Are We in the End Times? A Biblical Perspective on Fear and Faith
Readings for Mass and Virtual Homily for December 1, 2024, First Sunday of Advent; A Restful Week; My Favorite Holiday (and my Favorite Holy Day); December Schedule
Readings for this Sunday
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 14
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Dear Friends and Family,
Advent readings, as I have said often enough, tend to focus on one or the other of the two comings of Christ; either his coming as a baby in the manger in Bethlehem two thousand years ago or his coming in glory at the end of time. Though the first reading and the psalm both suggest the earthly visitation of the Messiah and his final coming in glory, the emphasis, this Sunday, is on the Second Coming.
The Gospel passage from Luke is entirely Second Coming in its focus. Jesus' own words describe the momentous events -- cataclysmic and really, unmistakable. When we really are at the end of the world, we will not have to be asking ourselves if we are at the end of the world.
A point I really want to stress here, precisely because so many people in our generation ARE asking if we are at the end of the world, including a fair number of Catholic media influencers. I have worked with some of these people. They are online, with websites, with You Tube channels, with books and videos, with all the usual social media presences, from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter or whatever Elon Musk is calling it now. While some of these folks are relatively balanced and nuanced in their analysis, others lack, to put it kindly, an objective take on the question of whether we are living at the end of time.
The point I want to stress again -- when we really are at the end, we will not need to be asking if we are at the end. Listen to Jesus in today's passage from Luke
There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, and on earth, nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken (vss. 25-26).
A couple of observations to help put this into its proper perspective. "Signs in the sun, the moon and the stars" and "the powers of the heavens will be shaken" are phrases that have long been interpreted by qualified and responsible Catholic scholars as a comet or asteroid headed toward earth. Due to our advances in technology, particularly the great orbiting telescopes, we will have advanced notice of this "doomsday rock's" approach. As Jesus predicts, people will die of fright at what is coming...The nations will be in distress at the roaring of the waves...
Scientists tell us that a comet or asteroid striking the earth would be an ELE, that is an Extinction Level Event. Indeed, it is reliably theorized that just such an event occurred sixty-five million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs. But what we may infer from both Gospel passages such as this and from the mystical tradition of the Church is that this event, cataclysmic as it will prove to be, is NOT the end. It is only one -- one huge -- event that will occur near the end.
Not at it; near it. The Book of Revelation may be prophesying just such an event when it describes "something like a mountain of fire" crashing into the sea. A third of the ships at sea, Revelation tells us, and a third of the sea creatures, will die as a result (Revelation 8:8). As I say, cataclysmic, but not yet the end. The Book of Revelation goes on for chapters, with further predictions about the events which will accompany the end of time, all of which occur AFTER the "mountain of fire" has crashed into the sea.
Jesus' prediction in today's Gospel passage may be directly tied to the image from Revelation. Jesus refers to "the roaring of the sea and the waves." A direct hit by a comet or an asteroid in one of the oceans would produce tsunamis (note the use of the plural, it would be more than one tidal wave) a mile or more high. These waves, rushing ashore at 500 miles per hour, would obliterate everything in their path. The mystical tradition indicates the likelihood of just such an event near, not actually right at, the end of time. The tradition (I am talking here of approved revelations to various saints down through the centuries) suggests that the ocean to be so affected is the Atlantic.
About a decade ago there were, in fact, a large number of predictions of just such a meteor or comet strike, in the north Atlantic, northeast of Puerto Rico. These claims were all over the internet, including a number of Catholic sites. They were nothing short of cataclysmic in their assessment of what lay directly ahead for all humanity. And they were very specific in their aim: The comet would hit the water on September 23, 2015.
I don't know exactly how the owners of these sites were faring, in terms of audience, subscribers and so on, on September 24, 2015. But I do know that hysterical claims that we are "right on the verge" of global catastrophe abound today, including on Catholic websites, as surely as they did in 2015.
For what it is worth, I happen to be persuaded that we have entered the last days, the end times. I have studied this subject since I was in my teens. But the Church's take on the end times is that they last a long time, generations; even centuries. The best advice is to live your life as though you expect to die at ninety, peacefully, at home or maybe in the hospital, surrounded by your family and friends. Because in fact, that is far likelier how you are going to leave this world than is a meteor strike on the Atlantic.
I confess to being perplexed (and, to use a word that rhymes, at times simply vexed) at the hysterical claims put out there by people, Catholic writers, speakers, bloggers, You Tubers, etc., who really ought to know better. It is a vexation I have on occasion mentioned to my spiritual director, in the context of sacramental confession. That is, more than annoyance, the outright anger I feel toward these "influencers" is probably sinful -- sinful even if I am entirely right, in my assessment of their claims. These are no doubt well-intentioned people, however misguided. They deserve compassion and prayer, not anger.
But I feel the need to issue a word of caution with regard to these folks. Because I think a "faith" born of fear and panic is a betrayal of the true faith, which is born of love and gratitude. Because I think a "discipleship" that needs to draw on dread and terror for its sustenance is the opposite of true discipleship, which seeks only to accomplish the loving will of God in the present moment. Heaven knows (literally, Heaven knows) how much our world is in need of such discipleship.
All of us will face a personal "Second Coming," so to speak, at the moment of death and in the particular judgment. A mature Christian faith compels us to so order our lives as to let the love of God pour through us into a world so much in need of that love, and to leave the rest to God. Our job, as disciples, is to love; to love deeply and well. It is not to fear. It is not to sit around endlessly speculating about whether this or that "sign" has now appeared. This kind of thing can become an obsession; it can become a parlor game. When it does, it serves absolutely no useful purpose.
End of sermon.
We are at the start of the season of Advent, Thanksgiving just behind us and the rest of the holidays ahead. I have had a very quiet and restful week here at St. Clement, greatly enjoying my role simply as a priest of the parish. I do love St. Clement's! Talk about reasons for thanksgiving. I wake up here -- now in my tenth year -- every single morning giving thanks and praise to the Lord (and to Mama Mary, whom I credit with bringing me here) for the fact that I am one of the priests at St. Clement.
And as I mentioned in my Thanksgiving homily here in the parish, this is my favorite holiday. Even as a little boy, I loved Thanksgiving the most, among the holidays, more than Christmas, more than Easter. There was one other day each year that I loved with the intensity that I loved Thanksgiving. That day was Good Friday.
Just sayin'. All the good things, all the countless blessings for which we have been giving thanks to God, this past week, are directly attributable to the events of Good Friday. It was then and there and in those circumstances of such affliction and ignominy that the Lord, our God, won for us every blessing that has since been ours to claim.
To me, the two days are inextricable, one from the other. They are necessarily connected. There would be no possibility of Thanksgiving, had the Lord not done for us what he did do for us, on Good Friday. So that here in the waning days of November, and in the midst of much joyous celebration, I have found myself quietly reflective, this otherwise quiet and reflective week, on a day in mid-spring; a Friday in March or April, when our focus tends to be elsewhere, not the joyful focus of Thanksgiving.
But truly, the one day could not be without the other. And for that, for Good Friday and the winning of the war, the salvation of the race, all praise and all thanksgiving, to Jesus Christ our Lord and King.
Take good care. God bless. A serene and joyful Advent season to you.
Fr. Brawn
December Mass Schedule
Saturday, November 30
5 PM (English)
Sunday, December 8
8 AM, 6:30 PM (both English)
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY OF PLEASANTON, Seton Campus
11 AM (English)
Sunday, December 15
8 AM, 11:15 AM (both English)
Saturday, December 21
5 PM (English)
Sunday, December 22
6:30 PM (English)
Christmas Eve
10 PM ("Midnight Mass;" English)
Christmas Day
9 AM (English)
Sunday, December 29
8 AM, 1115 AM (both English)
New Year's Day (Feast of Mary, Mother of God)
9 AM (English)
Daily Masses (all at 8 AM, all English)
Monday, Dec. 2
Friday, Dec. 6
Saturday, Dec. 7
Tuesday, Dec. 10
Friday, Dec. 13
Monday, Dec. 16
Saturday, Dec. 21
Monday, Dec. 23
Tuesday, Dec. 24
Thursday, Dec. 26
Saturday, Dec, 28
Monday, Dec. 30
Friday, Jan. 3
Saturday, Jan. 4
TWO SPECIAL MASSES
Monday, December 9 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception)
5 PM (English)
Monday, December 23, Simbang Gabi Novena Mass
6 AM (English)