The end of the world: meditation on the last Sunday after Pentecost

By Fr Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene OCD   |   20 November 2024

From Divine Intimacy

Prelude

My God, in the evening of life You will judge me according to my love. Help me to grow in love each day.

1

The Mass for this Sunday, the last of the liturgical year, is a prayer of thanksgiving for the year that is ending, and one of propitiation for that which is about to begin; it is a reminder that the present life is fleeting, and an invitation to keep ourselves in readiness for the final step which will usher us into eternity.

In the epistle (Col 1:9–14), St Paul prays and gives thanks in the name of all Christians: “We cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will … that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work.” This is a beautiful synthesis of the task which the interior soul has endeavoured to accomplish during the whole year: to adapt and conform itself to God’s holy will, to unite itself to it completely, and, being moved in all things by that divine will alone, to act in such a manner as to please Our Lord in everything. God be praised if, thanks to His help, we have succeeded in advancing some steps along that road which most surely leads to holiness. Making our own the sentiments of the Apostle, we should give thanks to the Father who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light.” The lot, the inheritance of the saints, of those who tend toward holiness, is union of love with God — here below in faith, hereafter in glory. This heritage is ours because Jesus has merited it for us by His Blood, and because in Jesus “we have redemption, the remission of sins”; thus, cleansed from sin and clothed in grace by His infinite merits, we also can ascend to that very lofty and blessed state of union with God.

If, with God’s help, we have succeeded in making some progress, there still remains more and greater work to be done. The Church, therefore, has us ask in the Collect: “Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people, that by more earnestly seeking the fruit of good works, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness.” So it is: the more we correspond to grace, the greater the graces Our Lord will grant us; the more we press on toward Him, the more He will draw us to Himself, so that the result of this continuous interplay of the divine assistance and our correspondence will be the sanctification of each one of us.

2

With the description of the end of the world and the coming of Christ to judge the living and the dead, the gospel (Mt 24:15–35) reminds us that just as the liturgical year passes and comes to an end, so does the life of man on earth. Everything will have an end, and, at the end of all, will come the majestic epilogue: “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven [the Cross]: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.” Jesus, Who once came upon earth in poverty, hiddenness and pain, to teach us the way to heaven and to redeem our souls, has every right to return glorious at the end of time, to gather the fruit of His labour and His Blood. He will be our judge, and will judge us, as He Himself has said, according to our love: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you. … For I was hungry and you gave Me to eat … thirsty and you gave Me to drink. … As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me.” (Mt 25:34,35,40) His sweet precept of love — love of God and of neighbour — will be the law by which we shall be examined. Blessed shall we be if we have loved, and loved much! “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Lk 7:47), Jesus said, referring to the sinful woman. The greater and deeper our love, the more effectively will it efface all the sins, miseries, and faults into which, despite our good will, we fall daily.

“For this reason it is a great thing,” says St John of the Cross, “for the soul to exercise itself constantly in love, so that, being perfected here below, it may not stay long, either in this world or in the next, without seeing God face to face.” (Living Flame of Love, 1,34) The saint is alluding to a soul inflamed with divine love and longing anxiously for heaven in order to see its God face to face and be able to love Him more. Only an intense exercise of love, however, can of itself lead to union with God, both here on earth and in a blessed eternity. Happy the soul who, at the end of life, after having exercised itself much in love, can be immediately admitted to the beatifying union of heaven. Then it will have nothing to fear from the judgment of Jesus, for this judgment will be its eternal joy and happiness.

Colloquy

“Deign, O Lord, to grant me the experience of true love before You take me from this life, for it will be a great thing at the hour of my death to realise that I shall be judged by One whom I have loved above all things. I shall be able to meet You with security, certain that I shall not be going into a foreign land, but into my own country, for it belongs to the One whom I have loved so truly and who has loved me in return.

“How sweet will be the death of that soul who has done penance for all its sins and does not have to go to purgatory! It may be that it will begin to enjoy glory even in this world, and will know no fear, but only peace!” (St Teresa of Avila, Way of Perfection, 40)

“To You, O Lord our God, we must always cling, that with Your continual help we may live in all holiness, godliness and uprightness. The weight of our weakness drags us down: but by Your grace, may we be enkindled and raised on high, may we be inflamed so as to climb from the depths, arranging in our hearts to ascend by steps. Let us, then, sing the song of “ascents”, burning with Your holy fire and journeying on toward You.

“Where are we going? On high, to the peace of the heavenly Jerusalem, as it is written: ‘I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.’ There, good will shall be so ordered in us that we shall have no other desire than to remain there eternally. So long as we live in this mortal body we are journeying toward You, O Lord; here below we have no lasting dwelling place, but seek one which is to come, since our home is in heaven. Therefore, with the help of Your grace, I enter into the secrecy of my heart, and lift up songs of love to You, to You, my King and my God!” (St Augustine)