At
this time of the year before Advent begins, the readings always focus
on the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. We do this
because it was one of the things that Jesus taught. Jesus taught that
he would come again and that when he does come it will be for a time
of judgement. All people will be judged. Each week we say in the
Creed, ‘He will come again to judge the living and the dead’.
It
can be tempting to discard what we don’t understand, especially if
it sounds a little silly. The idea of Jesus appearing in glory and
coming on the clouds to judge the world may seem hard to swallow.
However, it would be a great mistake on our part if we began to just
take the parts of Jesus’ teaching that ‘make sense’ and leave
the other ones. Perhaps a better approach is to say we accept all his
teachings, but we don’t understand many of them. ‘I don’t
understand, but I believe.’ That’s what faith is.
If
the Lord is to come to judge the living and the dead, it implies two
things: First, that there must be a heaven and a hell.
Otherwise there would be no point in judging us if it were going to
make no difference. Heaven is the total happiness that being in the
presence of God will bring. This is something that we cannot
understand, because we have no experience of it yet, but this will be
the most complete happiness we could ever know and this is what God
has planned for us; that is what He wants for us and God will make
that happen unless we consciously and deliberately reject God.
Then there is the total loss of God for those who reject him, and this is hell; the loss of everything that can bring happiness. Jesus has taught us that this is real, otherwise it would make no sense that we have free will, the power to accept or reject God. If heaven is being in the wondrous presence of God, which means total fulfillment, light, happiness, joy, the company of those we love and peace, then to lose that would mean to be left with darkness, hatred, pain, isolation and the pain of knowing we have lost the possibility of happiness. When Our Lady appeared to the three children at Fatima in 1917, one of the things she said was, ‘If people only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.’ She also said, ‘God condemns no one to hell, people condemn themselves to hell.’ Why would we condemn ourselves to hell, you might ask? We would do it by the way we live, the choices we continually make.
The
Lord’s coming also implies that we will have to make an account of
our lives to God. We will be held accountable for our actions. I
often think that when we hear about so many of these tribunals and
hearings, which cost millions and show the wholesale corruption that
goes on, it can be very frustrating, because the people who get away
with the most never seem to have to pay, either because they are
powerful enough, or because of the legal system. They always seem to
get off the hook. It is wrong and it happens every day. But if a
young person steals something from the local supermarket, you can be
sure he or she will be brought to court and they’ll pay for it with
a fine, or with jail time. Yet even the rich and powerful must
remember that their power and wealth won’t be with them when they
die. They too will have to give an account of themselves to God and
nothing is hidden from God. I find this consoling, not because I wish
evil on anyone, but because at least I know that in the end there
will be justice.
Is
this a reason for us to be afraid? Of course not, unless we are
deliberately trying to fool God. If we try to live as the Lord
teaches us and make even the smallest effort, then we have nothing to
fear. If we just get on with the day to day tasks that we are
presented with and try to be honest before God, then we have nothing
to worry about, because this is what Jesus teaches us. The fact is
that we are all sinners, we all fall short of the mark and none of us
ever get it exactly right, but God isn’t put off by this. God sees
the heart. God knows when we are doing our best and trying to live as
best we can. He knows all the pressures that we are under. He
knows how difficult it is to try and survive in the world. The Lord
looks at each of our hearts and judges us by what is in our heart.
So, there is no reason for us to be afraid if we make even the
smallest effort.
It
is also important to remember that God is infinitely merciful and
mercy is something which is not deserved. God’s justice and mercy
go together. Think of all the times that we see people in the paper
convicted of some terrible crime, and we say, ‘I hope he gets
life,’ or ‘I hope they kill him…’ It’s just as well
for our sake that God is more merciful with us, than we are with each
other, or none of us would stand a chance.
Another
reason why we can never judge someone else is because we don’t know
what’s in their heart. We don’t know what has influenced another
person’s actions, or what pressures they are under. That’s why
Jesus teaches us, ‘Do not judge and you will not be judged’. Only
God can judge, and only God will judge perfectly justly. We can judge
the outward actions of a person, but we cannot judge the heart.
God
is merciful and if we try to do what is right we have nothing to be
afraid of.
He
will come again to judge the living and the dead.
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