Reflection for Sunday 17th November, 2024

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Final Judgement (Mark 13:24-32)

This is the second last Sunday of the Liturgical Year which ends with the celebration of Christ the King. Today’s Readings challenge us to reflect on the end of the firmament and of life as we know it. Today’s First Reading (Daniel 12:1-3) and Gospel belong to a style of literature called apocalyptic, very dramatic and imaginative, usually the product of a time of persecution and mental stress, asserting that God is still in charge and that there is every reason for hope.

In times of distress our imaginations can be very active, creating fantastic images of doom and how it will be overcome. It’s somewhat like science fiction. The creative arts generally flourish in conditions of personal and social distress, whereas times of affluence usually produce decadent art.

About your own final destiny, there is only one thing of which you can be absolutely sure: you will die one day. No matter how healthy you are now, you suffer from an incurable condition … called human mortality.

The apocalyptic literature of the bible is a dramatic expression in fantastic imagery, about war, savage beasts, storms, upheavals, and thousands of corpses. But God would bring about the final victory. “The sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” The details are not to be taken as a literal foretelling of specific happenings but as a message that God will intervene and bring about a final victory.
About your own final destiny, there is only one thing of which you can be absolutely sure: you will die one day. No matter how healthy you are now, you suffer from an incurable condition … called human mortality.

Judgement Day is today

A wise man of the East was asked by a pupil what did he mean by enlightenment.
“It means that I know that I shall die, some day.”
“But everybody knows that,” said the pupil.
“Yes, but not everyone lives with the knowledge.”
Enlightened by this knowledge makes a person regard each day we live as the day of judgement.
I like the story about St. Philip Neri, known for his great sense of humour. He was playing cards with three friends. While the cards were being shuffled, one player asked what would you do if you knew your death was imminent. One said he would rush to Confession, another had a debt to pay, and the third would restore a broken friendship. Philip? He said he would get on with the game! The saint is one who lives each day in the presence of Christ.
When will it happen to me? What will it mean? When the lights finally fail, will it be darkness and no more?
“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory; then too he will send his angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

Postscript

I want to clarify a question that I’ve been asked a few times. “What did Jesus mean when he said that heaven will pass away? Isn’t heaven eternal?” What is meant by heaven and earth in this instance is the sky above us and the earth beneath our feet. Don’t we say that the heavens opened when it was raining cats and dogs! Can you remember the song about Molly and me and baby makes three in my “Blue Heaven?” Even if this material firmament were to burn out or disappear, the eternity of heaven’s beatific vision will not cease.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Stay awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour
when the Son of Man is coming. Alleluia!