Hey kids, I have an important announcement to make. A very important announcement to make, in fact. I can predict the future! I can! I know what is going to happen and I am going to tell you about it today. And do you know what? Then you too will be able to predict the future! The reason I can predict the future is that I have special superpowers! Well, not really, but I CAN still predict the future. As a matter of fact, we just heard the prediction about the future in the reading I just read to you. That’s how I can predict the future, because I just read about it in this Bible passage! Do you want to hear it again?

This is what Jesus said to us in the Bible when talking to his disciples and predicting the future. Since he is the Son of God, he CAN predict the future! Here’s what he said:

“And then they will see the ‘Son of Man (that’s Jesus by the way) coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect (that’s all of us) from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” 

What this means is that one day in the future, Jesus is going to come back into the world, and did you hear how he is going to come back? It says that we will see him “coming in the clouds” … that means he will be riding on a cloud! How cool is that? Then do you know what happens? He is going to send out his angels to gather us all up from all over the world and the angels will bring us to Jesus. And since Jesus is riding on a cloud, it sounds like we will get to ride on a cloud with him to heaven! 

I want to be gathered up by angels! How about you?

I want to ride on a cloud! I bet you do too!

I want to be with him in heaven forever!

That will be the most amazing day ever, but we don’t know when it will be. One thing I do know is that he wants us to be with him forever. And not just us, all of our families and friends too! 

Do you know what heaven will be like? Well, heaven is a place where there is no pain or hurt, no guilt, no feeling like we don’t belong, no sadness. Instead, in heaven we feel pure joy all the time! We will sing along with the angels and all the people in heaven. And if any of our grandparents or great grandparents have died, we will get to see them again in heaven! I can’t wait for that! 

So how can we be part of what he calls his elect so that we can be gathered up by the angels and be with him in heaven? The good news is that Jesus has shown us the path to follow to be part of his elect. We need to love him, ask for his forgiveness when we do something wrong, and forgive others. We need to praise him and pray to him when we need his help. And another important thing to do is to come to Church and receive the Eucharist when we are old enough to do so.

We know all of these things, right? That’s why we come to Mass, to:

• Know him better and to learn
• To ask for forgiveness
• To receive the all-important Eucharist

Coming here to Mass helps us build our relationship with him and shows Jesus that we love him and want to be with him here at Mass.

That’s how we get a ride on a cloud. That’s how we get gathered up by his angels. That’s how we get to heaven.

And parents, the same goes for us. Bringing our children to Mass is one of the most important things we can do FOR our children. We are showing them how to pray, we are showing them how to learn about Jesus Christ, we are showing them what a relationship with Jesus looks like. This is something that we need to continually work on in our own lives too, so that we get that ride on a cloud, so that we are gathered up by his angels, so that we are in heaven… with our kids. That’s the future we all need to predict. It’s up to us to make it a reality.

“And then they will see the ‘Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.”