Hi everyone. Welcome back to the podcast and we're going to do a dive into today's gospel reading as

always. And this is a particularly difficult reading. I think this is one of these readings

where you read it and you do your best to analyze it but you still kind of come away thinking

did I fully understand that? There's always sort of an element of things don't always

comfortably sit no matter which way you interpret this there's always questions that sort of remain unanswered.

So we're going to go through verse by verse, as we always do.

But this is one of the more difficult passages, and certainly biblical scholars disagree on the

best way to interpret various phrases within this.

So Mark chapter 13, verses 24 to 32. Jesus said to his disciples, in those days after the time

of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come

falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

Then too he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds,

from the ends of the world to the ends of heaven.

Take the fig tree as a parable.

As soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.

So with you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near at the very gates.

I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away, all these things will have taken

place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven nor the sun, no one but the father.

So that's our reading for today. You've probably heard this before, maybe in the context of people

talking about the end of the world. So let's see what we can make of the text here. What's the

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