17.11.2024 – Villanueva del Arzobispo – Iznatoraf (Jaén)

When will the world come to an end?

Daniel 12:1-13, Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11-14, 18, Mark 13:24-32

As we come to the end of the liturgical year, we are confronted with one of the most important questions and preoccupations of what has become known as the apocalyptic movement, “when will the world come to an end?” or “when will the parousia, the second coming of Christ take place?”

Over the years, ever since the Ascension of Christ into heaven, there has been this expectation of his return, so many movements and theories based on a strand of biblical literature known as “apocalypse” have gained momentum. Some of these movements and theories are based on the graphic images provided in the biblical books themselves including Dan 7-12, Mark 13, and Revelation. Whenever, we experience one kind of catastrophe such as pandemics, wars, famine (drought) and even flooding, these movements will use the biblical books to create this panic that the end is here.

A recent and clear example was at the close of the second millennium, in the year 1999 – there were these flyers circulating round that the world will come to an end in the year 2000. Again, in the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020 that almost paralyzed activities of a significant percentage of world population including a total and partial lockdown, there were these strong warning instructions from the apocalyptic movements that the world was coming to an end. Has the world come to an end? Has the parousia happened? No. When will it happen? Should we expect another date sooner or later?

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, today’s readings remind us that the end will come but that no one knows when it will come (neither the day nor the hour). For every individual death brings him or her to a temporal end here in this present world. It is not for us to spend time worrying about or trying to decipher through theories or biblical imageries when the end will come. It is for us to be prepared for the end.

The Prophet Daniel in today’s first reading is told that when the end comes, there shall be a separation between those who lived in righteousness from those who acted wickedly; the good from the bad. Those whose names are written in the book of life; those who did not only lived in righteousness but those who led many to righteousness shall shine like stars forever.

In the Gospel of Matthew 25 we read: “Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

Although we do not know the day or the hour of the second coming of Christ; although, we do not know the day or the hour of our own deaths, we have been told what staying awake entails. It seems that if we meet the response from the Lord: “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you,” it will be because of our foolishness and not because of a lack of mercy or justice on the part of the Lord. How prepared I am for the day of the Lord depends on the choices I make every day. It depends on my positive response to God’s supreme law: Love of God and love of neighbor. As we go about our daily dealings let us not forget that the end will come when it will come. And the Church’s teachings on the four last things: Death, Judgement, Heaven or Hell, reminds us to be prepared always.