After that the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven; then all the peoples of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 24, 30

Anyone familiar with the content of the gospel will find that the main purpose of proclaiming Christ is the idea of the kingdom of heaven. Today's reading gives us a message about the Lord's second coming.

The first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ was imperceptible or very modest to many, the second coming will be visible to all.

When Jesus speaks or prophesies of His coming, He says there will be wars, nation will war against nation, there will be great calamities, famines, great temptations, false Christs, false prophets will appear and will mislead the people and the followers of Christ must be pursued.

Dear friends, our days seem to be as Christ described them. Everywhere there are catastrophes, wars, mourning and weeping. New "saviors" are appearing from all corners and want to convince us that only they are the salvation we are waiting for. But our Lord clearly sets out the scene of his coming and also clearly states that no one knows of that day, lest people be deceived.

"Be careful and stay awake! Because you don't know when the time will come. It is like a man who left home to travel: he gave authority to his servants, each with a specific task; he commanded the doorkeeper to be watchful. So be careful! For you do not know when the master of the house will come, whether in the evening or at midnight, whether at cockcrow or in the morning. If he comes suddenly, he should not find you asleep. But what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be vigilant!" (Mark 13:33-37).

This is why our Lord calls us to be awake so that we are always ready to receive him. For we do not know when and at what time the coming of Christ will be.

We must understand that Christ's kingdom is not in this world, but this world is a way to God's kingdom. But even for this we must trustfully follow Christ and remain true to his words.

This Sunday also gives us an opportunity to reflect on our lives. To understand, follow and trust the true Christ, for we must guard against falling into any kind of temptation and rely totally on the words of Christ and be faithful to them.

Rev. Gnel Gabrielyan