Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord.
This week on Sundays with Bishop Ken, our guest, Father Pete Gaspini, shares today's gospel with us, followed by one of Bishop Ken's homilies.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark.
Jesus said to his disciples, in those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds. From the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
Learn a lesson from the fig tree when its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves. You know that summer is near in the same way. When you see these things happening, know that he is near at the gates.
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, but of that day or hour. No one knows neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.
The gospel of the Lord.
There was a song in the sixties, and I wonder if you remember it. The lyrics go like this.
Why does the sun go on shining? Why do the seas rush to the shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world? Cause you don't love me anymore.
And the second part of the refrain, why do the birds go on singing? Why do these eyes of mine cry? Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when you said goodbye.
That's called apocalyptic language.
It means using symbolic images to describe something.
The song isn't really about the end of the world. It's about a young person whose world ends because a teenage romance broke up.
Symbolically speaking, the end of the world happens a thousand ways.
The world ends when a little boy's dog dies. The world ends when someone loses a job they need. The world ends when we experience a tragedy. The end of the world happens in a thousand ways.
In this gospel passage, Jesus is talking about the end of the world, the real end of the world.
In doing so, he uses stock symbolic language for any divine intervention, at least its stock for those who know the Old Testament.
For example, the prophet Isaiah, 750 years before, before Christ, talks about the coming intervention of God against their enemy, Babylon. He says, the stars and constellations of the heavens send forth no light. The sun is dark when it rises, and the light of the moon does not shine.
Jesus uses this same kind of language. It's symbolic, and we make a mistake when we take it literally.
Lets look at the truths that lie beneath these symbolic words of Jesus in this passage and what he said elsewhere. What do we know about the end of the world?
Here are four points.
Point number one, no one knows when it will take place.
First of all, we know what we dont know. We dont know when it will take place.
Jesus was quite clear about this. No one knows but God the father. None of the authors of any of the books of the Bible knew. The angels don't know. Jesus himself doesn't know.
People are sometimes surprised to hear him say that he doesn't know. But Jesus as a human being is like us in all things but sin. He didn't have eyes that could see the future.
So if anyone ever tells you that they know when the world will end, they're wrong.
We have it from the lips of Jesus. No one knows but the father. It could be a million, 5 million or a billion years. We just don't know.
Point number two, the universe as we know it will come to an end. Jesus is clear about that, and our tradition is clear about that.
Notice the phrase the universe as we know it. It doesn't mean that all creation will be thrown away.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of this world going to God to be there forever.
We also teach that Mary was assumed bodily into heaven. Part of our world is already in eternity.
So we shouldn't have a negative attitude toward creation. It will be transformed and become the reign of God. It has a destiny. We should always have a positive, optimistic view of creation, not a pessimistic one.
Point number three, my human life as I know it will come to an end.
This, in a sense, is the end of the world we are most concerned about.
And we know a little bit more about this one. At least we know that it's not a million years away.
For example, if I were in my sixties, it would be very probable that it will happen in the next 20 to 30 years. And of course, it could happen tomorrow.
And we're speaking of human life as we know it. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, which means that we will be full human beings, body and soul, transformed.
And point number four, whatever is good will last forever.
This is the one I want especially to emphasize.
Whatever is good will last forever.
The smallest act of love, even if unnoticed and unknown by anyone but me, is a precious jewel that will be part of the transformed universe forever and ever.
As a matter of fact, the smallest act of love is one of the forces that helps to transform the universe.
When it comes to goodness, there is no death apparent. Death is really a birth. That's why our logo is the cross.
Let evil forces do their worst. To me, goodness always lasts and evil always dies.
Now that is good news that can affect the way I spend a day, the way I spend a life. Just do good in whatever situation I'm in. It's as simple and as beautiful as that.
Jesus taught us how to live that way.
St. Teres, the little flower, lived that way. What a way to live.
The end of the world should never be something depressing, disheartening or frightening.
It is the birth, the wondrous transformation of all that is good in us, in others, in all creation.
God is more powerful than all the forces in the universe.
God's goodness is greater than all the evil that ever existed or will exist.
We're in the hands of a good and loving God at every mass. When the gifts are placed on the altar, we place ourselves there and there is peace in our hearts, for we rest in the hands of God.
Don't let anybody scare you with end of the world talk.
It's about the birth of all that is good into eternity.
I close with the words of Jesus in John's gospel when he poured his heart out to his disciples on the night before he died.
All this I tell you that my joy may be yours, and your joy may be complete.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today. If you like this week's reflection, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
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