{"id":7222,"date":"2021-08-29T09:37:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T23:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=7222"},"modified":"2021-08-29T19:17:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T09:17:57","slug":"the-end-is-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/the-end-is-near\/","title":{"rendered":"The End is Near"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The End is Near<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Mark 13:3-37<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lord discusses with His disciples the signs to come that will signify the end times are near. There is a whole list of signs to look out for regarding the end of times. Our Lord Jesus Christ concludes these signs with some advice. When you notice these signs, keep in mind this advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live in a time where many will ask if certain events are\nsigns of the end. We turn to the advice of Christ. There are a few different\npieces of advice that Christ gives when we begin to notice these signs come to fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming\u2014in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning\u2014 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!\u201d<\/em><\/p>Mark 13:32-37<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Watch<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The first piece of advice from our Lord is to be watchful.\nWhen He says, \u201cWatch,\u201d what is He asking to watch for? Is He asking us to watch\nfor the signs? Rather, He is asking us to watch ourselves. To watch our actions.\nTo watch our thoughts. To watch our intentions. To watch myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Christ was speaking to Peter, James and Andrew, He tells them, \u201cwatch lest they come in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster<\/strong>, or in the morning<\/em>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Whenever you see the rooster mentioned in the gospels, you think of Peter. In the very next chapter, Jesus says to them, \u201cAll of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night\u201d<\/em> (Luke 14:27). Peter responds, \u201cEven if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that Peter was made to stumble, at the crowing of\nthe rooster. Peter\u2019s mistake here is that he did not watch. He did not assume\nthat he was capable of stumbling. At Christ\u2019s warning to watch, Peter says, \u201cno,\neven if all will stumble, I will not stumble<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be watchful is to realise that I, too, have the potential\nto stumble. I have the potential of falling away. I have the potential to be\ntempted. No sin is beyond me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we have this mindset, we become very mindful of our\nactions. I can never assume that I am not capable of stumbling. Our Lord is\ntelling us to be careful of ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026And Pray<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The second thing He tells them is to watch, and pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming\u2014in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning\u2014lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.<\/p>Mark 13:34-36<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our Lord divides the night into four sections. The evening,\nmidnight, the crowing of the rooster and the morning. This is the exact same\nway the Agpia is divided. We have the evening prayer, the midnight prayer (with\nfirst, second and third services to correspond with evening, midnight, crowing\nof the rooster and the morning).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church creates for us this structure to be watchful in\nprayer at all times. We are called to watch and pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The final advice our Lord gives to the disciples is not be\nconcerned with the timing itself, \u201cBut of that day and hour no one knows,\nnot even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it possible that not even Christ knows the time of the\nend of the world? Isn\u2019t He God? Doesn\u2019t He know all things? How could it be\nthat the Son of Man does not know the time of the end of the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, He does know; He must know, for He is God. He\ndoesn\u2019t know In His capacity as a Teacher to tell us. It is not beneficial for\nus to know. Since it is not beneficial for us to know, then He does not know,\nin His role as a Teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone comes for confession, and soon after another\nperson comes and says, \u201cdid he confess that he lied?\u201d What can the priest say?\nHe cannot say yes as he cannot reveal confessions. He can\u2019t even say no, because\neven that he cannot reveal. What the priest can say is, I don\u2019t know. <\/em>I\ndon\u2019t know what he confessed, because it is not my place and it is not beneficial\nfor you to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lord Jesus Christ who instructs us to the Kingdom, says He\ndoes not know for it is not beneficial to us. What does that mean to us? It\nmeans that He wants to be prepared at all times. To always be ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If He were to give us the exact date, then I know I can relax for now. It is not helpful to me. Rather, our Lord tells us, no one knows the time, so therefore, now is the time. Now is the time to be prepared. Today is the day to be ready. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we look around us in the world, we can see almost all the signs of the end. There are wars, there are rumours of wars. There\u2019s Afghanistan, there\u2019s COVID, there\u2019s famine. There is everything. So what do we do with these signs? Our Lord tells us to watch, watch ourselves. Pray and be prepared now. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The End is Near Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily Mark 13:3-37 Our Lord discusses with His disciples the signs to come that will signify the end times are near. There is a whole list of signs to look out for regarding the end of times. Our Lord Jesus Christ concludes these signs … Continue reading “The End is Near”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7222"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7228,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222\/revisions\/7228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}