From: Luke 21:12-19

Discourse on the End of the World

[12] But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, deli-
vering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before
kings and governors for My name’s sake. [13] This will be a time for you to bear
testimony. [14] Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how
to answer; [15] for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adver-
saries will be able to withstand or contradict. [16] You will be delivered up even
by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put
to death; [17] you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. [18] But not a hair of
your head will perish. [19] By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

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Commentary:

5-36. The disciples are in awe of the magnificence of the temple, and Jesus uses
the occasion to give a long discourse, known as the “eschatological discourse”
because it has to do with the last days of the world. The account given here is ve-
ry similar to those in the other Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mt 24:1-51; Mk 13:1-37).
The discourse deals with three inter-connected subjects — the destruction of Je-
rusalem (which took place some forty years later), the end of the world, and the
second coming of Christ in glory and majesty. Jesus, who also predicts here the
persecution of the Church will experience, exhorts His disciples to be patient, to
pray and be watchful.

Our Lord speaks here in the style and language of prophecy, using images taken
from the Old Testament; also, in this discourse prophecies which are going to be
fulfilled very soon are mixed in with others which have to do with the end of the
world. It is not our Lord’s intention to satisfy people’s curiosity about future events,
but to protect them from being discouraged and scandalized about what is going
to happen in the days immediately ahead. This explains why He exhorts them:
“Take heed that you are not led astray” (v. 8); “do not be tempted” (v. 9); “watch
at all times” (v. 34).

19. Jesus foretells all kinds of persecution. Persecution itself is something inevi-
table: “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Ti-
mothy 3:12). His disciples will have need to remember the Lord’s warning at the
Last Supper: “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me,
they will persecute you” (John 15:20). However, these persecutions are part of
God’s providence: they happen because He lets them happen, which He does in
order to draw greater good out of them. Persecution provides Christians with an
opportunity to bear witness to Christ; without it the blood of martyrs would not
adorn the Church. Moreover, our Lord promises to give special help to those who
suffer persecution, and He tells them not to be afraid: He will give them of His
own wisdom to enable them to defend themselves; He will not permit a hair of
their heads to perish, that is, even apparent misfortune and loss will be for them
a beginning of Heaven.

From Jesus’ words we can also deduce the obligation of every Christian to be
ready to lose life rather than offend God. Only those will attain salvation who per-
severe until the end in faithfulness to the Lord. The three Synoptic Gospels lo-
cate His exhortation to perseverance in this discourse (cf. Matthew 24:13; Mark
13:13) and St. Matthew gives it elsewhere (Matthew 10:22) as does St. Peter (1
Peter 5:9) — all of which underlines the importance for every Christian of this war-
ning from our Lord.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28 ©

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for his noblemen; a thousand of them attended, and he drank wine in company with this thousand. As he sipped his wine, Belshazzar gave orders for the gold and silver vessels to be brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, so that the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women could drink out of them. The gold and silver vessels looted from the sanctuary of the Temple of God in Jerusalem were brought in, and the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women drank out of them. They drank their wine and praised their gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared, and began to write on the plaster of the palace wall, directly behind the lamp-stand; and the king could see the hand as it wrote. The king turned pale with alarm: his thigh-joints went slack and his knees began to knock.

Daniel was brought into the king’s presence; the king said to Daniel, ‘Are you the Daniel who was one of the Judaean exiles brought by my father the king from Judah? I am told that the spirit of God Most Holy lives in you, and that you are known for your perception, intelligence and marvellous wisdom. As I am told that you are able to give interpretations and to unravel difficult problems, if you can read the writing and tell me what it means, you shall be dressed in purple, and have a chain of gold put round your neck, and be third in rank in the kingdom.’

Then Daniel spoke up in the presence of the king. ‘Keep your gifts for yourself,’ he said ‘and give your rewards to others. I will read the writing to the king without them, and tell him what it means. You have defied the Lord of heaven, you have had the vessels from his Temple brought to you, and you, your noblemen, your wives and your singing women have drunk your wine out of them. You have praised gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone, which cannot either see, hear or understand; but you have given no glory to the God who holds your breath and all your fortunes in his hands. That is why he has sent the hand which, by itself, has written these words. The writing reads: Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin. The meaning of the words is this: Mene: God has measured your sovereignty and put an end to it; Tekel: you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; Parsin: your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.’

Canticle

Daniel 3:62-67 ©

Sun and moon! bless the Lord.