the last day
"We belong neither to darkness nor to night; therefore let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober!" —1 Thessalonians 5:5-6
The world will end and Jesus will come again:
- unexpectedly, "like a thief in the night" (1 Thes 5:2),
- "when people are saying, 'Peace and security' " (1 Thes 5:3),
- "with the suddenness of pains overtaking a woman in labor" (1 Thes 5:3),
- when many people are in the dark, asleep, and unprepared (1 Thes 5:4-6),
- when "mocking, sneering men" are laughing at those who believe in the end of the world and Jesus' second coming (2 Pt 3:3-4),
- when Jesus' Church is glorious, "holy and immaculate, without stain or wrinkle or anything of that sort" (Eph 5:27),
- after Israel is saved (Rm 11:26),
- when men are dying of fright (Lk 21:26),
- when the love of most people has grown cold (Mt 24:12), and
- when the "good news of the kingdom" has been "proclaimed throughout the world" (Mt 24:14).
"When these things begin to happen, stand erect and hold your heads high, for your deliverance is near at hand" (Lk 21:28). "God has not destined us for wrath but for acquiring salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thes 5:9).
Prayer: Father, may Jesus return soon — even now. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Promise: "What is there about His speech? He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they leave." —Lk 4:36
Praise: Fr. Ron was skeptical about the value of the gift of tongues until he heard an old lady praise the Lord in Latin, a language he realized she didn't know.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, February 1, 1997
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, February 4, 1997