Good day dear brothers and sisters! There is no doubt at all that today the Lord Jesus, the Eternal Word of the Father and his beloved Son, is giving us a wake-up call. His word to us today is not only about the end of the world – the end of human history – but it is also about the end of our individual and personal lives. We are all going to die, and there’s nothing we can do to stop that from happening.
The good news is that what Jesus is telling us is not morbid or depressing; rather it is very good news. What is so good about dying or the end of the world you ask? The good news is that God our Father loves us so much that He is constantly offering us the gift of his only Son, Jesus, the One who has overcome death. It is this Jesus, Risen from the dead, who now invites us to do what it is that we can do to be ready for these two final days, whichever will come first.
The day of my own death may come first; on the other hand, the final day of human history may come first, while we are all still alive on Planet Earth. Either way, we need to be ready.
We can’t possibly understand what we need to do in order to be ready for the moment of our own death or for the moment of the end of human history; unless we begin to understand who God is. We need to personally come to know God, our Father, and his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit because at the moment of our death – when our soul will leave our body behind in death – our soul will be brought into the radiant presence of the Most Holy Trinity.
If the end of human history comes first, as Saint Paul described it to the Thessalonians, we will be brought body and soul into the radiant presence of the Most Holy Trinity.
Either way, when we come face to face with our God, the Creator of the Universe, his face – which is the human face of Jesus Risen from the dead – is radiant with the life giving power of divine love. The light radiating from God will appear to us, for the first time, to be so radiant that our own self – body, mind, heart, and soul – will become transparent for all to see.
On that day there will no longer be any secrets, not even from our own self. If today I am hiding the truth about me from my own self; on that day all my secrets will be revealed and be visible in the light of day and in the light of God’s love.
If we don’t want to spend eternity in embarrassment, regret, and despair; then we need to face the truth about ourselves together with the truth about everyone else and also about God.
We human beings have a lot of strange ideas about God. Because of the original sin, our damaged human condition, we find it difficult to trust in God. It is so hard for us to be good and kind, to put the interests of others first, ahead of our own interests. It seems impossible for us to get rid of bad habits and to really love others, even strangers and enemies.
That is why God’s plan to save us let Jesus be falsely accused, condemned, tortured, and put to death on a cross, the cruelest death imaginable. This was the only way the Son of God could demonstrate the authenticity of God’s love for us, for every human being, even for those who were his accusers and executioners. Jesus’ last acts in this life were to ask the Father to forgive his accusers and executioners – He even gave them an excuse – “for they know not what they do.” Then he entrusted his Mother Mary to his beloved disciple and apostle John, and He also entrusted John – and all of us – to Mary and her love for us.
Mary has been very busy over the last two centuries – appearing to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, France in 1858, to Saints Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta at Fatima in 1917, and in many other places – and in every apparition our Blessed Mother Mary pleads with us to stop sinning, to repent and stop offending the love God has for us. This was also the message that Jesus proclaimed: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.”
This is not rocket science… it is not mysterious or impossible to understand. All we have to do is stop, be quiet, and listen to the interior voice of our own conscience. The Holy Spirit is within us to shine the light of God in our mind, heart, and soul to help us see the truth about ourselves and the way we are living, thinking, speaking, behaving, and acting.
We are called to love everyone – beginning with our own family – with genuine love that puts the needs and the good of the other first, ahead of my own needs and good. We can only do that by first putting our trust in God, that God is taking care of us, and that we have nothing to fear; no matter how bad the news may be in the world around us. Come and see two posters that show us by art how Jesus and Mary suffer with us in all our trials, difficulties, and sins.
If you haven’t been to confession in a long time, maybe now would be a good time to do it while we are still alive on this Earth. Jesus waits in the person of the priest to give us his mercy.
So let us continue to pray for one another that we might accept the encouragement and grace of the Holy Spirit to open wide our heart, our mind, our spirit and even our body to the presence and the love of God: the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us take a few moments in silence to reflect on this Good News spoken to us by the Lord.
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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
