It’s that time of year when we hear apocalyptic Scriptures, today’s from the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of Mark. This highly imaginative and symbolic writing was meant to both warn and reassure people facing death-dealing forces around them. So these Scriptures invite us to look at death-dealing forces around us today. What in our culture subverts our good intentions, our wish daily to love and serve God? These Scriptures also nudge us to look at death (and whoever wants to do that!). We hear about the end of time. “End time” is happening for all of us during life. Consider all the endings you have experienced! Have you ended being a student, ended being young and comely, ended being single, ended living in a certain place, ended jobs, ended having living parents, ended having children living with you, ended being healthy? Each ending includes loss, a kind of dying. Dying is hard and scary. Reflecting on end times in our lives can help us prepare for death, the final end time, the last dying. This kind of reflection is not easy but we have a Lord who also died, and He has our back!
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia