9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
the city, slaughtered the people, destroyed the temple, and leveled the city. This judgment of
God should be a warning to us.
Christ also predicted that God would pass judgment on the world. “The sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers
of heaven shall be moved” (Gospel). Both heaven and earth were created by the word of God,
who commanded the dry land to appear and the waters to be gathered together in one place.
The same God commanded the waters to flood the earth at the Deluge. On the last day the same
almighty God will command His creation to be destroyed because of man’s sin. “The sun shall
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.” God
made all creation for man’s use; but man, corrupted by sin, injustice, and covetousness, has used
the things of this world for his own pleasure and not for the purpose intended by God. Man has
deserted his God and has attached himself to creatures, making them his God and his last end.
Instead of being a means toward reaching God, they have become a hindrance that prevents
man from reaching his last end. Nature, which was created by God and which is decked out in
such wondrous beauty each year, becomes for man an occasion of sin that leads him into a final
apostasy. For this reason nature, too, must be purged by fire from all perversion and uncleanness
to satisfy justice and holiness. “Heaven and earth shall pass away” because of the sins of men.
“Then shall all of the earth mourn” (Gospel). The day of Christ’s return will be a day of
reckoning, a “dread day,” a day on which all creation will be purged with fire. That will be a day
of fear, of great misery, of terrible bitterness.
Death and nature will be quaking,
When creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.
— Dies irae
The liturgy directs our attention to the Last Judgment and admonishes us in all things to
remember the day of reckoning that is to come. “In all things consider the end; how you shall
stand before the strict Judge from whom nothing is hidden. . . . He who learned to be a fool
in this world and to be scorned for the sake of Christ, will then appear to have been most
wise. Then the mortified body will rejoice far more than if it had been pampered with every
pleasure. . . . Then shall simple obedience be more exalted than all worldly cleverness. Then
a good and clear conscience will bring more joy than the philosophy of the learned. Then
contempt for riches will have more value than all the treasures of this earth. Then you will
find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you will be
happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip. . . . Strict penance will be more pleasing
than all earthly delights. All, therefore, is vanity, except to love God and to serve Him only”
(Imitation of Christ, I, chap. 24).
Prayer
Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord hear my voice. Let Thy ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplication. If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness, and by reason of Thy law, I have waited for Thee,
O Lord. My soul has relied on His word, my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning
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