WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

A MESSAGE FOR THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

God’s creation of light brought about the first motions through time and space that allowed us to exist.  With that light came time and space.  And when that light is extinguished, it will mark the end of time and the end of space.  This outer darkness will be as the world before Creation, a world that time will forget, and that will exist only for the damned souls who suffer within it.

One day the light of creation will dim and be extinguished forever.  On that day, we will find ourselves either in the darkness of the deep, or in the presence of the Light of the World, that “True Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9).  This Light will enlighten the obscurity and disperse the clouds of confusion that prevent us from comprehending the glories of heaven and the love of Him whom we shall see, finally, face to face.

As the light of creation dims, the elect of God will be bathed with a new light, one that will enable them to see God directly by the beatific vision of “the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.  Amen” (I Tim. 6:16).

This human expression of seeing God face to face simply means that in heaven we shall see God as he is.  In heaven God will give us what is called by theologians the lumen gloriae, the “light of glory”, which enables our soul to look into the very nature of God, to penetrate into the depths of his divinity: we shall see all mysteries hidden in God from all eternity, and all the mysteries of his love and mercy.  Until that time, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9).

“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever (Apoc. 22:5).  Nothing will ever again hinder or distract us from the contemplation of our Maker, as his Light illumines our immortality with all the graces and truths necessary to open the eyes of our soul to the eternal beatific vision.  The Word who was made flesh shall now truly dwell amongst us and we shall behold his glory, “the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

When the dim light of creation goes out, it will be replaced by the Light of Glory, by which the elect will see God.  But for the rest, who love not God, there will be nothing but darkness.  Only their love of God will separate the elect from the damned.  Without light there is only the absence of light, which is darkness.  Without good there is only the absence of good, which is evil.  Without love, there is only the absence of love, which is hell.