Nov 17, 2014
When the End Comes
Readings:
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
Psalm 23:1-3, 5-6
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Matthew 25:31-46
The Church year ends this week with a vision of the end of time.
The scene in the Gospel is stark and resounds with Old Testament
echoes.
The Son of Man is enthroned over all nations and peoples of every
language (see Daniel
7:13-14).
The nations have been gathered to see His glory and receive His
judgment (see Isaiah
66:18; Zephaniah
3:8).
The King is the divine shepherd Ezekiel foresees in Sunday’s First
Reading, judging as a shepherd separates sheep from
goats.
Each of us will be judged upon our performance of the simple works
of mercy we hear in the Gospel.
These works, as Jesus explains today, are reflections or measures
of our love for Him, our faithfulness to His commandment that we
love God with all our might and our neighbor as ourselves
(see Matthew
22:36-40).
Our faith is dead, lifeless, unless it be expressed in works of
love (see James
2:20; Galatians
5:6).
And we cannot say we truly love God, whom we cannot see, if we
don’t love our neighbor, whom we can (see 1
John 4:20).
The Lord is our shepherd, as we sing in Sunday’s Psalm. And we are
to follow His lead, to imitate His example
(see 1
Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians
5:1).
He healed our sickness (see Luke
6:19),
freed us from the prison of sin and death (see Romans 8:2,21),
welcomed us who were once strangers to His covenant
(see Ephesians
2:12,19).
He clothed us in baptism (see Revelation
3:5; 2
Corinthians 5:3-4),
and feeds us with the food and drink of His own body and
blood.
At “the end,” He will come again to hand over His kingdom to His
Father, as Paul says in the Epistle this week.
Let us strive to be following Him in right paths, that this kingdom
might be our inheritance, that we might enter into the eternal rest
promised for the people of God (see Hebrews
4:1,9-11).