Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
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As we approach the end of the liturgical year, we are presented with Scripture passages that describe the End Times: the end of the world… and the Day of Judgment. Our Lord’s words concerning the Day of Judgment can stir fear and trembling in even the purest and the calmest of hearts, for He assures us that the Judgment is coming and that we should be prepared to “meet our maker.”A few weeks ago, my brother and I went to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra & Chorus perform Mozart’s Requiem, perhaps the most renowned and revered composition in classical music history. Within this work, the best-known (and my favorite piece) is the Lacrimosa, a Latin word which translates as “tearful.” You will remember having heard it in the film “Amadeus.” Here is the English translation:
Full of tears will be that day
When from the ashes will arise
The guilty man to be judged.
Therefore, spare him, O God,
Merciful Lord Jesus.
Grant him eternal rest! Amen.
“Tearful” will well describe the Day of Judgment for most. Facing our sins and failures as we do when we prepare to go to Confession can be laborious, and humbling, but the Lord’s judgment, tearful as will likely be, will turn tears of remorse into tears of relief and of peace when we witness God’s mercy perhaps sparing us from what we fear most.
The Lord begins His prediction in a motif of a loss of light from the sun and moon, and of enduring darkness… reversing God the Father’s first words in His act of Creation: “Let there be light.” The darkness which we will experience suggests a return to the cosmic chaos which described the era before Creation, yet speaks of God’s enlightening involvement therein, pronouncing His Creation “good.”
A new and different light at that time will illuminate our souls, begging God to remember His merciful love as we contemplate our failures in the same category. God established the sun, the moon and the stars for the purpose of being our light. Their removal will be a sign of God’s judgment. (Remember the midday darkness in the Crucifixion story.) However, this removal of light, this darkness to come, will forge deep within us, a realization that the earth and all of Creation will have no meaning or value at the moment of judgment; all that will matter will be the truth about ourselves revealed to us by the light of God in His judgment, merciful as He is.
Here we call to mind the Lord’s own words in today’s Gospel: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
The Parousia, or Second Coming, of Our Lord Jesus Christ, will bring the completion of God’s gift of Salvation. We must keep in mind, however, that the Lord Jesus came first as Redeemer, but will return as Judge.
This Second Coming, the ultimate hope of our Catholic Faith, is celebrated at each Mass. At the Mysterium Fidei, following the Consecration, when the Priest chants (in English) “The Mystery of Faith…” the Faithful respond with:
+We proclaim your death, O Lord,
and profess your Resurrection
until You come again.”
— or —
+ When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup
we proclaim your Death, O Lord,
until You come again.
— or —
+ Save us, Savior of the world,
for by Your Cross and Resurrection
you have set us free.
This freedom mentioned in the third acclamation, speaks to the absolution from sin won for us upon the Cross and celebrated during Mass, and within the Confessional in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. How wonderful it will be for those who frequent the Confessional to eventually face the coming Judgment free of the consequences of sin.
The point of this Gospel passage is to encourage us to prepare constantly for the Coming of Our Lord, and not to procrastinate in the practice of Reconciliation, nor in the Good Works that Faith requires.
Balancing chronological uncertainty with absolute assurance that the end will come, may sound frightening, but we must remember that the Lord’s Second Coming will be glorious, and we want to measure up to it.
Ending the liturgical year next week with the Feast of Christ the King, and then beginning anew with the First Sunday of Advent, our Readings, revealing the events of the end-times, and are meant to be encouraging rather than frightening, with a fresh approach to living our Faith as we begin a new Year of Holiness.
And lest we feel the darkness of either the effects of our sin or merely the clouds of November, the Prophet Daniel speaks to the gloriousness of the Parousia… and our hope to share in this glory, contrasting the aforementioned darkness with the light of hope as he says: “The wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the [heavens] and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”