Reading I
In those days, I Daniel,
heard this word of the Lord:
"At that time there shall arise
Michael, the great prince,
guardian of your people;
it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress
since nations began until that time.
At that time your people shall escape,
everyone who is found written in the book.
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake;
some shall live forever,
others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.
“But the wise shall shine brightly
like the splendor of the firmament,
and those who lead the many to justice
shall be like the stars forever."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) You are my inheritance, O Lord!
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord!
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord!
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord!
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In those days after that tribulation
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
"Learn a lesson from the fig tree.
When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves,
you know that summer is near.
In the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that he is near, at the gates.
Amen, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
"But of that day or hour, no one knows,
neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
Reflection
As we approach the end of the liturgical year, our Mass readings predict impending disaster. Jesus embarks on an ominous discourse in the Gospel of Mark, and it seems that His words could apply to the catastrophic destruction of the Jewish Temple that would occur in 70 AD. They could also refer to His own paschal mystery and the end of the old covenant, when the “sun was darkened” at His crucifixion and the “Son of Man” revealed His “great power and glory” as He rose from the dead. Lastly, of course, these words also sound like a prediction of the apocalypse, when stars will fall, and Christ will come again.
The interlocking of past and future in these passages calls us to reflect on the new age that Our Lord has ushered in. There was a true “end of the world” as the Israelites knew it when Christ died and rose. Everything we do today, the very fabric of our existence, is colored by the fact that we have a savior, a God who became man and conquered death.
But the blurring of time in our readings also reminds us that this world, this new age, is painfully finite. The end is coming—and “of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” By embracing the new and everlasting covenant of Christ, we can strive to be among the elect when that hour comes.
Our psalm today is the perfect prayer to lift to our Lord amidst readings about the end times. We declare our confidence in God, that “[He] will show me the path to life.” We are not left to wonder in fear whether we are one of the wise; rather, we can open our hearts to our “inheritance,” Christ crucified. God gives us Himself on the Cross, in the Mass, in the Confessional, and at every moment as He seeks to bring us to Himself. Let us follow His commands. Let us make ourselves into gifts so that we will “shine brightly” forever in Heaven.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert
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