End of the world?

Read Time:5 Minute, 53 Second

Consideration for XXXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time, year B1

The words of Scripture that we read today, especially the words of the Gospel, arouse anxiety and fear. Because let’s face it, it’s about the end of the world! Shooting stars, the powers of the sky shaken, an eclipse of the sun and the moon, and everything will be preceded by the great tribulation …

What is this oppression? War? Hunger? Cataclysm? Few people will get out of this alive… And then what?

All will see the Son of Man in the cloud. And there will be a Court. He will gather the chosen ones. And the prophet Daniel also says: he will gather them to eternal life. They will shine like the stars in the sky. What about the rest? They will go somewhere “to shame, to eternal disgust” …

The same prophet also speaks of the mysterious tribulation: Saint Michael, a warrior of the Lord God, will arise, and the greatest tribulation will come.

War? Hunger? Cataclysm? And this is just the beginning…

Terror. Fear darkens the mind. How to protect yourself…? Escape? Where? Barricade yourself at home? What house will not be destroyed by a decent earthquake …? Fallout shelter? You cannot stay in it for too long, not everyone has access to it, frankly speaking, hardly anyone knows where these shelters are …

And from what more is there to be protected – from oppression or from a total cosmic cataclysm? There is still some way to get out of the oppression (though it is scary to think about it), but what to do when the celestial bodies stop shining and the stars fall to the ground?

Some whisper the recipe: Close the doors and windows tightly, preferably cover them with a blanket, have a blessed candle at home and light it as soon as it starts! Sit and pray, not look, God forbid, out the window until it’s over. If anyone is knocking on the door – don’t open it… We’ll survive!

And then a great light will envelop us and we, this small chosen few, will shine like stars with the Lord …

Apparently not the worst way, some have already stocked up on candles, but what will happen to us when the Lord says: I was hungry and you did not give me food, I was thirsty – you did not give me a drink, I fainted because the darkness was overwhelming the earth in broad daylight, the stars whistled on people’s heads – and you did not let me into your safe apartment, did not let me warm you in the glow of the blessed candle …? We will be lost …

Maybe the most important court after all? To protect yourself against it? Quickly convert and turn from sins, pray day and night that when he comes he will find us sinless and prayed?

And what’s important: when will it be? Because it’s worth knowing not to make a fuss unnecessarily …

Sorry. Even the Son does not know this hour…

There are some “prophets” even today who give the date and time of the end of the world, because – let’s face it – it’s about the end of the world, but somehow these dates pass, and none of these things is happening …

Let’s have a good look. Nothing happening?

Sometimes the sun is darkened, often the moon is darkened. Meteorites whistling cross the atmosphere and fall to the ground. Typhoons, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis … People are dying by the thousands …

And the wars? Not necessarily worldly, not necessarily large areas, but always somewhere. If not here, then there, if not in Africa, then in Asia, if the feuding tribes do not kill each other, the followers of one religion (ideology) kill the followers of another … years … Traces left by satraps, tyrants, bloody monarchs, some regimes or other; and in addition, hunger in Africa, the desert takes over the crops, the sea floods the coasts, diseases, plagues, epidemics … always!

For everyone who was exiled, expelled, who lost their home and loved ones, for everyone who was affected by war, persecution, plague, cataclysm, who died of starvation or frost in the camps – it was the end of the world. And it is today. For refugees fleeing the crucifixion or beheading, from until recently beautiful cities turned into a pile of rubble; for those wandering from one reluctant country to another, considered illegal, unnecessary, threatening … and finally dying in the mud of some foreign and unfavorable land – this is the end of the world.

For someone who looks into your eyes (or doesn’t look into anyone’s eyes because no one is there) with the knowledge that they are leaving, this is the end of the world; for me and you, when everything starts to shroud in the fog of death – it will be the end of the world. This world.

But yet…

Heaven and earth will pass away, but not His Word! It is the Word who incarnated in Man to die for us… and rise again! With this one sacrifice he “has perfected forever those who are sanctified”! What does that mean?

Those who are eightfold blessed!

Not the one who thinks how to save himself, but the one who wants to save others; not the one who calls out “Lord, Lord!”, but the one who will help a tormented brother, take care of the rejected, feed and drink him, cover him with his coat, let him under the roof, although he is afraid to open the door, he will give his time, money, comfort , has the courage to go out of the warm routine of everyday life towards the unknown, because someone in need is calling; the one who will even risk his life to save another person – this one will shine like a star!

Where to get the strength for this? From him. From Him who first went through doing good … We are already redeemed in Him. He has marked out roads and paths for us – it is enough to climb them…

Oh Lord! Let us not lament or run away! And when our brothers flee lamenting, give us warm, living hearts that we may welcome them under the roof, give them a safe shelter, so that we can feed and drink them! And they were not afraid that we would pay with our lives. You gave them to us so that we would give them back.

And if we do have a lamentation and flight, give us strong faith, trust and courage! After all, if we give our lives and if they take it from us – we know that it is not the end! No, it’s not the end of the world! This is the beginning!

“That is why my heart rejoices and my soul rejoices,

and my body will rest securely

because in the land of the dead you will not leave my soul

and you won’t let me stay in the grave.

You will show me the path of life

your full joy

and eternal bliss

on your right hand.

Marana tha!