Father Nelson: Once a priest was playing tennis with a friend. During the break, the talk shifted to a more serious vein with his partner asking, "Father, suppose the end of the world suddenly came and we were out there playing. What would you do? Get down on your knees and pray?". The priest paused for a moment, and said, "I would go right on playing." What he is trying to say is that we should not worry about the end of the world. What we should worry about is that whether or not we are holding on to a Christian faith and living it to the fullest despite many adversities.

Father Nelson continues:

Each year at this time the Church asks us to apply the last things. That are Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell to ourselves. Today the readings invite us to focus our attention to the three fold coming of Jesus. First, His first coming according to the flesh, as Redeemer of this world as we can experience at Christmas. Second, His second coming either at death or at the end of time and the world which will bring our salvation to completion. Third, His coming into our lives each time we step forward in genuine Christian living. The first reading today with it's vision of the Archangel Michael taken from the Prophet Daniel was originally given to convert and give hope to the Jewish people persecuted by a cruel pagan king. The second reading the author of the Letter to the Hebrews consoles believers suffering from end time phobia, with the knowledge that Jesus who saves forever at God's right hand is our mediator.