Thy Kingdom Come?

John Henry Newman has this to say about Mark 13:33-37:

. . . We who are looking out for Christ's coming, we are bid to look out, we are bit to pray for it; and yet it is to be a time of judgment. It is to be the deliverance of all saints from sin and sorrow for ever; yet they, every one of them, must undergo an awful trial. How then can any look forward to it with joy, not knowing (for no one knows) the certainty of his own salvation? . . . how can we pray that Christ would come, that the day of judgment would hasten, . . . when by so coming he would be shortening the time of our present life, and cut off those precious years given us for conversion, amendment, repentance, and sanctification?

He answers the question by stating the following:

When we pray that he would come, we pray also that we may be ready; that all things may converge and meet in him; that he may draw us while he draws near us, and makes us the holier the closer he comes.