no longer, but Christ only and all He has done either for or through me. As I gaze now at the picture, I no longer see the places on earth which have known me for short periods of time, but my place in Heaven which by His mercy, if I persevere to the end, is to know me through all eternity; not my dear ones as I saw them on earth, but as they are now in my heavenly country waiting for me; not my innumerable sins of omission, nor my "good works" done to please self, but the work of Him who always pleased His Father, work which has made up for all my omissions, and which shines through every thing that I have done for Him, making it, too, acceptable to His Father. It seems to me now that I want to linger over the picture, for His mercies are indeed infinite, and I shall never be able to thank Him enough for them.
But does He, the God of infinite mercy and plenteous redemption, never look at my pictures? He says: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. xxxi. 34); and it is true. He will never open my triptych for the sake of looking at my sins, but may He not open it for the joy of seeing each of those thousands of pictures shining with pearls – the tears of contrition? Do not let me disappoint Him. This is the chalice of consolation which I can offer to the Sacred Heart in reparation.
Colloquy with Jesus thanking Him for making me look at my triptych and for all that He has taught me in it.
Resolution. Never to look at my sins without at once seeing Christ– a sight which will necessarily produce humility, gratitude and contrition.
Spiritual Bouquet. "My sin is always before me" but "Thou shalt give joy and gladness… and my mouth shall declare Thy praise" (Ps. l. 5, 10, 17).
THE LAST JUDGMENT
"The powers of Heaven shall be moved; and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty."
1st. Prelude. The Last Day.
2nd. Prelude. Grace to meditate upon it.
The Church invites us during Advent to turn our thoughts towards the Second Coming of Christ – His Coming in judgment at the end of the world. The subject of the Last Judgment is perhaps one which we are rather inclined to avoid in our Meditations; but it is one about which Our Blessed Lord said a great deal; it is continually mentioned, too, in the Epistles and in the Apocalypse, and as we shall most certainly take a part in that last great scene of the world's drama, it is surely well for us to have a rehearsal from time to time.
When will He come? God "hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in equity by the Man whom He hath appointed." (Acts xvii. 31). The day then is fixed, "but of that day and hour no one knoweth, no not the Angels of Heaven, but the Father alone." (St. Matt. xxiv. 36).
How will He come? He "shall so come as you have seen Him going into Heaven" (Acts i. 11), the Angel told the Apostles who had just watched His Ascension. He will come, that is, in His beautiful Resurrection Body, dazzling with brightness and glory, with the wounds in Hands and Feet and Side. He will come "with much power and majesty" (St. Matt. xxiv. 30) for He will come to judge, not to preach penance nor atone for sin; He will come unexpectedly "as a thief in the night" (1 Thess. v. 2) "at what hour you think not" (St. Luke xii. 40); He will come "with thousands of His Saints" (Jude 14) for all those "who have slept through Jesus will God bring with Him" (1 Thess. iv. 13); He will bring, too, "all the Angels with Him" (St. Matt. xxv. 31); He will come "with the voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thess. iv. 15); He will come "with the clouds" (Apoc. i. 7); He will come "in the glory of His Father with His Angels" (St. Matt. xvi. 27); He will come "as lightning" (xxiv. 27) and before Him will come His Cross – "the sign of the Son of man" in the heavens (verse 30), every eye shall see it. What different emotions that sign will excite!
"Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of Him" (Apoc. i. 7).
"We shall all rise again." (1 Cor. xv. 51).
"The sea will give up the dead that are in it, and death and hell … their dead that are in them." (Apoc. xx. 13).
"The dead who are in Christ shall rise first." (1 Thess. iv. 15).
"We shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. xv. 52).
"He shall send His Angels with a trumpet, and a great voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds." (St. Matt. xxiv. 31).
"Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them (those who died in Christ) in the clouds to meet Christ." (1 Thess. iv. 16).
"Then shall He sit upon the seat of His Majesty," (St. Matt. xxv. 31) and "render to every man according to his works." (chap. xvi. 27).
Then "the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it shall be burnt up." (2 Pet. iii. 10). And all these events are to take place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye!" (1 Cor. xv. 52).
With the vivid words of Scripture before us, it is not difficult to make a picture of the scene – the sign of the Cross where all can see it; the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God heralding the approach of the Judge; the Son of Man, coming in the clouds with all His Angels and thousands of His Saints (all those from Heaven and Purgatory); the cries of those to whom His coming is as that of "a thief in the night" (1 Thess. v. 2); the shouts of joy of "the children of light" (verse 5); the opening of the graves, the sea giving up its dead and the reunion of each soul, whether from Heaven, Purgatory or hell, with its body; the changing of the bodies of those who are living on the earth into Resurrection bodies; then the great multitude of the elect clothed in their bodies of immortality rising to meet their Lord in the air; then "the great white throne" set up and He who is "appointed by God to be Judge" (Acts x. 42) taking His seat upon it, "His garment … white as snow … His throne like flames of fire … thousands of thousands" ministering to Him (Dan. vii. 9, 10); the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne (Apoc. xx. 12), "ten thousand times a hundred thousand" standing before Him. (Dan. vii. 10).
(1) The Separation. Quickly the Angels separate that vast multitude into two companies – those on His right Hand and those on His left, the sheep and the goats, those who are to enter into life everlasting and those who are to enter into everlasting punishment (St. Matt. xxv. 46); those who have been faithful over the few things entrusted to them and those who have hidden their Lord's talent; those whose lamps are burning and those whose lamps are going out. There is fixed a great chaos between the two companies, so that they who would pass from one side to the other cannot, it is too late. (St. Luke xvi. 26).
(2) The books. "And the books were opened … and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works." "And another book was opened, which is the book of life," and only "they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb" shall enter Heaven. (Apoc. xx. 12, xxi. 27). "Every man's work shall be manifest" (1 Cor. iii. 13); "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of Judgment" (St. Matt. xii. 36). Then will be seen, and all will acknowledge it, the triumph of right over wrong, the triumph of the Kingdom, the triumph of Christ; then will be adjusted all that we have so often longed to adjust but could not, for "let both grow together till the harvest" was the King's order. Then will seeming injustices be explained and crimes that have called to Heaven for vengeance receive their just reward. Then will the unanimous cry be: "The Lord He is God," and all will be forced to add: "He doeth all things well."
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