28 November 2026 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36
The liturgical year ends with the last page of the Bible. The angel shows John “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb”, and the tree of life whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations”. The tree lost in Eden is given back. “There will be no more night… for the Lord God will be their light.” And the final promise: “See, I am coming soon!”
Jesus' last words in Luke's discourse are practical: guard your hearts from being “weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life”. Be alert, praying. These are perfect words for the threshold of Advent. Tonight the Church begins a new year with the prayer of the first Christians: Marana tha, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Theme: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
The year ends with the river of life and the tree of healing; be alert in prayer; Advent begins.
“On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:1–2
Apply: Thank God for one healing grace this year.
“O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!” Psalm 95:6–7
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34–36
Apply: Choose one Advent fast.
“The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.” Isaiah 60:19
“And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 22:5
Apply: Light the first Advent candle tomorrow with your family.
The year closes in light.
Marana tha: Come, Lord Jesus!
Take-home resolution: Plan your family's Advent prayer tonight.
Dear friends, the Church's year ends today with the last page of the Bible. The angel shows John the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and the tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1–2). The tree lost in Eden is given back.
There will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light (Revelation 22:5). And the last promise: see, I am coming soon (Revelation 22:7). The whole of history moves toward that light.
Jesus' last words in Luke's discourse are practical: be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life. Be alert at all times, praying (Luke 21:34–36). These are perfect words for the threshold of Advent.
This evening, with First Vespers, the Church begins a new year, praying the prayer of the first Christians: Marana tha, Come, Lord Jesus. Prepare an Advent wreath for your home today, and choose one Advent fast to lighten your heart. Amen.
Children, tomorrow Advent begins! Help your family prepare an Advent wreath and light the first candle together, saying: Come, Lord Jesus!
Lord Jesus, you are the light that never sets. Keep my heart free from heaviness and worry, make me alert in prayer, and as a new year of grace begins, teach me to pray with your Church: Marana tha, come, Lord Jesus! Amen.
On the last day of the liturgical year the Bible's last chapter is read. The garden of Genesis returns as a city with the river and tree of life, where God's servants “will see his face”. Luke's Gospel gives the last word of Jesus' discourse: be alert, praying. The psalm answers with one of the oldest prayers of the Church: Marana tha, “Come, Lord”.
Setting.
The final vision of the new Jerusalem (21:9–22:5) ends inside the city, where the story of the Bible began: in a garden. Genesis 2 had a river flowing out of Eden and the tree of life in the middle of the garden; Genesis 3 closed the way to that tree. Here the way is open again. The images also come from Ezekiel 47, where a river flows from the Temple and trees bear fruit every month, with leaves for healing.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (22:1)
One throne for God and the Lamb: the Son shares the Father's glory. Jesus promised “rivers of living water”, which John explains as the Spirit (John 7:38–39).
“and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (22:2)
The nations are not destroyed but healed.
“Nothing accursed will be found there any more.” (22:3)
The curse of Genesis 3 is undone.
“they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (22:4)
“And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (22:5)
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that those who die in God's grace and are perfectly purified “see him as he is”, face to face (CCC 1023), and that the Church calls this contemplation of God in heavenly glory the beatific vision (CCC 1028). St Irenaeus said that the glory of God is a living human being, and the life of the human being is the vision of God (in substance).
Setting.
These are the closing words of Jesus' discourse in Luke. After the great images of the end, the teaching comes down to daily life: the state of the heart, the danger of distraction, and prayer. Luke then notes that Jesus spent his days teaching in the Temple and his nights on the Mount of Olives (21:37).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life,” (21:34)
The heart is weighed down not only by excess but by worry. Both dull our attention to God.
“Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (21:36)
The goal is not to escape the Son of Man but to be able to stand before him. That is the Christian hope.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Jesus calls his hearers not only to conversion and faith, but also to watchfulness, and that in prayer the disciple keeps watch, attentive to him who is and him who comes (CCC 2612). Tomorrow, the First Sunday of Advent, the Church takes up the same call: “Keep awake”.
What does “Marana tha” mean?
It is Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Read as “Marana tha”, it means “Our Lord, come!”; read as “Maran atha”, “Our Lord has come”. Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 16:22, and the early Christian Didache uses it in its Eucharistic prayer. Revelation 22:20 gives it in Greek: “Come, Lord Jesus!” It is the perfect prayer for the eve of Advent.