Daniel 12:1-3 / Psalm 16 / Hebrews 10:11-14, 18 / Mark 13:24-32

Here at the end of our Church year we focus on End Times.  We essentially have two End Times prophecies, one from Daniel and one from Jesus, but there are multiple meanings within them.

When we consider what Jesus just said in our Gospel, we can see two distinct prophecies, one is about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, one is about the end of the world.  

The destruction of the Temple already happened, in the year 70, in the generation as Jesus said it would.  The end of time clearly has not happened, and Jesus says we don’t know when it will happen.

There’s another sense of the end of the world, that will be at our death, we don’t know when that will happen either, and I feel like that is the most relevant thing for us to consider today.  People often ask me, “Father, are we living in the End Times?” And I’m like, “I don’t know! But what I do know is that we are living in our own End Times, based on history, we are more likely to die than to see the end of the world.”

I heard a story of a pair of Saints recently that I’d like to share. In 1855, St. Don Bosco approached a group of three boys playing soccer and asked them if they knew they only had three weeks to live, what would they do first, and how would they spend the rest of their time?

The first said he would go to the chapel immediately and spend the next three weeks in prayer.  The second said the same.  The third, a thirteen year old named Dominic Savio said, “I’d keep playing soccer.”

I was really struck by that, he’d keep playing soccer!?  So I had to do a little more research and I found out that, as the day of his first Communion drew near, Dominic wrote down four resolutions, four remarkably mature thoughts for a seven year old, he wrote:

• I will go to Confession and Communion as often as my confessor will allow.

• I will sanctify Sundays and holy days in a special way.

• Jesus and Mary will be my friends.

• Death, but not sin. (Meaning he would rather die than commit sin…)

You see, little Dominic Savio lived by these resolutions.  So then, when faced with this question about death, he wasn’t concerned about running to the church to pray and make up for lost time, he had already been doing it, he had already been living it!  That’s why he could keep playing soccer.

Dominic did die two years later, and the Church recognized him as a Saint.

The point is, if there are things we need to do, if there is something we feel we are leaving undone spiritually, we shouldn’t wait, we should do it now.  Don’t wait for January 1st to make a New Year's resolution, do it now, make that spiritual resolution now and take action.

We know neither the day nor the hour of the second coming of God, whether that be for us personally or for the world, but we do know how God has asked us to live.

In conclusion, I’d like to just point out one small detail from our first reading from Daniel, since it is our practice to pray the St. Michael the Archangel prayer at the end of Mass at these parishes, I just want to point out a reference to him, it said: “At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people.”

St. Michael the Archangel is our guardian, our “Defender” if you will, he is on our team, playing defense for us, and this is why we look to him to help us on our way.  Sometimes things might seem too difficult, but God has given us great spiritual help to make resolutions and to follow through with them.  

When we think about End Times, it can cause us concern, it can bring us fear, but the reality is that God loves us as His Son and Daughters and is trying to help us to choose to follow Him.  The truth is that God loves us and wants us to be in Heaven with Him at the end of time…