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GOSPEL REFLECTIONS FOR BUSY PEOPLE
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Luke 21:5-19

How do we view "The End" times? There will be fear and trembling as the Sunday readings would imply! There will be earthquakes, disasters, calamities, and there will come, the end of the world, so to speak. Biblical and symbolical were the images of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, which was the center of worship, and the house of God, as well as the identity of the chosen race, the Jews. But, as of today, here and now, everything is still very well! No sign of "The End." How can we view "The End" times?

 Thomas Edison and his mother taught me how! One cold night, Edison's laboratory room blew and burned their entire house. They watched from a distance, and said, "It's nice to see our house burning and the laboratory gone with ashes. Let's enjoy heating up the< night!" Consisting of not just once but frequent failures, they looked at the fire burning all the errors of Edison's experiment! They built another< house and another laboratory for many other experiments. Until one night, they saw the one right bulb burning with pride and so with another and other countless number of electric bulbs. Is it not the same with every Christian soul?

How I wish to view "The End" times? This is rather a personal dream and a more serious question! What if I had lived as a Christian of the early Church, or the persecuted Church, during the times of martyrs and defenders of the faith? To whom shall I belong? Shall I die for the faith? Shall I escape and be afraid? Shall I hide and be safe? Shall I be loyal or dissident? People of today see the Church in many comfort zones! Sometimes it's hard to see the dividing line. But the real answer is that for every moment whether persecuted or not, a Christian will make a big difference because of Christ. And that life surely will be an endless story