The apocalyptic literature from which our readings are drawn at the end of the Church's year - whether from the Hebrew Scriptures or the New Testament itself - is often filled with strange imagery, symbols, and frightening predictions for the future. On the one hand, it predicted terrible suffering, suffering which the people were actually already experiencing in their own time. Still, on the other hand, it offered the promise and the consolation that good will ultimately triumph over evil.

In today's first reading, we hear from the Book of Daniel the story of an evil king who, in his arrogance and pride, desecrates the sacred vessels robbed from the temple in Jerusalem. In a dramatic scene, we witness God's judgement of the king and, by extension, God's judgement against all kings, empires, and powers, whether political or economic, which exercise their power as if God did not exist. It offers us the assurance that God will finally triumph over all those powers that seem so undefeatable today. In our second reading, Jesus tells His disciples of the persecutions that await them as they spread the Gospel. Still, again, Jesus assures His followers that the power of God's will ultimately prove stronger than those who persecute them.