Some say Christ's prophecies have been fulfilled. Others, that they have yet to be fulfilled. Hopefully the apostles he was talking to knew. I don't. I know only that he wanted us to be watchful and prepared for the end.
People look with scholarly interest to the earthquakes and wars and "the abomination that causes desolation" that some feel will herald the end of the age or earth. I'm more intrigued by this simple warning: "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap." We live in an anxious age, a time when worries of global warming and the stock crisis might weigh us down and move us to find solace in escape. We need to look only to Him.
Jesus closes his warnings with the plea for service. No one can fault service. Even the non-Catholic admire Mother Teresa and well we should. The apostles have come to Christ wanting to know about the end of the age and perhaps His ascendency and He points them instead to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the imprisoned and asks how have they served them? That's all we should concern ourselves with. Instead of our scholarly pursuits to answer the great questions, we should study how best to serve. [Matthew 25:31-46]
Which is the best testament to Christ -- our intimate knowledge of the word or putting it humbly in practice? Service presumes you know the word well enough that you embody it.
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