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(Mal.3:19-20;\xa0\xa0 Ps.98:5-9;\xa0\xa0 2Thes.3:7-12;\xa0\xa0 Lk.21:5-19) \xa0 \u201cFor you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.\u201d \xa0 The end comes.\xa0 The end of the Church year approaches, and the end of time is always upon us.\xa0 What shall it mean for us, the fact that \u201cthere will not be left a stone upon another stone\u201d?\xa0 That day comes \u201cblazing like an oven\u201d for all evildoers, but for the just the healing rays of the Son of God shine down \u2013 will we be burned with the proud like stubble, or made whole in the presence of God? Yes, \u201cHe comes to rule the earth; He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity.\u201d\xa0 He is just and so He cannot but judge with justice.\xa0 How shall we prepare for His coming?\xa0 What do we do as we wait?\xa0 Paul gives us wise instruction, simple instruction, which should be simply heeded: \u201cWork quietly.\u201d\xa0 It is not for us to be anxious or afraid; it is not for us to fall into disorder or become lazy\u2026 it is but for us to remain occupied with the work of God, however simple, however wonderful, that working be.\xa0 We may be as St. Theresa and her little way, giving ourselves to the Lord in the simple tasks we perform day to day; or we may be as the missionaries for whom she prayed, going out to the ends of the earth, handed over to \u201csynagogues and to prisons,\u201d being \u201cled before kings and governors\u201d to give witness to the name of Christ \u2013 \u201cand they will put some of you to death\u201d \u2013 but to whatever we are called, always it must be the Lord and His Spirit which are at work in us, helping us to persevere to the end.\xa0 Not all shall die in the cause, but all must remain faithful to His voice. Brothers and sisters, sometimes it is the hardest thing simply to go on day to day.\xa0 Regardless of our situation, we can become distracted and, failing to find the wisdom of Christ, seek to \u201cprepare [our] defense beforehand,\u201d to put the words of the Lord into our own mouths \u2013 to decide for ourselves what the Lord would have us do.\xa0 It is the simplest thing to accept His will, to bask in the rays of His glory\u2026 and yet so anxious do we become in our waiting that we cannot hear His still, small voice speaking to our hearts.\xa0 We must persevere.\xa0 We must go on.\xa0 We must listen.\xa0 He is coming, and if we fear His holy Name, we shall have nothing else to fear: we shall be made whole. \xa0 Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. \xa0 Music: "The End of the World Courses through a Day" from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. \xa0 ******* O LORD, let us do your work now on this plane that we might rejoice in your coming Day. YHWH, help us to persevere until the Day of your Son\u2019s return; that Day is at hand, we know \u2013 let us be ready for its purging fire. And as we stand yet on this earth, let us be ever willing to do your work, to give witness to you and to your Son even with our own lives.\xa0 Our lives are nothing apart from His sacrifice, and so, O LORD, let us lay them down freely in any way you call. Give us words to speak to those who accuse us unjustly; put your testimony in our hearts and in our mouths.\xa0 Your Spirit be with us to guide us in all things, that in all things we might act with wisdom.\xa0 We shall not fear the destruction of this world, dear LORD, if Jesus remains always at our side.\xa0 Come now with your justice, O God, and let us forever praise your NAME.\xa0 Your holy will be done even this day.