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Jesus
said, "When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel
the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand);
then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, a person on the
housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, a person in
the field must not return to get his cloak. Woe to pregnant women and
nursing mothers in those days. Pray that your flight not be in winter
or on the sabbath, for at that time there will be great tribulation,
such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor
ever will be."
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"You got me thinking, it’ll be alright. You told me, 'Come
and
take a look inside.' You believed me in
every single lie. I failed you this
time, and it feels like tonight. I can’t
believe I’m broken inside. Can’t you see
that there’s nothing that I wanna do but try to make it up to
you, and it feels like tonight. Tonight. I never felt like this before.
Nothing else here seems to matter. In these ever-changing days,
you’re the one
thing that remains. And it feels like tonight."
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The man in
the relationship in Chris
Daughtry's song "Feels
Like Tonight"
feels the importance of the other, but it has not always been that way;
in fact, he has done something wrong recently,
and so
he reasons that he should make things right once again as quickly as he
can. There is a
lesson for life here: if someone does something wrong in a
relationship, he/she should try to correct it right away.
One of the frightening things about Jesus' description of the things that lead up to the end of time is how fast it will come. As Matthew recalls Jesus' thoughts, Jesus speaks of the desecration of the temple in Daniel's prophecy and how something similar will happen in the very near future, namely, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and how people must react quickly to the evil lest they suffer as well. When evil happens, there must be a quick reaction. Such a statement governs the action of people exposed to evil as well as people who finally realize that they are responsible for the evil. In Daughtry's song "Feels Like Tonight," the man in the relationship is responsible for the evil in the relationship. As he admits, "You believed me in every single lie." And so he realizes what he must do--"nothing else seems to matter," he says--and he takes up the task--"tonight." That is, right away. He sets his goal on doing something to make things right. In the Scriptures, people are urged to deal with the evil quickly. In the relationships that we are responsible for in life, we must be aware of any evil that we cause, and once we are aware of it, we must set about doing something about it as soon as we can. |
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THOUGHT
What
are the best ways to correct a wrong that we have caused in a
relationship?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, your Son warned that we will have to react quickly to
the evil that will occur. Help us learn from him in such a way so as to
include reacting quickly to the evil for which we are responsible. Give
us the grace to try to right our wrongs immediately. Be with us, we
pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |