Today’s readings speak to us about the end of time, when Jesus will return. Malachi tells us that the Lord will come to rule with justice, and Jesus gives further details. Specifically, Jesus talks about the things that will happen prior to His return…wars, natural disasters, false prophets, plagues, and the persecution of Christians. Looking at our world today, it’s easy to see many of these things happening now: the war in Ukraine and all that could potentially come from it, the ongoing COVID pandemic which just seems to go on and on, Christians being actively persecuted in Iran and other places, earthquakes, hurricanes…the list goes on and on. While it’s temping to be like Chicken Little and proclaim, “the sky is falling”, Jesus didn’t give us these signs to frighten us. Instead, He’s telling us that no matter what happens to us here, holding fast to our faith will secure our place with Him in the next life. So, what are we to do? Paul gives us the answer in his letter to the Thessalonians: continue to do the work of the Lord. Paul was writing to a group of people who had taken the attitude that since Jesus was coming very soon (so they thought) and they didn’t need to work. Paul tells them just the opposite, to continue to work…and so should we. In spite of all that is going on in our world today, we don’t know when Jesus will return. But we do know that if we hold fast to His teachings, we don’t need to worry about it. In the meantime, the very mess that we see in our world tells us that we have plenty of work to do.