Mark 13:24-32
We may have heard the saying “Today is the first day of the rest of my Life.” And based on logic, the statement stands true because today is the first day, but, is it truly of the rest of our lives? For the sake of our salvation path I offer that we change that saying to read:
“Today is the first day of the rest of my Eternity.”
We will change it because Eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ completely depends on how we live the rest of our lives on this Earth. The outcome of our Eternity depends on how we keep God’s commandments of love God above all things and love our neighbor as ourselves.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to his disciples and while doing so He does not hold back on the details of what the last days will be like. He states that there will be Tribulation. That the middle of the day will become dark. That the moon will not shine and the stars will fall from the sky. And if that were not enough; he states that the heavens will be shaken and that we will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory to gather all of his elect.
We may tell ourselves, yes but he was explaining this to his disciples because of all that was happening back then in Jesus’ time when there was great distress and intense persecution so it does not apply to us. The reality is quite contrary, here we are 2,000 years later and we are still living in a world of distress and persecution, and worldly living conditions that do not seem to improve.
Some of us may believe that because of all these happenings, we must be living at the end of times. That based on all the violence, distress, persecution, discrimination and so many other factors, our Lord may show up at any minute and claim all of his chosen elite; however, we must understand a very important detail, Jesus, in today’s Gospel tell us that no one knows when the Son of man will return.
There have been many that have tried to predict the second coming of Jesus, they have even, according to them based their predictions on bible passages and time and time again their predictions have failed. The fact is no one knows the day or the hour or anything else regarding the arrival of our Lord; only God knows when this will occur; As Jesus said, “Not even the Son of Man knows.”
Jesus spoke these words of the final days and directed them to his apostles at the time when he was very near to his crucifixion. He knew that his mission here on Earth was near so He wanted the apostles to feel the seriousness of the meaning of his message. The words were so disturbing to the apostles that it gave them a sense of urgency to spread the gospel; an urgency to bring as many as possible to the salvation offered by our Lord. Jesus was speaking of the end as if it were about to happen; He wanted his listeners to truly believe that the end was about to occur and He wants them to live with that in mind and to act on it.
The message that these words contained was very disturbing to the apostles then and should be as disturbing to us now. We know that there will be an end to our existence regardless of whether we think about it or not. We refuse to think about it because we are so caught up in this secular world which leads us to believe that we are in complete control of our destiny.
We live in a world that tells us what we should care about, what we should talk about and who we should favor. A world that focuses on lives full of materialistic values, with a “what’s in it for me” attitude; a world where God does not fit in and where He does not play an important role within our lives.
But Jesus reminds us that there will be and end. Whether it is the ultimate end that Jesus spoke of where everyone sees his coming in glory or the end that comes when we are individually called by Him; regardless, we have to be prepared. We must follow his commandments diligently as he instructed us to do so.
We must care for each offering acts of kindness without barriers at all times. We must individually ask ourselves, if this were my last day on Earth, will I be able to face God, and if so, will he say to me, “well done my faithful servant.” And if he asks, “Who did you bring with you? “Will I be able to respond with assurance and tell him of the many that I evangelized to? , in fact, let’s take time right now and test our conscience, do we see any empty spaces in our pews? If there are empty spaces, let’s ask ourselves who did we bring with us to Mass today?
We should ask ourselves this, because Jesus’ call to salvation preparedness is not just for us individually; we are called to extend it to others. We are called to evangelize and bring others closer to Christ and it all begins by inviting others to our Eucharistic table; Mass. We should not place the responsibility of evangelizing solely on the clergy or the religious. It is our responsibility to take action and spread the good news and it all starts with an act of kindness; a simple invitation to Mass.
It doesn’t matter what happens in our lives, it doesn’t matter what disasters we go through, it doesn’t matter what challenges we face, if we are prepared; on the last day; whether it is our personal last day or the day when Christ comes for all of us in all his glory, we can stand up and Say, “I did all the right things and made the right choices for you Lord.” And He will embrace us and welcome us to His kingdom in heaven forever.
Therefore;
“Today is the first day of the rest of my Eternity.”
We may have heard the saying “Today is the first day of the rest of my Life.” And based on logic, the statement stands true because today is the first day, but, is it truly of the rest of our lives? For the sake of our salvation path I offer that we change that saying to read:
“Today is the first day of the rest of my Eternity.”
We will change it because Eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ completely depends on how we live the rest of our lives on this Earth. The outcome of our Eternity depends on how we keep God’s commandments of love God above all things and love our neighbor as ourselves.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to his disciples and while doing so He does not hold back on the details of what the last days will be like. He states that there will be Tribulation. That the middle of the day will become dark. That the moon will not shine and the stars will fall from the sky. And if that were not enough; he states that the heavens will be shaken and that we will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory to gather all of his elect.
We may tell ourselves, yes but he was explaining this to his disciples because of all that was happening back then in Jesus’ time when there was great distress and intense persecution so it does not apply to us. The reality is quite contrary, here we are 2,000 years later and we are still living in a world of distress and persecution, and worldly living conditions that do not seem to improve.
Some of us may believe that because of all these happenings, we must be living at the end of times. That based on all the violence, distress, persecution, discrimination and so many other factors, our Lord may show up at any minute and claim all of his chosen elite; however, we must understand a very important detail, Jesus, in today’s Gospel tell us that no one knows when the Son of man will return.
There have been many that have tried to predict the second coming of Jesus, they have even, according to them based their predictions on bible passages and time and time again their predictions have failed. The fact is no one knows the day or the hour or anything else regarding the arrival of our Lord; only God knows when this will occur; As Jesus said, “Not even the Son of Man knows.”
Jesus spoke these words of the final days and directed them to his apostles at the time when he was very near to his crucifixion. He knew that his mission here on Earth was near so He wanted the apostles to feel the seriousness of the meaning of his message. The words were so disturbing to the apostles that it gave them a sense of urgency to spread the gospel; an urgency to bring as many as possible to the salvation offered by our Lord. Jesus was speaking of the end as if it were about to happen; He wanted his listeners to truly believe that the end was about to occur and He wants them to live with that in mind and to act on it.
The message that these words contained was very disturbing to the apostles then and should be as disturbing to us now. We know that there will be an end to our existence regardless of whether we think about it or not. We refuse to think about it because we are so caught up in this secular world which leads us to believe that we are in complete control of our destiny.
We live in a world that tells us what we should care about, what we should talk about and who we should favor. A world that focuses on lives full of materialistic values, with a “what’s in it for me” attitude; a world where God does not fit in and where He does not play an important role within our lives.
But Jesus reminds us that there will be and end. Whether it is the ultimate end that Jesus spoke of where everyone sees his coming in glory or the end that comes when we are individually called by Him; regardless, we have to be prepared. We must follow his commandments diligently as he instructed us to do so.
We must care for each offering acts of kindness without barriers at all times. We must individually ask ourselves, if this were my last day on Earth, will I be able to face God, and if so, will he say to me, “well done my faithful servant.” And if he asks, “Who did you bring with you? “Will I be able to respond with assurance and tell him of the many that I evangelized to? , in fact, let’s take time right now and test our conscience, do we see any empty spaces in our pews? If there are empty spaces, let’s ask ourselves who did we bring with us to Mass today?
We should ask ourselves this, because Jesus’ call to salvation preparedness is not just for us individually; we are called to extend it to others. We are called to evangelize and bring others closer to Christ and it all begins by inviting others to our Eucharistic table; Mass. We should not place the responsibility of evangelizing solely on the clergy or the religious. It is our responsibility to take action and spread the good news and it all starts with an act of kindness; a simple invitation to Mass.
It doesn’t matter what happens in our lives, it doesn’t matter what disasters we go through, it doesn’t matter what challenges we face, if we are prepared; on the last day; whether it is our personal last day or the day when Christ comes for all of us in all his glory, we can stand up and Say, “I did all the right things and made the right choices for you Lord.” And He will embrace us and welcome us to His kingdom in heaven forever.
Therefore;
“Today is the first day of the rest of my Eternity.”
