in the days to come ...

The great rulers of both day and night will lose its brightness, the bright shining stars will fall from their positions. Then, the Son of Man will appear in great power and glory. Though now is a time of great suffering and tribulations, God will be victorious.

This is the general structure of the end day literature. We have the book of revelation, Zechariah, Daniel and some part of Ezekiel in this nature. There were also works of literature like Paradise Lost, Divine Comedy, and the writing of Nostradamus … with similar purpose. Though they may use religious symbolism, they refer to a socio-political crisis and a need to renew.

Apocalypse is at the same time both a revelation and an opportunity to renew. Having realised what really happens, a passing over is essential. When different belief systems, cultural values, religious traditions, and social structures there can be challenges and conflicts. Sometime they may hit very hard on traditional structures. It can give us a feeling that everything is going to collapse. The end is near! In fact, it is a cultural crisis happening within our religious traditions. It requires an interior revelation. Saying that preserving traditions we can lose our freedom and become fanatics. Many of the end day sayings and scripture fulfilment narratives lead us away from God and from the very intention of the Scripture itself. We expect to keep ourselves pure and untouched by all that happens around, escape from what happens around, and resisting to understand. Anxious forms of pious practices are also not the solution. Every age has a Word content in it, that is the lamp given to us for walking through that time. It gives us the involve anointing and preparation needed for the end days. The end days is not the end, but a passing through into a new creation.

An integral spiritual effort needs to aim at understanding the crisis sincerely, discern the reasons and solutions, and to bring them into action. Today, religion, culture and social life is called for a sincere commitment towards the challenge we face not only as humans but as an earth being. Does it really matter to us? It is not about whether we can prevent earthquakes and volcanoes, it is about how we can nurture one another in the moments of calamities. Is there sufficient spiritual transformation within us to be brothers and sisters in the very context when there are divisions in the level of nations, ethnicity, religion, and culture. This transformation is an ecclesial, ecological and cultural conversion, a transformation towards fraternity, collaboration, goodness, compassion and humanity. That is why Pope Francis often emphasises on these qualities and says that the Covid situation will make us the best or the worst humanity ever depending on our choice today.

We have our confidence in God, we place our hope in God, we experience the closeness of God even in time of trials and crisis. these end days will lead us to be a new creation.