A SERMON FOR THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Today
is the last Sunday after Pentecost, the very last Sunday of the liturgical
year. After today’s Mass you will need
to move the ribbon in your missal to the very beginning of the book, for the
First Sunday of the year, Advent Sunday.
But before that we need to think a while on what is God’s message to us
in these last days of the dying year.
Appropriately
enough, we are asked to contemplate the last days of this earth. The latter days. The end times. We tend to see the end of the world through
the perspective of Hollywood, with terrible tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, alien
invasions, all kinds of drama and excitement.
Trust me, we will not spend eternity munching popcorn and watching these
visions of mass destruction on a TV screen somewhere. Our eternity, wherever we spend it, will be
something entirely different.
It
matters not how the end of the world
will happen. The only thing that really
matters is the state of our soul when
it happens. When we read today’s Gospel we should think about
our very own end, with its frightful death, its terrifying day of judgment when
our whole eternity will be laid out before us in one glorious second—or one
dreadful second.
In
the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, there is an impressive and imposing picture of
the final judgment of the whole world.
It is the greatest masterpiece of the painter Michelangelo. And in today’s Gospel there is another
painting of this Last Judgment, this one not in oils or water colors, but in
words, words with which Christ paints for us an impressive and terrible
picture. This too is a masterpiece, a
masterpiece of Eternal Wisdom. And
Christ paints it for one reason and one reason only. When he speaks to us about the judgment to
come, he has no other purpose than to help us prepare for that “Dies Iræ”, that day of wrath. He wants to inspire us and fill our hearts
with the kind of holy fear we need so as to be ready for judgment day. Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. The four last things. The things so many of us fear to think of.
When
St. Paul was in prison in Caesarea, Governor Felix was anxious to hear the
great preacher of the new religion. His
hands laden with chains, Paul was brought up from his prison cell. Standing before the throne of Felix, Paul
spoke first of Christ and Him Crucified, and the Governor listened most
attentively. But, when Paul changed his
subject and began to speak of justice and chastity and of the judgment to come,
Felix began to fear and tremble, and he stopped Paul in his discourse and sent
him back to his prison.
Are
we afraid to hear of these things? If we
are not comfortable with the words of today’s Gospel, and with the ideas of
Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell, it is a sign we might be afraid that we’re
not going to save our soul. But today, Christ
reminds us that by our own free will, we can change all that. He warns us of the things that are to come, not
to frighten us, but so that we can prepare for their coming.
First,
our Lord speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem, a destruction that will come
to pass a mere forty years after the Saviour’s prophecy. That was the sign that should make us believe
that, with equal certainty, the end of the world will come one day, and with it
the final judgment. Just as surely as
the sun rose in the East this morning, so the Cross will appear in the clouds
of heaven one day, and Christ will come with great power and majesty to judge
both the quick and the dead.
Holy
Mother Church shows us this picture of the Last Judgment twice during the
course of the year: at the very
beginning of the ecclesiastical year, Advent Sunday, and at the very end of the
ecclesiastical year, this Last Sunday after Pentecost. At the beginning and the end. The Alpha and the Omega, like Christ
himself. This is the importance the
Church attaches to this Last Judgment.
It is the finality of all our actions, the reason for which we do all
the things we do. The reason for which
we were created. Why did God make
you? We remember our answer from the
catechism, that he made us to know, love and serve him in this world. But do you remember why? So that we may be with him forever in the
next. And so Christ reminds us today: “My
dear children, prepare for THAT day!”
On
that day, the honour of Christ the King and the glory of the Cross will be
vindicated, when the King of the Universe shall come in glory to judge both the
quick and the dead. He shall come with
the Cross as his scepter to judge not just you and me, but all the nations of
the earth.
Throughout
the ages, hundreds of millions in every age have acknowledged Christ as their
King and Ruler. They have obeyed him,
they have served him; they have loved him, and bowed their heads at the very
mentioning of his Name. But some there
be in every age, and they have never been lacking throughout history, a vulgar
rabble crying out as the Jews of old: “We have no king but Caesar! Crucify him!”
It
was in the dark hour of his bitter Passion that Christ said to Pilate: “I am a
King!” And on that day of darkness they
honoured his regal dignity with a dirty red rag thrown around his shoulders to
be his royal purple robes, his scepter was the Cross, and his crown a crown of
thorns. Make no mistake, this vulgar
rabble has always been around, with their cries of “Crucify him!” They are alive and strong even now. The day will come, however, when Christ’s
honour will be vindicated and justice will prevail. The Cross will appear in the clouds of
heaven, and Christ will be surrounded with great power and majesty, the
thorn-crowned King now seated upon his throne of judgment.
On
Judgment Day all mankind will be assembled under the Cross of Christ. You and I will be there with the rest of
them. All of history will be there. And just as on Calvary where the one thief
was saved and the other lost, so on that day will Christ separate the sheep
from the goats, the wheat from the cockle, the good from the wicked. We will see Christ judge all the characters
of history, those we know and those we don’t, saints and sinners. The great popes of history will be there,
popes like Pius IX, Leo XIII, St. Pius X who fought so hard against
modernism—they will all be there. And so
too will John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, men who so loudly proclaim the
very same modernist errors those other good Popes condemned and fought against. They will all be there, the good and the bad,
ready to separated and go their separate ways.
And then
at some point Christ will turn to us, this congregation and he will separate
us, the good from the bad. Which side
will you find yourself on then? That is
for each of us to decide. Our actions in
this life will determine our last end. There
are four last ends, death, judgment, heaven and hell. We cannot escape death. We cannot escape judgment. But we can
escape hell. We choose now with our own
free will whether we are going to choose heaven or hell.
We
cannot be sure of our last end. Choosing
heaven is only the beginning, and we must live our lives according to the will
of God and with the help of the graces he gives us, always keeping our chosen
destination in mind. But to instill in
us the fortitude to persevere in times of temptation, we must contemplate the
possibility that we may fall into temptation, commit sin, and fail to save our
souls. Christ our Judge will pronounce
on us one of two verdicts, guilty or not guilty. What will be the words you hear? “Come, ye
blessed of my Father, and possess the Kingdom.” Or “Depart from me, ye cursed,
into the everlasting fire!”
If
we are sentenced to hell, then we will surely cry out, in the words of the
psalmist: “Ye mountains, fall upon us!
Cover us, ye hills!” But our
dreadful deeds will be laid bare for all the world to see, and we will be all
too aware that our dreadful sentence is just and that we fully deserve it. So choose well today and decide where you want
to spend eternity. With the devils of
hell and enemies of Christ in eternal torment?
Or in the loving arms of Jesus and Mary, united with God and our loved
ones forever?
Today
in the Gospel words of Christ himself you have been warned! “Ecce
prædixi vobis!”—Behold, I have told you beforehand! Christians, remember this prophecy! Keep this picture before your eyes—always!
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