All Saints and Martyrs, by Fra Angelico, 1424.
All Saints Solemnity—November 1, 2014
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110115.cfm
The Church Honors Her Exemplary Saints
Today is the Solemnity of All Saints, the great holy day on which the Church praises God by honoring all his saints in Heaven, that “great multitude,” which “no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue,” who have achieved their life’s goal, the blessedness that consists of seeing and possessing God in the Kingdom of Heaven. Throughout the liturgical year, the Church honors her exemplary saints, whom she canonizes for our admiration and imitation so that we, too, can make our way to Heaven with their assistance.
However, today the Church greatly enlarges our vision to focus on all the saints in his Kingdom, that immensely greater “multitude” who are also marked with the seal of God, holding up their palms of victory, and wearing their white robes of holiness. This great feast of All Saints is given to us precisely to stir up our admiration for this greater communion of saints, and to kindle our hope to one day be among their number.
At times, the exemplary saints we honor throughout the year, the virgins and martyrs, the confessors and others marked by great sanctity already in this world, may, perhaps, seem too elevated for us to hope to be like them. So today, the Church honors all God’s saints, most of whom we can recognize as more like us in our weaknesses and failings, but gloriously triumphant nonetheless. We gain hope when we confess that these human beings, who were much like ourselves, by clinging to God, and cooperating with his grace, have triumphed over their weakness and sin to become glorious members of that great body of saints who prostrate themselves before God, and cry out eternally, “Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
It is that great victory and blessedness that must truly be our life’s directing goal. We were created for that happiness, and by our Baptism, we have been made children of God, destined for that eternal joy. And for that reason, and today especially, we also need to ask ourselves if that heavenly destiny is in fact our personal goal, or are we, too, caught up in, and distracted by, the world—by its promises, by its earthly goods and pleasures—to actually live for Heaven as the true motivating goal of our life?
Now, we know for sure that the saints in heaven—all the saints from the greatest to the least, sooner or later in their lives—definitely made heaven’s glory, union with God, their life’s quest. It may not have been in a dramatic moment of conversion, as we see in the lives of certain saints, but there had to be a turning point, a conscious turning toward God that was reflected in the practical way they lived in this world.
Today especially, then, we should ask ourselves this question: “What does God see in my heart as the driving goal of my life?” What does my life, when viewed objectively, reveal to God, if not to me, about the true nature of my final purpose in life? Does God see me taking aim at heaven and living accordingly, or does God see me living primarily for this world; that is, does God see that the world is too consuming for me to give him much more than lip service day by day.
For instance, if I am too busy to give God the worship due his name on Sunday, or do it only grudgingly, if I consider that obligation too trivial to take it seriously, what does that attitude indicate about my life’s goal? Can it possibly indicate that Heaven—God and God’s Kingdom—is really the driving force of my life on this earth?
Or if I rarely pray, but spend countless hours consumed in sports and other forms of entertainment, or if I rarely bother getting to confession, or if I rarely read or do anything for the purpose of nourishing my soul—is this not a good indication that this world is more important to me than my relation to God, my destiny in God?
Objectively, by baptism, you and I are already members of the Communion of Saints, and the heavenly saints firmly wish to help us, to join with us in every act of prayer or worship, every act of charity, if we but make the effort. They certainly pray for us constantly; but do we often pray to them? How can we honestly think that Heaven is our driving goal, if we unthinkingly ignore the company of Heaven while here on earth?
Hopefully, sooner or later, a lax Christian will be jolted into seeing that life is more than eating and drinking, entertainment, the pursuit of wealth, whatever is of this earth. And often that jolt will be some form of suffering, the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a personal setback. Such experiences can be a moment of grace, can make the indifferent think differently about what life is really all about, what true happiness really is, what is really worth pursing as the goal of life.
To repeat: you and I have been made God’s children by our baptism. We all, as St. John says in today’s second reading, are God’s children now, who should hope to be with God, to see God face to face, to enjoy God, with the heavenly saints, forever. Any other final goal but this is unworthy of a true child of God.
So we must all long for heaven, where our victory song will be eternal, and will be based upon the fact that we have “survived {the test} the time of great distress; have washed … {our} robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” And already here on earth, and especially on All Saints Day, we should already rejoice as Jesus commands; “Rejoice and be glad…!” And why rejoice? “For your reward will be great in heaven.” That is our true life’s goal and true hope, and nothing less will do for creatures with such a destiny.
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Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed – November 2, 2015
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110215.cfm
Praying for the Dead: An Important part of Catholic Spirituality
Today’s Mass is celebrated for the Commemoration of All Souls. It is the culmination of what was once referred to as the second triduum in the liturgical calendar, the Triduum of All Saints, which included the Vigil of All Saints, the Solemnity of All Saints, and the Commemoration of All Souls.
But because we live in a country that was founded by Protestant Christians and whose culture has been heavily influenced by Protestantism, Halloween, as it is referred to in this country, has been totally secularized, and the commemoration of All Souls is largely ignored by most protestant churches, and the culture at large. After all, it makes no sense to dedicate a day of prayer for the departed souls if one does not believe in the existence of Purgatory. So the Commemoration of All Souls is today mostly a Catholic liturgical practice.
Praying for the dead has always been an important part of Catholic spirituality, and this can already be seen in early Church inscriptions on grave markers. Moreover, this ancient Christian practice has something in common with the general religious sensibilities of most ancient peoples, who not only remembered their dead, but in some way also tried to assist them in life beyond this world, however they may have misunderstood that life in the beyond.
This deeply religious custom was also present among the Israelites, as we can see in a passage from the 2nd Book of Maccabees, which passage can be chosen as one of today’s readings, in which we are told that Judas Maccabeus, having discovered amulets on his dead soldiers after a battle, “then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice … Thus, he made atonement for the dead.”
And Catholics have always had a strong sense of solidarity, not only with the dead who are now saints in heaven, but also with the dead who are still in need of a final purification before they enter the glory of heaven. Indeed, praying for the dead clearly reveals the elevated notion of what heaven is—intimate union with God—and thus the purity necessary for this union. We are not simply destined to be with God, but to be in God, and that’s why Jesus taught us that we must be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. It is impossible to see how the soul that is not perfect in virtue, and purity of heart, could possibly enter into the most intimate union with Almighty God.
And yet, how many people actually leave this world in such a state of perfection? The church has always taught that there is an intermediary condition between the total imperfection that merits hell, and the total perfection that heaven requires. Moreover, the church believes in both the justice and mercy of God. To assume that sinners who are sorry for their sins, but who escape the justice of this world for their sins, would simply be immediately purified by God’s merciful forgiveness, without suffering any just punishment, surely undermines not only belief in the reality of divine justice, but likewise the rational for any retributive justice in this world as well. How could it be that those who undergo tremendous suffering, including the unjust suffering caused by the injustice of this world, would be less fortunate than those who would escape not only the justice of this world, but likewise, by God’s mercy, any justice in the world to come?
Finally, while the church definitely teaches that souls who do not undergo perfect purification for their sins in this world will undergo such a purification in Purgatory, the Church also teaches that, because of the communication of spiritual goods and merits among the communion of saints, we on earth can be of great help to those who have gone before us and are not yet in the state of perfection necessary to enter in to the divine embrace and blessedness of perfect union. We can do this through our prayers and sacrifices, not only on All Souls day, but throughout the year.
Purgatory, then, is an infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, and praying for the dead is still taught by the Church to be a religious practice in keeping with that doctrine, and the mutual love of the faithful. Unfortunately, the secularized religious culture in which we live has profoundly undercut this belief and devotion, even among many Catholics. There are, perhaps, many reasons for this.
For instance, homilies at Catholic funerals are often virtual canonizations declaring that the dead person is already in heaven and, therefore, it would follow logically that we should be praying to that deceased person rather than for that person.
A second reason is, perhaps, the general loss of the sense of sin. Why pray for someone if sin is equated with bad manners, as nothing really serious to worry about. If God doesn’t care about sin in this world, why would God care about it in the next? So again, why pray for the dead? They soon become forgotten.
On the other hand, Catholic and Orthodox Christians who regularly pray for their dead will almost certainly remain more mindful of, and thus closer to their deceased loved ones than others who assume they are immediately in Heaven after their death. In addition, this remembrance of love also strengthens their own faith and hope, because they certainly wouldn’t for their dead unless they believed and hoped that they are either in heaven or on their way to heaven.
Finally, praying for the dead is a salvific practice for keeping our focus on eternity, on the world beyond, on the true goal of our existence. It keeps death before our minds in a spiritually healthy way and, in doing so, keeps us mentally focused on what really matters in this life. May we who pray for the dead today be blessed with devout friends and relatives who will perform this service for us when we finally pass from this world.
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32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110815.cfm
Directing Our Minds to the End of the World and the Final Judgment
Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him. (Heb 10:27-28)
As the Church’s liturgical year comes to its end—we have three Sundays remaining until Advent which will begin the new liturgical year—the readings will direct our minds to the end of the world, and the final judgement, when Christ will come a second time for the final judgment, and the final establishment of the Kingdom of God. Today’s reading from Hebrews focuses on this final judgement in a very positive way for the children of the Kingdom, for it says that Christ “will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.”
But do we, do most Christians, eagerly await the coming of Christ to judge us, the living and the dead? We should have every reason to long for his coming, assuming that we are preparing for his judgment. After all, Christ’s first appearance was for the very purpose of atoning for our sins by his self-sacrifice, so that we could be recreated by his grace, and made children of God, and members of his Kingdom, which is the Church. Christ is presented in Hebrews as the great high priest of mankind who comes into the world as man for our sakes, to exercise the supreme priestly office on our behalf, offering himself as the supreme sacrifice which atones for all the sins of mankind. Is that not a cause for joy and longing for him to come again, and fulfill what he has begun?
However, we also know that his sacrifice does not mean automatic remission of sins, and effortless personal salvation. Here is the difficult truth. Each person, in order to be saved, must truly repent of his or her sins, and have a living faith in God, in the High Priest who redeemed us. Moreover, to become a member of the Kingdom, here and now, each person must be baptized. And, finally, those who are actually to be saved, must live a life in accord with this faith, and the moral law of God, and be ready when he or she dies, and is judged by God. The Letter to the Hebrews makes that abundantly clear in saying that “that human beings die once, and after this {comes} the judgment.”
The Church calls this judgment, immediately after death, the particular judgment. This immediate judgment, in fact, will determine whether we are to be forever members of God’s heavenly Kingdom, or forever cast into the darkness.
However, Hebrews appears to be speaking here, not so much about the particular judgment of individuals, but about the absolutely final, or general judgement that will take place when Christ returns in glory to judge all of mankind, including the angels. Moreover, this final judgment will establish the final and complete condition or situation of all of creation, of both men and angels, and even the material elements of creation.
At the particular judgment, each person will be illuminated as to why he or she has either been condemned to Hell, or has been rewarded with Heaven, and immediately he or she will be established in that final condition, partially, because only the soul will be so rewarded or condemned.
At the general judgment, on the other hand, all men will be illuminated as to exactly why only certain men and angels are rewarded, judged worthy of the Kingdom of God, and why others are condemned, judged worthy of eternal damnation.
In addition, at this final determination of all creation, the bodies of all men will be raised, but with vastly different forms. Those destined for Heaven will be raised and transformed into glorified bodies, while those destined for Hell will be raised in purely natural bodies capable of suffering. Finally, the rest of the material creation will be transformed into becoming the dwelling place of the glorified sons and daughters of the Kingdom, while those who are to have no place in that Kingdom will be exiled in some way.
It is truly an awesome thing to contemplate this future judgment that will be the occasion and reason for Christ’s second coming—this time in glory—and it will be even more awesome to experience this great division of creation, for good, or for evil. Thus, the author of Hebrews writes to console the pilgrim church, ever struggling under persecution and rejection in this world. He does not in any way suggest that they should fear this second coming of Christ, but says they are to long for it, to desire it. And why? Because Christ will be appearing, “to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him,” Christ is coming precisely to deliver his followers from the evil things of this world, and to elevate them to the joys of eternal salvation.
However, we will have hope in this salvation only if we eagerly await his coming. For certainly no one will eagerly await Christ’s coming and judgment if the person is living an immoral life, a worldly existence rather than a life of faith, hope, and charity. Only they truly will await him eagerly who are truly trying to live a Godly life, a life shaped by virtues, by faith, hope, and charity, and not by the values of this world.
We see a great example of this kind of person in today’s Gospel. The person who catches Jesus’ attention in the Temple treasury is the poor widow who donated only a few pennies to the treasury. Jesus praises her because her generosity, giving away everything, showed that she was making herself totally dependent upon God, and was eagerly awaiting the Kingdom of God.
Jesus read that woman’s heart, and Jesus knows what is in our hearts. But does he see the same faith and love in our hearts, the same eagerness for the Kingdom to come, witnessed to by the way we live in this world? Or, more importantly, will he see the same faith and love in our hearts when he comes to be our judge.
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33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111515.cfm
The World Will Pass Away by a Decree of its Creator
In those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. (Mark 13:24f.)
In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible has some very definite things to say about the end of time, that is, the end of this world as it presently exists. Science also is convinced that this planet, like other large bodies in the universe, will be destroyed one day; and scientists have various theories about how this could happen. But the Bible assures us that the world, as we know it, will pass away, not simply by chance, simply by some chance cosmic event, as scientists predict, but rather by a decree of its Creator. Moreover, both the Old and New Testament teach that this event will take place in conjunction with the coming of the Messiah, who will establish God’s kingdom, in power, which will include establishing a new heavens and a new Earth.
Now, the teaching of the New Testament on this matter is quite specific. The second coming of the Messiah will be accompanied by a cataclysmic event that will put an end to the world, not completely, but as we know it. For Christ will create new heavens and new earth through the cataclysmic transformation of the old. Likewise, this final event will also put an end to human history, which will be consummated by the Messiah’s final judgment of the living and the dead.
Today’s gospel is very specific in this regard: “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.” This gathering is for the clear purpose of judgment, and this purpose is confirmed by our first reading today from the Old Testament Book of Daniel where it says: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.”
Jesus does not soften his words when speaking of this final judgment, and there is no way of explaining away his warning. These words are either true or false; you either believe him or you deny him. There is no “middle ground” here. Indeed, belief will lead to our being prepared to meet our judgment, and unbelief will leave us unprepared.
On these matters, science has nothing really to tell us. It can speculate as to the possible ways the world could be brought to an end physically, but it cannot tell us anything about the decree of God that will terminate man’s history, nor anything about the coming of the Son of Man to judge the living and the dead, and establish new heavens and a new earth. While scientists can deny all this, they do so not as scientists. They can reject all this but only as unbelievers who will thus unlikely be prepared to meet the Lord and face his judgement if they persist in their pride and unbelief.
Psalm 14 begins with these words, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” The unbeliever, whether a scientist or simple person, is biblically a fool because he cannot discover God in the wonders of creation, which the wise do; for, as Ecclesiastes says: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness.” There is no greater foolishness than to stand before the Son of God, one day, unprepared to answer for your unbelief, and for your sins which are un-repented. But unless a man believes in God, he can never truly repent for his sins, which means to humbly recognize the offense that his sins are to God, and to God’s Redeemer Son, who died to expiate all for their evil. That is the ultimate definition of a foolish man.
However, what is most significant about the description of the second coming of Christ is not the host of fearful signs that will accompany it, but the fact that it will be transformed, along with the bodies of the righteous, into a new and more wonderful universe, for “we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home” (2nd Peter) for “he who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.'” (Rev 21:5)
No, indeed, the foretelling of these cataclysmic events is not meant to terrify us, but to give us hope, which is summarized in St. Luke at the end of his description of the second coming, “Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Christian believers should not be terrified but filled with hope that at last their rescue from the evil of this world is at hand.
So Christians who have true faith will not live in fear of the Second Coming and the events that will accompany it, so long as they are also ready to meet the Lord when he comes. Those who are unprepared for this judgment will understandably be terrified by the physical events, but they really should be more terrified of the spiritual event that it signals, the judgment which follows, which will reveal to all their eternal destiny.
Moreover, if I truly believe that the end of the world will come at a time that is known to no one but God, as Jesus says. Therefore, I will more likely want to be ready at all times to meet Christ. Nothing is more salutary than this intense desire to meet Christ—in this world, and in the next—and to see his creation transformed in glory, including ourselves.
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Solemnity of Christ the King – November 22, 2015
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112215.cfm
Christ Will Reign Forever as Our God and as Our King
Today’s feast of Christ the King is a great gift to the Church from Pope Pius XI in 1925. This feast was given even greater importance by Pope St. John XXIII in 1960, when he transferred it to the final Sunday of the liturgical year, thus making it the culmination of each liturgical year. What could be more fitting than to close each liturgical year by celebrating the feast of Christ the King which, in a wonderful way, ties together the present time, and eternity. One day, Christ will return in glory, in the glory of his exalted kingship, and he will reign forever as our God, and as our King. What irrepressible joy this truth should bring to us each year when we celebrate this great Solemnity.
However, the institution of this great feast, shortly after World War I, must have seemed an unusual move on the part of the Church and Pius XI, both to the world at-large, and even to many Christians. After all, one of the results of that war was the dissolution of certain ancient monarchies throughout Europe, and their replacement by new democratic forms of government. Thus, it might have seemed—especially in light of those developments—to be a kind of cultural intractability on the part of the Church, clinging to a past that was gone forever. But that is a very superficial misunderstanding of the motivation behind the establishment of this great feast.
Obviously the Church did not begin to believe in the kingship of Christ in the age of monarchies. The truth of the Kingship of Christ was in no way derived from monarchial cultures. Indeed, it’s quite the other way around, at least if we are speaking about monarchies in the Christian cultures of the past. That being the case, it should be understood that, at least, one of the motivating factors in establishing of this feast surely had to be to preserve belief in the Kingship of Christ. It would make sure it was not abandoned by the Catholic faithful, along with the jettisoning of these earthly monarchial systems of government in their Christian countries. Moreover, Pius XI quite clearly intended by his action to deepen the faithful’s appreciation and understanding of the truth of Christ’s unique kingship, and the significance of that kingship for their life, both here and beyond.
In this regard, it has long been a matter of curiosity for me that so many of my British friends maintain their strong loyalty to their monarchy, in spite of the great weakening of that institution in terms of actual power. But then it hit me: this loss of power was itself the clue to their fidelity. They loved their monarch, but without, in any way, wishing the monarchy to regain its former power as an unelected absolute governing power. They love the monarch because she, or he, in a singular way, represents the glory, and the prestige, of the British people among the nations. The monarch and monarchy are essentially symbolic of something much greater and dearer. That something greater and dearer, their nation, is what they most love.
At any rate, all this musing helped me, by analogy, to understand much better the meaning of Christ’s kingship for us, today and forever. We also did not elect Christ to be our King, nor did Christ gain his kingship in the way that earthly monarchs always have. Earthy monarchs were not chosen by God, nor by the general citizenry. They became monarchs either by force of one sort or another, or were granted the role by their peers.
Moreover, Christ, unlike worldly monarchs, was King from the first moment of his conception, and he was so precisely because he was always the Lord of creation, and the Lord of history. Thus, Christ alone possesses the sole perfection of kingship, and his every action was, and always is, both fully good and noble. Thus, unlike earthly powers, Christ the King has won the undying love of his subjects, who are his subjects, both by nature and by faith, precisely because he has fully exercised his kingship by dying for their sake, and by rising again for their sake. Christ, then, is the only king who is so by nature, the only true, absolute monarch, and by faith, and, as we say in the creed, his kingdom will never end.
But then, what is meant when Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world? That assertion is true in several senses. First, his kingdom is never in competition with other earthly powers who rule, because his rule is essentially above them. For his kingdom, as Vatican II said, is one of truth and justice, of love and mercy, and as such, it is itself the spiritual foundation for any governing institution in this world worthy of the name.
Secondly, the kingship of Christ is not of this world in quite another sense, that is, simply because this world can never contain him or his kingdom. His kingdom and kingship is infinitely superior in every way, for it extends over the whole universe which he himself has both created and redeemed.
Finally, his kingship is such that it fills us with the greatest joy, for it is the source of the very glory and dignity which belongs to his Church and, thus, most wonderfully to his subjects. Indeed, that fact is the ultimate capping of our joy in Christ’s kingship: for although, by nature, we are his subjects, by faith and baptism, we are his friends called to reign forever with him in heaven, to share his eternal kingship. What joy fills the heart of the Christian who truly believes that, because, as St. Paul writes, “If we suffer {with him}, we shall also reign with him.” (2 Tim. 2:12)
Thus, the integral meaning of reigning with Christ, in this world, means to be willing to follow our king into his battle with the powers of evil—both angelic and human—and to wage that battle just as he did on earth, not with force of arms, but with the force of divine love, and the divine empowerment of suffering. Only in that sign can we ever conquer and share his joy.
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First Sunday of Advent 2015
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110115.cfm
Marantha: Come, Lord Jesus!
The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the House of Israel and Judah. (Jer. 33:14)
Today, the Church begins the holy season of Advent once again. For twenty centuries, the Church has been awaiting the second coming of Christ, always praying Marantha, “Come, Lord Jesus.” It is not as if the Church could ever be truly separated from her bridegroom, or that Christ has not been present to the Church, and acting on her behalf all these centuries. For the Church’s whole life and activity is made possible by his presence and activity within her, within the sacraments, within her teaching, and within all her works of sanctification.
So what the Church constantly prays for, and especially prays for during this season of Advent, is not that Christ should come into her, be present in her, as she makes her pilgrimage through this world to Heaven. No, when the Church prays “Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus,” she is praying that he should come into the world in a new and definitive way, in a very visible way, that requires no faith on our part or anyone’s part to experience his presence. What we are praying for is that he will come into his creation now as King and Judge, in his glory, to claim his Bride, and establish his Kingdom fully by his final judgement. His second coming, we know, will bring human history to its fulfillment, and will separate definitively, forever, the good and the evil in creation by his judgment, and by his irresistible decrees.
Advent, then, is a season that embraces all of human history, looking backward to mankind’s longing for the redeemer promised for all mankind, but who was specifically promised only to the Chosen People. Advent, then, first recalls the long history in which man was waiting for God’s help, going back to the beginning when man sinned, and lost paradise, but was given hope that he might one day recover what was lost. It especially recalls the 2000 years that Israel was waiting for the fulfillment of the specific promise made to Abraham, that in his offspring all nations would be blessed.
However, this holy season especially directs our attention to the initial fulfillment of that promise in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. It is directing our attention to the feast we will celebrate four weeks from now. This commemorates the coming of Christ for the first time into our fallen world, as the God made man, so that man might be liberated from sin and death, and, by God’s grace, become a true child of God, a man made God.
But this season also pushes our attention beyond Christmas to the end of time, when Christ will come once more. And when he comes at the end of time, he will not come in the weakness of a child, who would one day die for our salvation, but he will come in all the glory that is his, as the redeemer of man and Son of God, the King and Lord of all creation.
So, what do we look forward to in both sense of that phrase: both looking forward to in time, and looking forward to in hopeful longing? We look forward to the final victory of Christ over all that is evil in creation, to the final establishment of his Kingdom, when every tear will be wiped away, when all evil will be banished. We look forward to creation itself being gloriously transformed by the power of God into a new and more wonderful reality, which will be the fitting dwelling place of God’s children, themselves finally restored to the likeness of the Son in soul and body, sharing the glory of God forever.
Christ has certainly accomplished all his saving work in principle, that is, he has triumphed absolutely over all evils that afflict mankind, in his own humanity. He himself is risen, glorified, and established in power at the right hand of the Father. But, his victory is not yet complete in us, and not even in those who have gone before us into his kingdom. We are all too well aware how incomplete his victory is in us; for we still must ask forgiveness for our sins, for the evil that we still do. We still are subject to suffering and death by the evil done to us. How can we fail to long for that glorious day of his second coming when at last the petition we make in the Lord’s Prayer, will be finally fulfilled—“deliver us from evil”—the evil we do, the evil we suffer?
But we look forward to far more than the delivery from all evil. We, the Church on earth, and even the Church in Heaven and in Purgatory, look forward to sharing the beatitude of God, in the body, as well as the soul. We wonder what it will be like on that eternal day—not simply to be free from all suffering forever, in soul and body, but to actually experience the unending ecstasy of God’s beatitude in the flesh, in the body as well as in the soul. And this blessed ecstasy will not be something we desire, or long for, or pursue, but will simply be the permanent state of our being, forever, in God.
If we find the temporary and passing pleasures of this life so enticing that we are tempted to make earthly pleasure the goal of our life, what will it be like when the infinitely greater ecstasy of God’s life becomes the permanent condition of our humanity, of our body and soul, glorified in Christ? This is what the Church prays for in longing for Christ to come again. It is a prayer, a cry from the heart, of all the redeemed, that Christ’s redemption should be brought to completion in us, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
Come Lord Jesus, come and make us, at last, like you. Come soon, and by your Spirit,
renew the whole of your creation forever.
Amen, Maranatha!
About Fr. Mark A. Pilon
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