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| Les Disciples Admirent les Constructions du Temple by James Tissot |
Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?” And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. (Mark 13:1–13)
There is no discrepancy in the Gospels as to facts, although one tells one detail which another passes over or describes differently; rather, they supplement each other when compared, and thus give direction to the mind of the reader. But it would take too long to discuss them all now. To their questions the Lord replied by telling what was to happen from that time on, whether of the destruction of Jerusalem, which had given rise to their inquiry, or of His coming in the Church in which He does not cease to come until the end—for He is recognized when He comes to His own, while His members are daily born, and of this coming He said: “Hereafter you shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds,” of which clouds the Prophet said: “I will command my clouds not to rain upon it”—or, finally, of the end itself at which He will appear “to judge the living and the dead.”
Augustine of Hippo, Letter 199, To Hesychius 25
Everything tends to its end, not in order that it may not be, but that it may remain in that toward which it tends. Everything is for the sake of its end; furthermore, the end does not concern itself with anything else. But, since the end is everything, it remains completely for itself. And since it does not reach out beyond itself and since it brings gain for itself rather than for any other time or thing, the object of all its hope is ever directed toward the end itself. For this reason the Lord thus exhorts us to a steadfastness in the devout faith that continues to the end: “Blessed is he who shall persevere to the end,” and certainly not as if dissolution were a blessing and non-existence a gain, and as if the reward of faith were to be found in the destruction of everyone, because the end is the unequaled measure of the blessedness that has been offered to us, and thus they are blessed who persevere to the end of the perfect happiness, since the expectation of faithful hope does not extend beyond this.
Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity 11.28
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