Day 239: At the End of the Age
Matthew 13:36-43
Many people look forward to the future and many people speculate what the end of the world will look like. The Mayans predicted that the end of the world would be in 2012. Some people in 2012 said that the end of the world would be in 2020. Now in 2020, some people think the end of the world is happening now, others think this is just a rough year. A really rough year.
What do different cultures say about the end of the world? Hindus believe in reincarnation. Atheists believe that nothing happens and that your body just becomes fertilizer for the Earth. The Greeks had an idea of Elysium and Tartarus. The Norse believed in the destruction of the nine realms. The Bible speaks of horsemen of the apocalypse, choirs of angels, separation of goats and sheep, and war between the armies of Heaven and Hell.
“Consider the shortness of time, the length of eternity and reflect how everything here below passes by. Of what use is it to lean upon that which cannot give support?”
Saint Gerard Majella
It is because of this shortness that Saint Paul urges us to live according to the spirit and not of the flesh. The flesh is not bad, but it is the ways of the world that appeal to the weakness of the flesh which is not good. Not God created is bad or evil. We are all created good, but due to Original Sin, we are tainted and dull.
So what should we do to prepare for the end of the age? Jesus says that He was not able to tell the Disciples, but it was only for the Father to know. This does not mean that Jesus didn’t know, but more that it wasn’t His place to reveal that to the Disciples. No one, except God, knows when the end times will be. It could be tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month, next decade, next century, next millennia. We don’t know. So we should keep this in mind with every decision and action because Jesus could walk in on you.
The end of the world should not spark fear in people. It is reunification with our Father in Heaven, from whom we fell so many ages ago. If it does frighten us, let us evaluate our lives. The Spirit convicts us and invites us to do better. Let us live lives as if Jesus was standing right beside us. Let us contemplate each action and decision so that we may in the Spirit, in Christ, as true Christians who want to live with the Father.
Prayer: Lord, help me to live like You. Bless me with perseverance and self-control