Advice about understanding words of Jesus

Readings from the scripture this first week in Advent have concerned what Jesus had said about the end of times.

The Pope and others in the Vatican have spoken about the need for heeding what Jesus said closely, but not jumping to conclusions about specific timing and events beyond what he has said.

The early Church Fathers have written wonderful homilies about this week's readings. I enjoy reading them in the 4 volume set of books "The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers: A Manual of Preaching, Spiritual Reading and Meditation" (Ignatius Press, SF).

The early fathers, and in his examination of their writings St. Thomas Aquinas, pondered the words of Jesus and analyzed whether the events he foretold were totally literal or symbolic of the Church/parable in form with literal outcomes.

Jesus always chose his words very carefully. He knew he had to convey very much from scratch in only about two years of public ministry.

Therefore you need to understand that Jesus was perfectly capable of speaking of specific events and at the same time expressing the events in a way that the symbolism of what he prophesied would apply to other circumstances.

So while Jesus described literal troubles and tribulation, he also with the same words taught the pattern and tendencies of humans and recognizable/predictable outcomes of their actions.