Sunday after Ascension Day AD 2026

“The end of all things is at hand.” This is not an easy truth to accept, for among all these things, we ourselves are included. Saint Peter wrote these words shortly before he was crucified in Rome—upside down, according to Tradition. Nearly two thousand years have passed since then. How much water has flowed into the sea, and how many people have been born, lived, and died...

And yet, in every age, people live as though they were eternal. In theory, we know that we must die, but the choices we make each day tell a different story: we cling to things that pass away as quickly as we do, forgetting what is truly precious—our relationship with the One who alone is eternal, and apart from whom we have no future.

St. Peter says that we must be “sober and watch unto prayer.” We must be sober-minded—but this does not mean calculating, as though everything could be weighed in terms of profit and loss. Rather, the measure of the sobriety the Apostle speaks of is charity: “for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

“The end of all things is at hand.” Everything in this world passes away, but charity endures forever, because it belongs inseparably to the very nature of God. And so, charity is, in the end, the only way by which we may abide in God—and thus live forever, for God is eternal.