Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
November 15, 2015 11:00 am · Deacon Rick Nevins
“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Today marks the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Being that next week, we conclude the liturgical year with the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of The Universe, the Church takes this week to consider the end. Not just the end of the year, but also our own end. She does so by offering readings that cause us to reflect on our lives, the times that we live in, and the fact that we will be judged. We live in that period of history between the Christ’s redemptive act of self-sacrifice on The Cross, and His second coming to judge the living and the dead. For many these apocalyptic readings can be frightening, we see the state of the world and it’s not always a pretty picture. The news cycles seem to move from tragedy to tragedy and we’re never without an impending doomsday prediction. All along, “like a dear that yearns for a running stream”, we long for tIie innocence of days past, forgetting that all of creation has been in a constant state of upheaval since the Fall, when mankind inherited the effects of that Original Sin through the disobedience of our first parents.
Never the less, we should not fear, we were made for greatness, and we are not without hope because we believe in, and in fact we profess, that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Today’s psalm echoed that hope in proclaiming, “Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption”.
Our hope rests in the fact that if we have died with him, we will also rise with him who defeated death by his own resurrection. It’s been said that everyone wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die. The truth is, that as Christians we have already sacramentally died with Christ through our baptism, when we were born into a new life of Grace, so that at the appointed time, through our physical death, if we remain in His Grace, our dying with Christ can complete our incorporation into Him and his redeeming act.
For this reason the Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our own death. We don’t know the day or hour when God will call us to Himself, but we do know that at the moment of death we will face our own particular judgment and be held accountable for the life we have been given, for all that we have done, and all that we failed to do. At that time we will know our eternal fate, Heaven, or Hell For those destined for heaven, yet still in need of purification, Purgatory is the state of being where, through God’s Mercy, man is reduced to Love and prepared to enter into God’s presence forever.
The fact is we don’t know how many more tomorrows will come, or what they might bring, but we can be prepared for anything by remaining in God’s grace, by frequenting the sacrament of mercy, the sacrament of confession. God waits for you in the confessional; he longs to help you by relieving you of the weight of the sins that hold you back from Him. Confess your sins, carryout the penance prescribed and be reconciled with God and His Church.
Make no mistake about it, God loves you, He loves each of us more than we could ever imagine. And he wants us to remain with Him forever and enter into eternal beatitude with Him in heaven. But that does not mean that we all will be saved. We choose our eternity while living our earthly life. If we live a virtuous life and remain in His Grace we are assured eternal life, but if we choose to live apart from God and the Grace he desire us to receive, we choose eternal separation from Him, and he will honor that choice, allowing us to fall headlong into the darkness of hell.
Sacred Scriptures tells us that, “Before man are life and death, good and evil, and whichever he chooses will be given to him”. So chose wisely and be prepared, “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night”. Stay close to God through prayer and fasting. The practice of fasting enables us to master our selves and control our passions so that we are not controlled by them. In the spiritual classic, The Imitation of Christ we read, “You ought to master yourself in every act and thoughts as if you were to die today. If you had a good conscience, you would not fear death so much. It would be better to guard against sin than to run away from death. If you are not prepared today, how will you be prepared tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day, and how do you know you will have tomorrow?
While we don’t have an answer to that question, we do have a remedy. Remain in His Love, stay close to God in prayer, in and through the sacramental life of the Church. Take to heart the words of the psalmist, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to stand before the Son of Man”. And finally, seek the intercession of The Blessed Virgin Mary, our Brothers and sisters The Saints who have gone before us, and the Army of Angles who night and day serve the Lord with gladness and cry out to God in exaltation, Holy, Holy Holy.
