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Reflection on this Sunday's scripture readings
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Daniel 12:1-3 Psalm 15 Hebrews 10:11-14.18 Mark 13:24-32
As we near the end of the Church's year, the readings focus our minds on the end times. The book of Daniel was written in the second century BCE to encourage Jews to maintain their faith in the God Of Israel and not to be lured by the pagan learning of the Hellenists or the succumb to the persecution of their ruler Antiochus Epiphanes. The author reassures his readers that in spite of their sufferings God's chosen ones will be saved and the dead be resurrected.
At the time of Jesus the end times were thought to be very near. In the gospel passage the signs of the end or eschaton are portrayed in the context of the glorious return of Jesus as the Son of Man, proof of the victory of God over any other force. In the parable of the fig tree Jesus urges his hearers to have confidence that these things will take place. They don't know when they will happen but they must be attentive and look out for the signs. Only God knows the day and the hour.
Perhaps we feel that the end times are too far ahead to worry about. However, signs are visible to us every day about the earth and how we use or abuse it; about those suffering severe poverty and depravation through injustice and greed. Can we spend some time reading these signs in our world today?