“God gave the day, God gave the strength.”

“In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness.” ― Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions: And Advice to Young Converts

Gospel Text: (LK 21:29-33)

Jesus told his disciples a parable.

“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.

When their buds burst open,

you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;

in the same way, when you see these things happening,

know that the Kingdom of God is near.

Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away

until all these things have taken place.

Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away.”

In today’s Gospel reading, after Jesus himself described the end times, he makes a simple but crucial point. When the tree buds, summer is coming. It is something we can see for ourselves. It’s the same with the signs of the times. We don’t need complicated tools to dissect scary prophesies. Jesus is coming again. We know how the story ends.

Will we confront turbulence? Yes. Will natural disasters occur? Yes. Will people try to deceive the faithful? Yes. But don’t forget: all of this has gone on since the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and it will continue until Jesus comes again.

As Pope Francis proclaimed at the inaugural Mass for this year’s World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro , “The ‘dragon,’ evil, is present in our history, but it does not have the upper hand. The One with the upper hand is God, and God is our hope!”