"So also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him" (Hebrews 9:28).
My sister passed over the next book in the Left Behind series, and I prepared to jump in. The year was mid 1990s and the genre of end times was apparently a hot item to conjure up futuristic fiction about what it was like after the Second Coming. Pretty sure I read all of them in one summer and was very intrigued about the scarcity of resources and mark of the Beast and this Christian author's research into the Book of Revelations. Basic teen life?
But as Catholics, the study of eschatology or the end times is a broad and deep and mysterious topic. I've read some commentary, but had to stop because I found myself prone to gauging everything as though it were a sign. I couldn't enjoy the hot cocoa before a winter's roaring fire with a bristling snow outdoors without wondering if it were my last. I fretted about frequenting Confession for all the wrong reasons.
As we read in Hebrews today, "Christ . . . will appear a second time . . . to bring salvation" (9:28). He wants to bring us home, to bring us salvation. He's already offered us His grace for the forgiveness of our sins. Instead of fretting about if these unprecedented times are the end times, I've taken comfort in knowing that yes, I will die someday and meet my own end time. And when that time comes, I want to be ready to go home with Jesus.
My stress-about-end-times mental checklist that maybe would serve you too goes like this:
1) Am I attached to my sins, like I want to keep doing them?
2) Am I ignoring or regularly checking in with God?
3) If my life ended tomorrow, did I spend today loving the people in my life or worrying about inane things like my cellulite?
What do you want to reorder in your life before your own end time?
What do you want to re-order in your life before your own end time? // Nell O'LearyClick to tweet
LOVING GOD, LOVING OTHERS
A NEW WORKSHOP
COME BACK TO FIRST LOVE
