The End Times

11-18-2018Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

Today is the second last Sunday of the Church liturgical year. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. As the church brings its liturgical year to an end, it traditionally presents the knowledge of the end times. This gives us the message that Jesus is the beginning and end of all things, all things exist in and through him. He is the Alpha and the Omega and he is the source of all things.

In the first reading of today we are presented with a holy person seeing the vision of God. He sees that God's faithful people will rise to eternal life. The first reading taken from the Prophet Daniel tells us of the protective power of God over all creation and over all people. It tells us how God took care of his people all through the years of persecution and oppression by Persia, Greece and Syria. The last empire received a special attention since it is the one where the people were struggling when the book was written. The theme of 'the end of times' or 'the end of the world' is indeed a difficult one. So are the readings of today. Similar passages from the Gospels, together with the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelations, are the most misinterpreted texts in the Bible.

As we can see, then, the context where these texts (of the Apocalyptic literature) get written is very difficult and negative from the point of view of human experience. But the purpose of these passages is not to threaten the people more, but to offer hope drawing their attention to the action of God even beyond the present history. Apocalyptic literature would always talk about 'new heaven and new earth' and the triumph of good over evil. It is so important not to lose this point. And here is where we need to be wary of some of the modern preachers, who stand at our street corners and preach with pointing fingers about 'the end of the world'. Many people – often the elderly but also those who are not so old – might believe that the world is becoming worse day by day. Some people think that humanity has lost its direction. And often this image is built by the media, because, much of what we hear and see in newscasts is negative. This can contribute to some despair. Therefore, we do not wait for the last days with fear and trembling, but we wait with eager longing. We wait with hope.

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