“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18)
Saint Bede the Venerable comments on this verse from today’s First Reading:
“As Jesus indicated in the parable of the vineyard, this is the last hour. The laborers who were in the vineyard from the first hour cultivated the Lord’s vine, which means that by teaching and living righteous lives they served the will of their Creator. The laborers who entered at the third hour are those who came in after the time of Noah. The sixth hour was the time of Abraham. The ninth hour was the time at which the law was given. The eleventh hour is the time from the incarnation of our Lord until the end of time, which is described by divine revelation as follows. During the eleventh hour the Savior will return in the flesh, and the plague of the antichrist, who will attack the messengers of salvation, will follow.” (On 1 John)
Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
who in the Nativity of your Son
established the beginning and fulfillment of all religion,
grant, we pray, that we may be numbered
among those who belong to him,
in whom is the fullness of human salvation.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
who in the Nativity of your Son
established the beginning and fulfillment of all religion,
grant, we pray, that we may be numbered
among those who belong to him,
in whom is the fullness of human salvation.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
