9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
have been for God or against Him, whether they have loved Christ or hated Him, whether they
have served the Church or worked against her. It will then be clear whether as fathers, mothers,
superiors, state officials, scientists, writers, priests, shepherds of souls, laymen, or hermits, they
have been a good or bad influence on others; whether they have advanced the kingdom of God,
or whether they have hindered it.
All men will be subject to the judgment of Christ, whom the world today despises and
ignores. All will have to bend their knees before Him and submit to His decisions. “Thou alone
art holy. Thou alone art the Lord. Thou alone are most high, O Jesus Christ, together with the
Holy Ghost, in the glory of God the Father” (Gloria). On the day of Christ’s triumph the world
will fully acknowledge Him. How the Church longs for that day! On that day Christ and His
Church, and all who have been faithful to Him, will receive full justice. “Maran-atha,” Come,
O Lord.
In the midst of the confusion of the elements, in the midst of a terrifying darkness, a light
will appear suddenly in the sky, “the sign of the Son of Man,” a cross formed of brilliant rays,
the despised and hated cross of Christ. All men will be forced to behold it and to acknowledge
that from it alone comes salvation. This fiery cross will announce the return of the Lord. Just as
He ascended into the heavens with His glorified body, so will He come again in the clouds of
heaven “in the glory of His Father” (Mt 16:27), surrounded by His angels. All will behold and
will acknowledge the glory that He won for them through His blessed death. They will have
to acknowledge what Christ accomplished for their bodies and souls through His incarnation,
His cross and resurrection, His ascension, through the descent of the Holy Ghost, through His
Church and her dogmas and her sacraments. They will acknowledge and confess that if any have
been lost, it is not the fault of God. And those who have won salvation will admit and confess
that they must thank God and His grace, and that “it is God who worketh in you, both to will
and to accomplish” (Phil 2:13). “Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of
ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor 3:5).
The second coming of Christ on the Day of Judgment will set the seal of God’s final approval
on Christ’s first coming in the stable at Bethlehem, on the truth of His incarnation, on the
truth of His doctrine and the holiness of His life, on the truth taught by His Church and the
authenticity of her mission, her authority, her pronouncements, her doctrines, and the validity
of her sacraments. Happy shall we be if while on earth we have acknowledged the Lord, if we
have believed and obeyed Him and His Church.
The Lord comes to us in a mystical manner during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with
power and majesty, although for the present this glory is hidden from our eyes. He gathers His
elect about Him and fills them with His spirit. He associates them with Himself in offering to
the Father a sacrifice which alone is “pure, holy, and unspotted.” During Holy Communion they
will be translated “into the kingdom of the son of His love” (Epistle). They will be united to
Him most intimately. This coming is but a prelude to His final coming; it is a coming in grace
and a pledge of His coming on the Day of Judgment. Full of faith and confidence we go forth to
meet Him when He comes to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. From the celebration of this
sacrifice we acquire the strength to “walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, strengthened with all might” (Epistle). We trust that at His return we may
be worthy to hear the words, “Come ye blessed of My Father” (Mt 25:34).
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