The judgment Concering the End of the World

(2024-11-24)

Dear faithful,

 Today’s Gospel is about the end of the world. This topic is not only in the Gospel: it is everywhere in our society. All over the world the medias speak about that: ecological disaster, war, financial crisis, … Now we get used to live in a world which is supposed to collapse in a few years.

 But there is a big difference between what we read in the newspapers concerning the end of the world and what OL is telling us about that end in the gospel.

 What OL is telling us is not a pure destruction of everything, but it is the judgment of all things. We are used to consider the end of the world, but we sometimes forget that this end will be a judgment, the judgment of all things. In today’s sermon I want to explain what kind of judgment will happen at the end of the times : this judgment will be the test of our faith and will be a public event, all our life, its good and bad, will be shown to others.

I/ A judgment based on faith 

  1/ Jerusalem’s destruction:

First, let us have a look to the first part of today’s Gospel, verses 15-22. In that part OL is telling us about a destruction but it is not here the destruction of everything but the destruction of Jerusalem, the holy city. So, this first part refers to an event which nowadays has already happened. It was the future when OL spoke about that just before his Passion, but now it is a past event, which happened in the year 70 AD. The Roman armies came to Judea and destroyed the country, including Jerusalem and the temple. This is a very well documented historical event, and we know that almost everything was destroyed in Jerusalem at that time. Yes, but not everyone was killed, some people escaped the city before it was sieged by the Romans. Who? The Christians. It is also documented in historical reports that the Christians fled to Pella before the war and they survived the great slaughter of year 70. Why did they know what would happen? Because of the word of the Gospel we just read in today’s mass. OL foretold them what will happen: “let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains”(v.16).

 So, those who believed in OLJC escaped the great slaughter, and those who followed the madness of the Jewish leaders were killed. It is not only a slaughter where everyone is killed, it is much more a judgement based on faith: those who trusted OL survived, those who refuse to believe in him were killed.

  2/ A judgment based on faith:

 We have to apply that situation to the second part of the gospel (v.23 to the end). In that second part OL is telling about the end of the world. An event which has not happened yet, a future event whose time is not known for any of us but which will happen in the future. But an event which is similar to which is described about Jerusalem.

 The events described are frightening: “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light”(v.29). But the most important is what happens after these disasters: “and then will happen the sign of the Son of Man in heaven”(v.30). All the disasters will be real, but they will be only a preparation for a judgment, for the apparition of the Son of Man in heaven, of OLJC in glory. The Son of Man will appear in glory, it means that everyone will see him, even those who don’t believe in him, who reject him: “then will all the tribes of the earth mourn”(v.30). Those who opposed OL will understand how foolish they were and they will fear for the judgment. On the other side the elects, those who believe in OLJC will be in joy: ”he will send forth his angels with a trumpet and a great sound, and they will gather his elect from the four winds”(v.31).

 The end of the world will be a test based on faith. OL will check if we belong or not to his elects. Like what happened to Jerusalem in the first century, only those who believe in him will pass the test, the other will be punished. The end of the world will be frightening only for those who refuse to believe in him. For us it is a calling to strengthen our faith.

II/ A public judgment.

 The second aspect of that judgment is that it will be a public judgment: “all tribes of the earth (…) will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with great power and majesty” (v.30). The Catholic faith calls that judgment “the general judgment”. It differs from the particular judgment which everyone receives at the end of one’s life, immediately after one’s death, and which leads either to Hell, Paradise or Purgatory. This particular judgment is an individual judgment, and it is a judgment of the soul, its sentence is definitive, but it is a private one. Each souls receives his reward or his punishment for oneself.

 The general judgment is a public repetition of the private judgment and not a new judgment. The sentence of the particular judgment is made public in the general judgment. Everything will appear in light, all the good and all the evil committed by all men.

 Why is a general judgment necessary? It is a requirement of justice. We know that in our world the just one have to suffer, they are generally humiliated and do not receive consideration for their justice, and on the contrary the immoral persons are generally praised by the world. It is a great injustice, that’s why a personal rewarding or punishment after death is not enough. Because in our world the just one are publicly humiliated or unknown, as a matter of reparation, their eternal reward has to be shown publicly to the sinners. God is a God of perfect justice, all the injustices committed has to be compensated, including that one.

 All the tribes of the earth (will) mourn” (v.30) because they have not recognized OLJC. But for the elects it will be a joyful acknowledgment of their goodness. The general judgment will be the moment when all our life will be put in light and shown to others. Let us prepare with a virtuous life to face that event.

 Dear faithful, the end of the world will happen among a lot of frightening events but it is not by himself something frightening for those who have faith and live according to the justice of God. It is our duty to prepare nowadays for that moment by our acts of faith and a life conform to the commandments of God. 

Fr. Yvon Fillebeen