32 indicate, no one knows the day, or hour for which the “great tribulation” will appear except for the Father.

Coincidentally, in the Book of Daniel, chapter 12, Michael the guardian angel and great prince will arise during a time of great distress. Those “who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace (Dan. 12:2)”

We as Christians should not fear the second coming and final judgement. Anxiety and worry does no good unless our life is not rooted in knowing our loving and benevolent God. During the month of November where the Church recalls the saints in glory who have gone to heaven and those souls that have gone before us that may be awaiting heavenly paradise; we must take heart from Daniel’s passage where we are awake and fully conscious of our life here with God while on earth.

I oftentimes ponder that the final judgement will be one of choosing a false façade of those empty sins and temporal luxuries that are an allusion as compared to choosing that which is of God. We must always be ready to empty ourselves, acknowledge our shortcomings, and be prepared through prayer, charity and fasting for when the time will come. The last part of fasting not only includes food and nourishment for our bodies, but fasting from those actions that separate ourselves from the love of God and our neighbor or family. We can fast from technology that separates our relationship with others. We can fast from using unwise words that hurt others. We can fast from the seven deadly sins of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.

Let us not worry about when the time will come, but be awake, and ready to recognize our most loving God when it is our time. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.