The gospel text of today begins with the comments of Jesus about the Temple.
“When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, he said, ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed’”
Lk 21:5-6
The implication of this is that my own faith and confidence in salvation should not be based on anything external – any Temple, of the Jews and the Christians: structures and institutions.
Jesus told the Samaritan woman,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… But the hour is coming – indeed is already here – when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
John 4:21-23
Simply put, my salvation is here and now – in the experience of God in the person of Jesus. This will be the end of my own struggle with evil.
On account of the experience of God in Jesus – through our cooperation with the grace of God, through the choices that individuals make in their lives, through the conversion of hearts, the presence of evil in the world will come to a total end.
Submitted by Fr. Joseph Dovari