A listener named Deanne calls into the show and asks, “Why do we pray, ‘world without end’ if the world is going to end?”
“There are a lot of ways in which scripture and tradition describe what we might describe as the end of the world,” Father Dave explains. “When we think of the world ending, we think of the solar system and our universe. And yes, that is one way in which we actually use that phrase even in Scripture and tradition. But there are other ways in which we talk about the world that is to come and the fact that Christ rules over all time, and we talk about sort of a transition from one age to another.”
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“So, when we say ‘world without end,’ that’s what we mean. We don’t mean that we don’t ever want Christ to come again, or we’re not praying that earth never ends. We are talking about that eternal world, which is usually referred to in Scripture … It’s talking about being eternally with God in the other world. Not for the world as we know it never to end.” (Original Air 10-30-18)