End of the World in 2012?? Only the Father Knows--a Reflection on the 33 Sunday of Ordinary Time

The ancient Mayan culture evidently predicted the end of the Earth if you believe the upcoming movie, 2012. This epic adventure movie shows scenes of the world's destruction, complete with meteor strikes, earth quakes, floods and the crushing of icons such as the Washington Memorial and St. Peter's Basilica. But not only the Mayans tried to predict the end of the world. There have been plenty of Christian groups who tried to set dates for Christ's second coming only to see the dates come and go. Even groups who haven't tried to predict the date have tried to predict how it would end supposedly based on the final book of the Bible--Revelation. These predictions have spawned books and movies such as "Left Behind." This has even lead some to say that President Obama is the anti-Christ and we are now at the end times!

This weekend's readings talk about the "end times." The book of Daniel talks about it being a time of great distress while Jesus says in the Gospel that, "the sun will be darkened,and the moon will not give its light,and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken."

I think the most important thing Jesus says about the end of the world is at the end of the gospel though: "But of that day or hour, no one knows,neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

No one knows!!! So stop worrying about it!! Stop trying to predict when it will come and stop trying to correlate "Barrack Hussein Obama" with 666 using some weird formula. Only the Father knows!!

Here is something that is more important to realize. The end IS coming for each and every one of us. At some point we will die. And just like the end of the world--only God knows when this will be. So be prepared!! Do what you have to do to accept God's salvation. Do what you have to do to get yourself closer to God. You may think you have another forty years but the truth of the matter is--it could all come to a crashing halt tomorrow. Turn to Jesus today. Don't wait until 2012. It may be too late.