Newsletter – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C.

REFLECTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

Every so often, some famous person or group comes along to predict the exact day of the end of the world. Everyone gets excited, lots of news coverage is aired, and a lot of conversation is stirred up. Why not? It’s an exciting possibility. People like talking about it: What might it be like? How will we know if it’s coming? Is it possible to read the signs? Will it happen while we are still alive?

Do such questions and conversations bore you or interest you? Do they cause you any concern? How so?

Have you heard any specific predictions lately about the end of the world? Do you put much stock in such predictions? Why or why not?

Very often, when people get nervous about ‘the end of the world’, it’s because there is a lot of fear of death and final judgment. But actually, the odds are not very high that tomorrow will be the last day of the world. The odds, however, are very high that tomorrow will be the last day of someone’s life. That’s because many people die every day. We never know when it will be our turn. When it happens to someone we love, it is tragic, and often sudden and shocking even though we know that, sooner or later, it happens to us all.

Instead of worrying about living the last day of the world, why not begin to appreciate life and those we love as if every day could be our last? (or their last?)

How is your life different when you try to do that? How would your life be different if everyone tried to do that?

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