In the final weeks of the Liturgical Year, we meditate upon the end of time, the day of judgement and the consummation of all history with Christ's Second Coming. How is it that we can be afraid of Jesus' return? If we love him and know him as our Savior, we should look forward to that great day!
We also note that our Lord (in today's Gospel) predicts the destruction which would fall upon Jerusalem in 70 AD, and which would not leave "a stone upon another stone which will not be thrown down." When the Romans destroyed the Temple and sacked the city, 1.2 million Jews were killed (25% of the population), and another 100,000 were taken away in slavery. With tens of thousands of crucifixions (maybe 50,000), the Romans ran out of trees to cut down.
St Simeon the second bishop of Jerusalem led the Christian faithful in these dark times - preserved through divine intervention, they performed great charity to the Jews after the day of wrath.
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