But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. [25] And the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and the powers that are in heaven, shall be moved.
[26] And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory. [27] And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. [28] Now of the fig tree learn ye a parable. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near. [29] So you also when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very nigh, even at the doors. [30] Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, until all these things be done.
[31] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. [32] But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.
Mark 13: 24-32
As we near the end of the liturgical year the Church turns to the final things. Whether we are in the End Times is a subject that I am perpetually agnostic about. I tend to be a literalist on Christ’s statement that He will return “like a thief in the night” and as a result I have suspected that His Second Coming will be in a time of relative peace and prosperity, rather like the same conditions that prevailed during His First Coming, and that His Second Coming will therefore come at a period when it would be least expected. Quien Sabe? My own personal take on how to live life each day is the same as contained in the poem Abraham Davenport, who, during the Great Darkness of May 19, 1780, go here to read about it, gave us all an example, I think, to emulate:
Meanwhile in the old State House, dim as ghosts,
Sat the lawgivers of Connecticut,
Trembling beneath their legislative robes.
“It is the Lord’s Great Day! Let us adjourn,”
Some said; and then, as if with one accord,
All eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport.
He rose, slow cleaving with his steady voice
The intolerable hush.
“This well may be The Day of Judgment which the world awaits;
But be it so or not, I only know
My present duty, and my Lord’s command
To occupy till He come.
So at the post Where He hast set me in His providence,
I choose, for one, to meet Him face to face,
No faithless servant frightened from my task,
But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls;
And therefore, with all reverence, I would say,
Let God do His work, we will see to ours.
Bring in the candles.”
And they brought them in.
Then by the flaring lights the Speaker read,
Albeit with husky voice and shaking hands,
An act to amend an act to regulate The shad and alewive fisheries,
Whereupon Wisely and well spake Abraham Davenport,
Straight to the question, with no figures of speech
Save the ten Arab signs, yet not without
The shrewd dry humor natural to the man:
His awe-struck colleagues listening all the while,
Between the pauses of his argument,
To hear the thunder of the wrath of God
Break from the hollow trumpet of the cloud.
And there he stands in memory to this day,
Erect, self-poised, a rugged face, half seen
Against the background of unnatural dark,
A witness to the ages as they pass,
That simple duty hath no place for fear.
Very, very interesting.
And most appropriate to November and contemplating the Last Things.
Thank you.