4th Sunday of Mesore (2025)
Visual Aid
Background
...*Good morning, dear beloved*
We are coming to the end of the Coptic year now - the Coptic Calendar has twelve full months. Each month is 30 days... so that gives us 360 days. So there are 5-6 days leftover which we call the Little Month.
So today we're in the fourth Sunday of Mesore. And next Sunday, God willing, will be the Sunday of the Epagomenal Days and this is called Sunday of the Little Month. After that, on September 11th, God willing, we will celebrate the Nayrouz which is the new Coptic Year.
So that means this Sunday and next Sunday are the last Sundays of the year. And the theme of these two Sundays is the same. Watch. Be Ready.
The Church likes to remindreminds us at the end of the year with the end of life. Actually, the Church gives us this reminder at the end of each day, at the end of each week and at the end of the year.
Every evening in Vespers, no matter which day of the week, no matter if it is a Feast or a regular day, we pray the Litany of the Departed. End of day - end of life. Also on Saturday morning in Matins, which is the last day of the week, we pray the Litany of the Departed. End of the week - end of life.
Also in our Agpeya prayers. At the 12th hour, which is the end of the day, we pray "Behold, I am about to stand before the just judge, terrified and trembling because of my many sins." - it's a reminder about the end of life. And also "If life were everlasting and this world ever-existing, you would have an excuse O my soul" - if this world lasted forever, and there was no death and no judgment, then you would have an excuse to live according to your flesh,,, but there is a judgment day. There is death. "If your wicked deeds and ugly evils were exposed before the Just Judge what answer would you give?"
So the same thing with today's Gospel and next Sunday's Gospel
The theme is to be ready. We heard in the Gospel today about:
- Wars
- Nation will rise against nation
- Kingdom against kingdom
- Earthquakes
- Famines
- Troubles
- The Sun will be darkened
- The moon will not give its light
- The stars will fall from heaven
When we read these passages, our first instinct is we want to know "WHEN" will this happen? Will it be during my lifetime? If I see an earthquake or a pandemic like COVID or a plague.. is this what Christ was talking about? If I see a war, are we in the end times? Many people are so curious about these things, pouring through Revelation and Daniel and monitoring the news trying to figure it out.
But the Lord is very clear... that's NOT what he wants from us. Last night in the Vespers Gospel, the Pharisees asked Him: "When will the Kingdom of God come?" The Lord answered them and said "The Kingdom of God does not come with observation" but "The Kingdom of God is within you."
The Lord is telling them - don't worry about the end of the world. Don't worry about the signs. Worry about yourself. Worry about the end of your life which could come at any moment!
- St Athanasius: "In the end of all is the end of each, and in the end of each is the end of all... For who, if they knew the day of the end would not disregard the interval? But if ignorant, would they not he ready day by day?"
The message from today's Gospel is not about the signs but actually it comes to us from the very important passage at the end of today's Gospel reading:
"It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming - in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning - lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"