Joke: A pastor was preaching about judgment day. “Thunder will roar, flames will flash across the sky. Floods, storms, devastation such as you’ve never seen…” he continued dramatically. Wide-eyed, a young boy turned to his mother and whispered to her ears, “Will I get to skip school that day?”

Unlike the second coming of the Lord that the pastor preached that somehow excited the boy to ask if the school would be closed that day, the second coming that Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel that no one knows the day, even the Son of Man, but the Father alone. Coming to the end of the liturgical year, the Church puts all readings together to prepare us for the coming of the Lord. In all of today’s readings, we are invited to focus our attention on the understanding not only of the second coming of the Lord Jesus but also on the threefold coming of the Lord.

His first coming was His Incarnation, the coming of the flesh that we will soon celebrate again once a year, every year on Christmas. His first coming was to offer himself as a total offering for our sins as stated in today’s second reading, taken from the letter of Saint Paul to the Hebrews saying, “One offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God.” In his first coming, has Jesus come to offer himself as a sacrifice to wipe away all our sins? It is right provided that we need to work our way to turn away from sins and to fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ who is a merciful and compassionate God. “He died for our sins” doesn’t mean that we just sin, and he has to forgive us because he died for our sins. Is it so? I hope it is so, but it’s not so. The first coming has taken place, Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel that there will be “tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” All these happen to warn us for the second coming of the Lord that no one knows the day, not even the Son, but the Father alone.

Is it possible that Jesus’ second coming is either on the day of our death or at the end of time? We might not know the day of the end of time, but we might know that the day of our death coming closer and closer each day. On that day, Jesus will bring our salvation to completion. We might know how to interpret the appearances of this world such as looking at the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leave, we know that summer is near. However, we will not know when it is the second coming of the Lord. The question is, then, how do we know the day so that we can prepare ourselves so that when the day comes, we will be able to follow the Lord? Brothers and sisters, this preparation is called the third coming of the Lord which we encounter every day of our lives.

His third coming is his coming into our lives each time we live our Christian lives. Recalling from the Old Testament, when God spoke to Moses, he spoke to him in thunderstorms and lightning. For Moses to interpret these lightning and thunderstorms, I would believe that he had to have a very intimate relationship with the Lord. In our relationship, for example, husband and wife or mom and dad, or better grandma and grandpa, just with a facial expression, we would know exactly that our spouse is not in a good mood or not happy with something. Or out of the blue, he just suddenly wears cologne; or she just spends a lot of time shopping. These actions and many other actions and gestures, even though they are silent, but they can speak volumes. You know that your spouse is dealing with something that is either because of you or someone or something. Couples can tell what’s going on in their relationship. So, how would we know that God communicates to us in our Christian daily life? I would believe that we need to have an intimate relationship with him as well. What does an intimate relationship mean?

During my study of theology at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, a spiritual director once explained the word intimacy saying that intimacy means into me you will see. One can only have an intimate relationship with another when he or she opens up himself or herself to allow the other to know exactly who he or she is. When one completely opens up his heart, his mind, and his soul to allow his spouse, his girlfriend, or his partner, he will be very vulnerable to being criticized and judged. Therefore, if one is prepared to marry someone else and hopes that marriage will change his or her significant, good look. One cannot change another through marriage, but he or she can only learn to accept each other in marriage. The more one learns to accept each other in marriage, the more he or she understands the meaning of the word intimate relationship. That is the meaning of the intimate relationship among the couples whom we can experience with our five senses, what’s about our intimate relationship with the Lord whom we might not be able to see or experience with our five senses? How can we have an intimate relationship with the Lord so that when he comes and speaks to us we would know?

Just as couples have some rules, obligations, and boundaries for each other to nurture their relationship, there are some rules, obligations, and boundaries in our intimate relationship with the Lord as well. These rules, obligations, and boundaries are the words of God as mentioned in today’s Gospel saying, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” How do we follow the words of God, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Do we get more influenced by the trends of society; the attractions of the present time which focus more on the motivation of good feelings, comforting feelings, and happy feelings regardless of human moral declining? Isn’t following the feelings of the flesh better than following the teaching of the Lord who invites us to forgive and pray for those who hate us, harm us, persecute us, and who even destroy the lives of those unborn babies who cannot even defend for themselves? The first coming of the Lord has already taken place; the second coming of the Lord is what we are waiting for, and the third coming of the Lord is what we encounter every time we act according to the Lord’s teaching and the church’s teaching. What should we do in this third coming of the Lord while waiting for his second coming? Are we ready for the second coming of the Lord? The decision is yours.