"HEAVEN AND EARTH WILL PASS AWAY,BUT MY WORDS WILL NOT PASS AWAY."
On this 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, our readings remind us of an important truth of our Christian faith: the return of Christ in glory to gather His elect and make them share in His everlasting glory.
This is our faith in spite of the occasional triumph of the wicked and their apparent going scot-free. Today’s Word of God assures us that on Judgment Day, perfect justice will be done: the virtuous will rise to be with Jesus in eternal happiness; the wicked will rise to bear the consequence of their rejection of God’s call to conversion.Such a message gives hope to all those who may not be getting their due in this life. It is also an appeal to those who are living in sin to go back to the Lord as soon as possible, for no one knows when the end will come. Let the perseverance of the just and the conversion of sinners be among the main intentions for which we offer this Eucharist.
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.”
