GETTING READY FOR THE "END" OF THE WORLD!

Friday, May 20, 2011 

St. Bernadine of Siena, OFM Priest (Memorial)

By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

John 14: 1 - 6

1          "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.

2          In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3          And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

4          And you know the way where I am going."

5          Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"

6          Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED FRIDAY TO ALL!!!

The many discussions about the prediction of certain doom’s-day-sayers that the world will end this coming May 21, 2011 have deeply TROUBLED and make many hearts anxious. Many hearts have been consumed with FEAR! Many are anxious about the uncertainty of what is coming. The sudden heavy rains in the afternoon after a very hot morning have made some of my students to think and ask if the world is really coming to its end. Many have asked if TRULY the end of the world will come on May 21, 2011. An American preacher, Harold Camping, has even claimed that he is a hundred percent certain that the end of the world would come on may 21, 2011. It is the day of Jesus return to earth, according to him.

Jesus, in the Gospel today, admonishes us not to be troubled but rather have faith in God and in him. If the end of the world would come, Jesus assured us that there are plenty of rooms in God’s house. Jesus assured furthermore that he is the one preparing the rooms for us. But is he returning this Saturday, May 21, 2011? Nobody knows! What is certain is Jesus is coming back. But Jesus declared that only the Father knows when. The real issue is not so much about WHEN is Jesus EXACTLY coming back but our READINESS for his return. The question is not whether on May 21, this coming Saturday, would Jesus really be coming back but are we READY if he will really comes back on that day. Jesus promised us that when he returns back he will take us to himself to bring us to where he is. He said, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

To the unprepared, certainly their hearts will be devoured with anxiety. They will surely be troubled. To get prepared for the coming of the “end” of the world is to know HOW to enter into the PLACE where Jesus prepared plenty of rooms for us. We need to know the WAY to get there. And there is no other way than JESUS! He is the WAY back to the Father. He is the WAY to have our ROOMS in the Father’s HOUSE. The unprepared is like Thomas who does not know the way because he doesn’t know fully Jesus yet.

If we truly know Jesus, we must not be troubled even if tomorrow will be the end of the world. For us not to get LOST, let us hold on to Jesus firmly by following him closely. He is the WAY because in him we have the TRUTH of our SALVATION, and in him, therefore, we have LIFE to eternity in the Father’s HOUSE. As Christians, our HOPE lies not on a teaching but on a PERSON—the one who is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. He is JESUS!