Daniel 2:31-45 / Luke 21:5-11
We often say that the past is history and the future is mystery. Sounds rather poetic.
And good poetry often makes a reflection on the harsh reality but puts it across beautifully.
So as much as we know the history of the past, we do not know the mystery of the future.
It is because we do not know the future, we tend to live in anxiety.
And we may secretly like to think that if we know what is going to happen in the future, then we may be relieved of this anxiety.
Well, king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about the future. And Daniel interpreted that dream for him.
But did it quell his anxiety?
Similarly in the gospel, the people asked Jesus about the time and the signs of the future.
And Jesus did tell them something about the future, but did it quell their anxiety?
It is not good to be too anxious about the future, but yet we can turn that anxiety into something creative.
We can use that anxiety to build the foundations of our lives so that we won't be thrown about by the worries of what is to come.
The prophet Daniel mentions in the 1st reading of a stone, untouched by human hands.
We, of course, know that the stone that he was talking about was that stone that was rejected by the builders but which became the corner stone.
May Jesus be that corner stone which forms the foundations of our lives.
It is in Jesus that we can have the security in a future that is mystery.
Because with Jesus we can truly live in the HERE and NOW. Without Jesus, we will be NOWHERE