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This is a sermon which was transcribed by turboscribe.ai. Fr. Wathen gave the sermon in 1982. It is a PDF file.

Sermon follows

"I am sure that when the Gospel of today is read, every year you are as enthralled as I am by the sheer majesty of our Lord's words. We do not necessarily look forward to hearing them, but we cannot but, you might say, be stopped in our tracks. And if you know anything about how the first part of this prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, then you can appreciate the weightiness of the message that our Lord gives to us. 

I think I have spoken to you in times past about this, but it has been some time, and I will try not to be redundant, but let me call attention to some of the things our Lord says here. For instance, he says, well I should say prior to that, the apostles asked our Lord when it would happen. Jesus was gazing over the city from a promontory outside it. It was a beautiful city, and on the opposite hill, the highest hill in the area, was the great temple. The temple was a sight to behold, magnificent. People actually traveled, even though they did not enjoy being among the Jews, they actually traveled to Jerusalem to see the temple. And Jesus was admiring the work with the apostles when he said, amen, I say to you, not one stone of it will be left upon another. And they asked him, in a double question, when the destruction of this temple would take place, and when the end of the world would occur. And he gives a double answer, and it is in the words which we read, which we read annually. 

He says, when you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in a holy place, he is referring to the abomination amidst the desolation, and the desolation was when the temple would be desecrated, and the whole city of Jerusalem, which was referred to as David's city, or the king's city, or the city of the great king, namely the Messiah, and it was going to be torn down completely, totally ravaged and razed, and the Romans would establish, would put up the sign of Caesar after they had completed the destruction. So that in that place, which was God's own dwelling place, where the Jews for centuries had honored the Shekinah, now there was the sign of the pagan emperor, and that was considered to be the abomination amidst the desolation. But it also stands, as you must understand, many of the passages of the scriptures have a preliminary reference and then a later reference, as if history will repeat itself, a later application. Daniel made reference to the fact that the temple which was going to be built would be visited by the Messiah himself, and also to the abomination thereof, and Jesus said that whenever you see signs to suggest that this city is going to be destroyed, do not wait around, and he was talking to those who would be alive at the time, we're talking about 67 to 70 A.D., and he's talking to those who are Christians, because the destruction, the punishment is not for the Christians, it's for the Jews who have rejected their Messiah. 

And he said whenever you see, therefore, the signs of the Romans coming to take vengeance upon the intractable Jews, do not wait around to watch what is going to happen. You need to know that when finally the final months of the siege started, the Romans did find it necessary to circle the city with ramparts. They literally, because so many Jews were getting out, they literally did spend quite a few weeks throwing up barriers, and after that every Jew that was caught trying to escape the city was crucified, so that from the temple and from the city walls, it was described as a veritable forest of crucifixions. So many indeed were crucified that they did not have enough wood for them all, and they were using one cross for two individuals. I could spend a little time telling you about the ghastliness of this event, but this is given to us in order to assure us of the veracity of our Lord's prediction of the end of the world. Just as sure as Jerusalem fell, and just as sure as the punishment was as terrible as our Lord warned it would be, so the end of the world is inexorable. And he says if you have any sense, you will keep your eyes open for the signs. That's what he means when he mentions the fig tree. Nobody has any difficulty seeing that spring is on its way. Every sign is available, and one cannot help but wonder whether we live in the time when all the signs are being given for the second coming, for the end of it all. As you know, the Holy Church does not permit us to say that it will be at any certain time. At the same time, this scripture is read to us every year to remind us that at one time it will take place. 

And we are not to imagine that we may frolic away our lives as if it is not going to be. As I say, and as you surely know, all the signs that are contained in the scriptures for the end of the world seem to be present now, but only a certain number of things have yet to be done, or to appear. I do not run home telling people that I said, because I am not saying that. But we are to be warned, and if anyone has the promise of being able to anticipate the end, we are they, because we have a very good vantage point, and that vantage point is Catholic Orthodoxy. You know very well that the conciliar Catholics and the Protestants have no sense of their own heresy. They have no sense of what they are supposed to believe, nor that they are believing heresies. They have no sense of their own lack of discipline. They have no sensitivity to the gross desecrations that go on. And it is impossible to tell them or to reason with them, because they have lost their perception. They are truly steeped in their own error, and they love it. That's the horror of it. It is impossible even to speak to them about it, so that if anyone can see, we ought to be able to. Again, I'm not saying that we are in the last days. I'm saying we have to keep our eyes open, and we have to at least allow for the possibility, not in order to say to others, I told you so, but rather to prepare ourselves, because the coming will be terrible. Jesus says there will be false Christs and false prophets. Who do you think these are but the heretical ministers and priests who are now carrying the day, who are now so greedily listened to? Those who preach heresy are these false prophets, saying that all is well, saying that God is so pleased, saying that God is love, never saying that God is terrible in His punishments, even though we have the history to prove it, that it is a terrible thing when God finally does unleash His revenge, when He finally says, and now, I have waited long enough. We do not say these things to frighten, of course, except that Jesus said to warn and to remind us that God is no one to be toyed with. He is no one to try to strike a bargain with, and He is not to be put off once He decrees the time. 

This mention of, behold, He is in the desert, go ye not out, behold, He is in the closets, the Fathers tell us that these expressions mean that there will be others who claim to be Christ and who have special messages, who are specially designated, such as Muhammad claimed to be, or Brigham Young, or Father Divine. There are people who take such individuals seriously, and Jesus says, no, the next time I come, my coming will be so dominant and so phantasmagorical that no one will doubt it. There will not be anyone needing to tell anyone that this is it, because all will see the sign, it will fill the heavens from east to west. And furthermore, He says in this matter of in the closets, that refers to the mystery religions or to esoteric secrets, such as the Masons' promise or the Rosicrucians, the occult sciences and abstruse philosophies. He is saying, no, the message is simple and clear as to how to be saved and how to lose one's soul. There is nothing so profound nor so recondite that anyone who wants to find out what it is will have too great difficulty. The Church always says this, a little child of six and seven can learn what he needs to learn to be a great saint, so that our faith is not tied up and bundled for great scholars to unravel. The simple hearted and the believing can understand enough of it, even though the most brilliant will find matter enough for a life of study. 

I'll conclude by explaining this one little passage, which probably you have often wondered, wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. Now Jesus uses a rather strange image here, because what He is saying is something wonderful, but He uses the very opposite kind of symbol. Wherever there is a dead body, there is where the vultures gather, right? You can tell that there is something either dead or dying by seeing them circling around, hovering above. But He says the eagles, and He is saying, wherever the true Christ is, wherever the true faith is, wherever reality is, there those who believe will be. They will see it, just as those carrion birds can see for hundreds of feet below. They can sense it, and they gather without anyone explaining exactly how they do this. And so those who have the mind for the truth, they can find the body of Christ as one slain but alive, because, as you know, on the day He was crucified, yes, the carrion birds hovered above, but they, of course, were deprived of their meal. The meal has been given to us, because He is alive, and it is the Eucharist, and in the Father, and in the Son, the Holy Ghost."