Delivered by Reinaldy from the Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Wisdom 13: 1-9; Rs psalm 19: 2-3.4-5; Luke 17: 26-37.

THE END OF TIME CALLING

Our meditation today isentitled: The End of Time Calling. A mother advised her two children who arestill in elementary school and who are lazy to pray, that they may regain theirexcitement to pray. They asked, "What's the point of praying always andnot become lazy to pray?" The mother said that now we might not have itsuse, but later at the end of time it will be very useful. The two children areagain eager to pray. The reason they always remember certainly there is the endof time, even though they do not understand anything about the end of time.

The end of timeaccording to our faith is a reality that will happen later, when one departsfrom this world. We can not think and explain it only with reason, but mustalso with faith. The end of time assures that in this reality we willexperience the true God as He is, whom we always call his name while we stillin this world. For this reason, the book of Wisdom of today's first readingconfirms our encounter at the end of time with our God, the Creator and Rulerof all, who is the Lord of all beauty, power and goodness.

The scripturesexplain the end of time calling through the teachings of Jesus Christ and thevision of the saints. These teachings and testimonies are manifested indifferent forms of explanation. It is our duty to understand them correctly inorder to believe correctly too. If we heed this call very well, we understandit all about and we believe in it while we still in this world, then our hopeto encounter the end of time is always something we expect without doubt.

Today we are taughtthat the end of time contains two main things, namely the second coming ofJesus Christ and the life of the hereafter. The following are a number of signsof the end of time according to the scriptures: 1) it comes at an unexpectedtime, 2) when we go through our daily lives as usual, 3) a sudden coming, 4)after a cruel persecution of the Church, 5) after a terrible earthquake,plague, famine in various places and in the sky there are great signs ofnature, 6) after a mass apostasy, 7) after the power of the Antichrist isdestroyed, 8) when love for the oppressed and sufferings becomes cold, 9) whenthe gospel already preached to all corners of the world, 10) when all Israelsare saved, 11) when this Church becomes holy and without defects, withoutstains and scratches of any form.

There have been manypredictions of the end of time to happen, but until this moment it has not yethappened. What for us certain is this: we will prepare ourselves, and if themoment our own death comes, it is the end of every one's time.

Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O good and loving Father, we pray that when Jesus Christ returns, may we befound ready and worhty to welcome Him. Hail Mary, full of grace ... In the nameof the Father ...