THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for September 30th, 2014
Memorial of St. Jerome
Liturgical texts here
ONE man laments his sufferings. The other goes straight toward them. One man questions why he was born. Another fulfills His destiny. Both men long for their deaths.
The difference being that Job wants to die to end his suffering. But Jesus wants to die to end our suffering. And thus…
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for September 29th, 2014
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels
Liturgical texts here
The Fig Tree
BOTH Daniel and St. John write of a terrible beast that rises to overwhelm the entire world for a short time… but is followed by the establishment of God’s Kingdom, “an everlasting dominion.” It is given not only to the one “like a son of man”, [1]cf. First reading but…
…the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. (Dan 7:27)
This sounds like Heaven, which is why many mistakenly speak of the end of the world after the fall of this beast. But the Apostles and Church Fathers understood it differently. They anticipated that, at some point in the future, God’s Kingdom would come in a profound and universal way before the end of time.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. First reading |
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