Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Sometimes we can lose vigilance in our religious practice when we repeatedly hear about the end of the world but it never happens… Except, it does happen. Over and over again. The world is completely different than it was 2,000 years ago. Empires rise and fall, philosophies change, and technology alters how we live. Scriptural warnings of the end times do not necessarily mean that the entirety of the planet will literally crumble to pieces as nations fight each other for supremacy. Rather, nations and all worldly institutions find their foundations erode beneath them, leading to their eventual downfall.
This is how we know that the Church is founded on God. Only God is unaffected by passage of time and therefore endures without change or diminishment. So many worlds have come to an end in the last 2,000 years, but the Church has not met its end. It has survived countless persecutions and scandals only because Jesus Christ is its foundation. Without him, we would have ceased to exist long ago. He is the Son of Man who has received dominion, glory, and kingship from the Father, and in his name the Church governs and leads his flock of wayward sheep.
Reflection by Fr. Victor Schinstock, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections