Daily Retreat 08/26/08
2008 Aug 26 Tue: Ordinary Weekday
2 Thes 2: 1-3a. 14-17/ Ps 95(96): 10. 11-12. 13/ Mt 23: 23-26
From today’s readings: “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.... The Lord comes to judge the earth.... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites....”
Here He Comes!
As Christians, we faithfully await the Parousia, Christ’s coming in glory at the end of earthly time. Jesus Himself, in the days before His crucifixion, spoke about His future coming at quite some length, although He purposely omitted many details, such as the precise date He would return!
From the earliest times, there thus has been wild speculation about those details which Christ, for reasons He knows best, chose not to reveal. Writing to the Thessalonians in the mid 50's, St. Paul insisted that faithful Christians need to be on guard against preposterous preoccupation with the Parousia, and disastrous delirium about the end times.
Paul’s warning is not to say, of course, that Christians should just forget about preparing for the Day of the Lord - in fact, it’s crucial that such preparation be done by every follower of Christ, but always, as St. Paul maintains, in the spirit of hope and with the commitment to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”
2 Thes 2: 1-3a. 14-17/ Ps 95(96): 10. 11-12. 13/ Mt 23: 23-26
From today’s readings: “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.... The Lord comes to judge the earth.... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites....”
Here He Comes!
As Christians, we faithfully await the Parousia, Christ’s coming in glory at the end of earthly time. Jesus Himself, in the days before His crucifixion, spoke about His future coming at quite some length, although He purposely omitted many details, such as the precise date He would return!
From the earliest times, there thus has been wild speculation about those details which Christ, for reasons He knows best, chose not to reveal. Writing to the Thessalonians in the mid 50's, St. Paul insisted that faithful Christians need to be on guard against preposterous preoccupation with the Parousia, and disastrous delirium about the end times.
Paul’s warning is not to say, of course, that Christians should just forget about preparing for the Day of the Lord - in fact, it’s crucial that such preparation be done by every follower of Christ, but always, as St. Paul maintains, in the spirit of hope and with the commitment to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”
posted by FrPitstick | 8/25/2008
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