Advent is more about the ending of the world and the Lord’s Second Coming than it is about His First Coming.
In the meantime, let’s talk about the Mayan calendar.
My friend the mighty P.P. of Blackfen, the Dean of Bexley, His Hermeneuticalness, Fr. Tim Finigan, is at his blog contemplating the end of the world.
The world is going to end, some say, … when was it? Pretty soon.
So, any recommendations for the big show?
Bombay Sapphire Martinis are on my list. I think I might have a steak. No… will it be Friday? Rats. No… not rats, in that sense… in the other “rats” sense. Maybe trout. And I could make some Hollandaise sauce. Before the end of the world, I need to make Hollandaise on a hotplate.
How about you? Anything planned?
Let’s get some ideas.
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Thanks to your relentlessness, one last confession!
I’ll be meditating on the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, another classic from the fevered brain of the nutjob who invented the 21 December EOTW.
On Friday, 12/21, my husband and I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with our daughter! We will start the day with Holy Mass at 7:30a.m. Then we plan to drive and hour or so to the beach. Once there, we will do a little shopping, watch The Hobbit, and finish up with dinner at the local Japanese steak house (grilled scallops and shrimp with a sushi appetizer for me).
I will keep the TV turned off and open a bottle of champagne, with the economy going off the cliff it may be the last one I can afford. I started to prepare with Missa de Gallo this morning at 6 am at Saint Vincent Ferrer NYC.
I’m going to end the day by kissing my wife and toddler son, wishing them a good night, and then pray: Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace. I’ll ask God to forgive my unconfessed sins (it’ll be since this past Sunday) and I’ll pray for Saint Michael’s protection. Then I’ll go to sleep. Same as the night before.
I know that any given time could be the end of the world for me. I wouldn’t bet on December 21st, but it’s just as likely as any other day – though I’m not going to mark that day with any inordinate worry.
Well, it’s my last day at work until 27th so the world could well be ending and I mightn’t notice, what with phones ringing, emails, preparing accounts (equally to be feared is the advent of the dreaded Internal Auditor – more deadly than some Mayan serpent deity with dodgy choice of headgear) etc. etc.
Seriously, I’ll be going to confession tomorrow anyway, so should TEOTWAWKI happen on Friday I’ll have my full-metal jacket, as it were.
Although I might check to see if the Restaurant at the End of the Universe is still open for bookings… what with its interesting list of things on the menu and all
http://remotestorage.blogspot.ie/2010/07/douglas-adamss-cow-that-wants-to-be.html
So far my plans involve posting REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” on Facebook, and perhaps watching the unintentionally hilarious movie 2012 with my husband. And maybe I’ll bake some Christmas cookies.
But The Cookie says otherwise: https://plus.google.com/+MonaNomura/posts/6Xv775v3eo4
A standard joke is that if the end of the world is upon you, you should go to the Netherlandds, cause everything happens 50 years later there. Sadly, that ceased to be true from the 70s onwards, when this swamp found itself at the forefront of a lot of bad ideas.
So I’d go for a quick trip to Burgundy, where the food is unequalled, for some last minute delights.
Sadly, I attach so little credibility to those Mayan lunacies that I won’t even do that.
(should have added: so business as usual here)
I live with a Mayan ( we adopted him from Guatemala 11 years ago) so’s i asks’ him…. “Steven Anthony-Luis is the world go’en end on Friday?” so he says to me: “Nah… no more than it ends when i fall asleep every night”. Not bad for an 11 year old.
The world is going to end on Friday? Is it cheating you take your full meal for the Ember fast in the morning???
I will be going to morning Mass after Matins and Lauds.
That is how I prepare for the end of the world every day.
If I make it to Friday evening (God willing), we’re headed to the Archdiocesan Choir School (at St. Paul’s in Cambridge) for a concert by the Boston Boy Choir.
http://www.bostonboychoir.org/
Going to a kid’s birthday party.
I wondered why the confession lines were so long this past Saturday. We toughed it out and waited…..and so did a bunch of other people. This was one of the rare days where the PV was out of town and so only one priest heard confessions.
Haircut in the morning, then the neighborhood bar and grill where I take a lot of my meals is having a customer appreciate party in the evening. I have a fun relationship with them and do the annual blessing for the running of the motorcycles.
Other than that it is an open day, so will probably go swimming in the morning and hit lunch at my fave lunch place.
Sapphire martini’s sounds good (especially the plural part of that) but once it gets cold outside I’m in a Jim Beam kind of mood.
I’m going Christmas shopping on Saturday, so I really don’t have time for it to end on Friday.
I do, however, hope that the traffic will be somewhat lighter on my commute to and from work.
I suppose I might spend a moment or two considering if some ancient Mayans might be saved or not and if they are that I might be considered, by God, among them. I’ll wonder if, in comparison, their culture wasn’t much less sinful than ours? After a few prayers for the Mayan dead perhaps a shot or two of agave tequila.
I will probably watch “Into Great Silence” again.
we have the day off work, so I’m planning on going to confession at the local Capuchin house, then lunch afterwards and some shopping for Christmas. Maybe a movie and a cocktail after vespers.
Rise early for prayers, Advent-cast, get the family off to where they need to go,regular Friday housework,and hoping to get a nap in before they all get home again for a Tuna fish something dinner. Then clean-up, night prayers/rosary and chapter 19 of The Hobbit.
Work all day, then some time at the Adoration chapel, followed by confession. Probably Mass, since there is Mass right after the confession times. Works out well since I have a slightly different work schedule that day and can make it. I usually get out of work too late.
Its hard to get to confession between my work schedule being in conflict with the confession schedule and me just dragging my feet and not wanting to go even when I can. Thanks Fr Z for always reminding us and for the recent post with great tips.
Two words: Belgian beer. Okay, maybe not the whole day, but it will be a fine night.
Living in a major metropolitan area, we are blessed with opportunities for mid-week confessions, so I think I’ll go tomorrow just in case. (GRIN)
Of course…one could always consult the weather forecast that was issued earlier this week:
http://www.bdboyle.com/eow.jpg
Just sayin’.
Going to confession later today. You know not the day nor the hour…so, being prepared is not a bad thing, even if everyone is getting wrapped around the axle over a pagan prophesy.
Has anyone ever considered that the reason the calendar runs out is that they ran out of area on the stone?
We were hoping to watch the big end of the world show from our back porch while sipping coffee but I wasn’t able to get off work. Looks like it’s back to the rat race on Friday.
I was thinking about sitting out on our lanai and watching the fireworks (the hell-fire raining down from heaven), but I will have to turn in early as we are travelling to Georgia to be with family for Christmas. So I guess the end of the world will just have to wait until we return to Florida. Sorry Mayans!!
I plan to plan our vacation time for my husband and I. And then I am going to write lesson plans for the next semester. I’m planning to spend the day planning in direct opposition to the superstitious who think the end of the world can be foreseen.
I will be at work. I wonder what my first indication will be. I don’t have a window office. Will the power go out? Will security have a fire drill? Will the cafeteria stay open? Oh, the stress, the stress.
God willing, I’ll be recovering from surgery on Friday.It would be a shame to make it through major surgery only to have the world end the very next day.
MarnieBarcelona: prayers for a successful outcome and easy recovery.
Can anyone show me an authentic Mayan text stating that when their calendar runs out, so does the world’s time? Really, all it means is that the calendar resets to a new cycle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar
“Misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is the basis for a popular belief that a cataclysm will take place on December 21, 2012. December 21, 2012 is simply the day that the calendar will go to the next b’ak’tun, at Long Count 13.0.0.0.0. The date on which the calendar will go to the next piktun (a complete series of 20 b’ak’tuns), at Long Count 1.0.0.0.0.0, will be on October 13, 4772.”
Seriously, does the world end every December 31? This is what happens in a world without faith in God. As Chesterton famously said, “It’s the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense.” [“The Oracle of the Dog” (1923)]
As for me, if it is not too cold in the coop, I plan on cleaning my bedroom – such ambitious plans have I :)
The Chicken
Yes, Mass, confession, and adoration are all on the agenda. And probably some prayer time in front of our local abortion mill where 20-25 unborn children will be slaughtered that day and the souls of all involved put in great eternal peril.
I went to confession Monday evening so hopefully I will remain in the state of grace till then.
East coast family is arriving and then Friday evening the rest of the family is coming for dinner.
We are having pasta, salad, bread, and red wine.
Youngest daughter is bringing a dog she is taking care of for a friend. Hopefully he will get along with my cat or it might look like the end of the world with all the howling, barking, and fur flying.
Flying to America for my Christmas Vacation.
A quick question if I may, will this ‘end of the world’ happen simaltanioiusly or will it happen by time zone? it seems a little unfair that the aussies are awake and will have time to find a Priest whilst Americans are snoring safe a bed; if the latter I think that Americans should file a class action suit against the mayan people for this igregious injustice :)
Of course the whole thing is silly; but sometimes people who should know better take such things seriously.
So my advice is: if you’re worried…go to confession.
The whole event sounds like a lot of fun, but I have a performance that night, so I doubt I’ll be available to do much, since my show runs from 6:30 to 10:15pm. I’m usually too tired to go out, so I go home, pour a glass of bourbon, listen to some Christmas carols and enjoy my tree. Maybe next B’ak’tun! (I’ll say on Facebook that I’m going, though, to show moral support!)
I will be heading to the UK on Friday. If anything does start to happen…I shall adopt that great British spirit:
Keep Calm and Carry On.
found this Wikipedia entry interesting, especially some of the saints predictions..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
Well, see you all next b’ak’tun!
It’s only the calendar that ends.
I’m going to finish packing my grandkids gifts and HOPE that they arrive in time.
SAG
Pray for those who believe in such nonsense, that they may be converted to the Catholic Faith. We should always be in a state of preparedness and take every day as if it were our last.
“Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13)
Doing normal things :)
Still working on my translation of the Beatus. Don’t think I’ll be done by then! :)
@Hermit
Interesting list! I was particularly entertained by the “Prophet Hen of Leeds”
Work
As it happens, my students will probably spend half each class karaoking English carols.
Under which definition I do not include what they all know, , jingle bells: it was required knowledge of English way back in Franco’s time, as published in the official Gazette, the “boletin Ofical del Estado”.
And I think the best thing that could happen to the reindeer , nose colours regardless , is venison pie. Sing them I will not. Snowmen do not melt my heart.
The whole family’s been to confession this week, for christmas, not mayans, but keeping in a full state of grace takes a lot of prayer. If there’s another opportunity…………….
I mean before christmas, not tomorrow.
Well it’s already December 21st here in the Philippines. No other signs of rapture being manifested other than the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill by the lords of poverty.
I figure God’s been impatient to end the world for some time now, but He’s waiting for a day NO ONE has predicted, so that it comes as a surprise to absolutely everyone.
I like those last few entries on Hermit’s list: AD 5×10*9, 22×10*9 and 10*100. I can’t wait for those “various scientist” to suffer the ignominy of having to change their predictions as the religious guys had.
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