ANSWERING SOME PHARISEES who asked Him when the kingdom of God would be established, Jesus said:

“The kingdom of God comes unawares.  Neither will they say, ‘Behold, here it is,’ or ‘Behold, there it is.’  For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Concerning His second coming, He told the disciples:

“The days will come when you will long to see one day of the Son of Man, and will not see it.  And they will say to you, ‘Behold, here He is; behold, there He is.’ Do not go, nor follow after them.  For as the lightning when it lightens flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day.  But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

“And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  They were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Or as it came to pass in the days of Lot.  They were eating and drinking, they were buying and selling, they were planting and building; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  In the same wise will it be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.  In that hour let him who is on the housetop and his goods in the house, not go down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back.  Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever tries to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses it will preserve it.  I say to you, on that night there will be two on one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken, and the other will be left.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken, and the other will be left.”

They asked where He would appear. And Jesus said:

“Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

Matthew 24:26-28  |  Matthew 24:37-41  |  Luke 17:20-37

Meditation:  “The kingdom of God is within you.” How often do we remind ourselves of this? It is not our work, its success or failure, our reputation for virtue, our position in life, our achievements which really matter, but the flourishing or desolate kingdom of God within us. The land where God and I walk alone together-it is either a magnificently adorned place of retreat or a barren desert, empty of spiritual riches. Only in death will we behold this creation in all its reality of fruitfulness or want but now is the time for its cultivation. What are God and I accomplishing in my soul?

Information from The Life of Christ “Our Lord’s Life with Lesson in His Own Words for Our Life Today”  The Catholic Press, Inc. 1959.  175-176.   © 1954 edited by Reverend John P. O’Connell, MASTD and Jex Martin, following mainly A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels by Stephen J Hartdegen OFM NIHIL OBSTAT John A McMahon; IMPRIMATUR Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago August 1, 1953.   Print.  Drawing by Albert H Winkler.

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