Opening prayer
God is peace, the principle of all kinds of communion. Let us extol peace with songs of peaceful praise. It is God-who-is-Peace who brings all things into unity, who is the cause of every agreement, who is the author of all harmony.
Gospel reading: Matthew 24:36-44
(read on Bible Gateway)
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Reflections
Whether the Son Knows the Day (Hilary of Poitiers): When Christ taught us that no one knows the day on which the end of time will come, not the angels and not even himself, he removed from us any need to be concerned about its date. O immeasurable mercy of divine goodness! On Matthew 26:4
They Did Not Know Until the Flood Came (Origen): All who listen to the depths of the Gospel and live it so completely that none of it remains veiled from them care very little about whether the end of the world will come suddenly and all at once or gradually and little by little. Instead, they bear in mind only that each individual's end or death will arrive on a day and hour unknown to him and that "upon each one of us the day will come like a thief." Commentary on Matthew 26
Closing prayer
Therefore, we ask that we may know what we love, since we ask nothing other than that you give us yourself. For you are our all: our life, our light, our salvation, our food and our drink, our God. Inspire our hearts, I ask you, Jesus, with that breath of your Spirit.
God is peace, the principle of all kinds of communion. Let us extol peace with songs of peaceful praise. It is God-who-is-Peace who brings all things into unity, who is the cause of every agreement, who is the author of all harmony.
Gospel reading: Matthew 24:36-44
(read on Bible Gateway)
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Reflections
Whether the Son Knows the Day (Hilary of Poitiers): When Christ taught us that no one knows the day on which the end of time will come, not the angels and not even himself, he removed from us any need to be concerned about its date. O immeasurable mercy of divine goodness! On Matthew 26:4
They Did Not Know Until the Flood Came (Origen): All who listen to the depths of the Gospel and live it so completely that none of it remains veiled from them care very little about whether the end of the world will come suddenly and all at once or gradually and little by little. Instead, they bear in mind only that each individual's end or death will arrive on a day and hour unknown to him and that "upon each one of us the day will come like a thief." Commentary on Matthew 26
Closing prayer
Therefore, we ask that we may know what we love, since we ask nothing other than that you give us yourself. For you are our all: our life, our light, our salvation, our food and our drink, our God. Inspire our hearts, I ask you, Jesus, with that breath of your Spirit.
i often await in excitement for the day of his return, however every day i do not expect it to happen which kind of proves his point doesn't it?