One Minute Reflection – 27 November – Memorial of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal – Readings: Daniel 7: 15-27; Daniel 3: 82-87; Luke 21: 34-36
“Be vigilant at all times and pray, that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man…” – Luke 21:36)
REFLECTION – “Watch” over your life. Do not let “your lamps” go out and do not keep “your loins ungirded” but “be ready,” for “you do not know the hour when our Lord is coming.” Meet together frequently in your search for what is good for your souls, since “a lifetime of faith will be of no advantage” to you unless you prove perfect at the very end. In the final days, multitudes of false prophets and seducers will appear. Sheep will turn into wolves and love into hatred. With the increase of iniquity, people will hate, persecute and betray each other. Then the world deceiver will appear in the disguise of God’s Son. He will work “signs and wonders” and the earth will fall into his hands. He will commit outrages such as have never occurred before. Then humankind will come to the “fiery trial“ and many will fall away” and perish. “Those who persevere in their faith will be saved” by the Curse himself.
Then “there will appear the signs” of the Truth: first the sign of stretched-out hands in heaven, then the sign of “a trumpet’s blast” and third, the resurrection of the dead but not all the dead. As it has been said, “The Lord will come and all his saints with him. Then the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of the sky.” – Unknown 1st Century Author of this early Treatise (Didache, 16)
PRAYER – Let us praise You alone, Lord, with voice and mind and deed and since life itself is Your gift, may we live in Your presence, never ceasing to live as Your children of light. Strengthen us good Father, to keep our lives free from the evils of the world and may we constantly be aware of the dangers we face. Grant that by the intercession of the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mother of Your divine Son, we may remain untempted by the evil pursuits which beset us. Through Jesus our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 