Today we celebrate the last Sunday of the liturgical year. When we gather together next Sunday we will celebrate the 1st Sunday of Advent and will embark on a new liturgical year. Through the season of Advent we prepare for Christ’s coming. He comes among us at Christmas as the Word made Flesh born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He comes among us in the Most Holy Eucharist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and He will come again at the end of time.
Our Gospel presents us with the urgency that is this end of time. If we were to continue reading just one verse we would be told, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but the Father only.” There are those who attempt to reveal this time based upon their understanding of prophecy, but time and time they are proven to be wrong.
These proclamations of the end of time are not important for us to get caught up in. What is important is that we understand that there will come a day when Christ will come again and at that unknown hour judgement will take place. It is possible that this coming will take place in our lifetime, but if it does or doesn’t the fact remains that there will come a time when we will die and in return we will be judged by God the Father.
During this moment of accounting we should desire to be numbered among His elect. It is the elect who have died in the state of grace. Through their death they were found worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom because they lived their life for Christ and rejected the death that comes from sin. Sadly there are Christians who are so in name only because they live a life which is contrary to Christ and His Church and see nothing wrong with it.
We must be stirred out of our slumber and placed into motion to be found active in our practice of faith. Christ established a Church on earth and through it He has extended the sacraments into our life. The sacraments are outwards signs instituted by Christ which bestow grace. Therefore, we need all of the sacraments and not just those that we agree with.
The sacrament of confession is important because through it we are absolved of our sins and made clean for Christ. If we have gone many years without this sacrament there is need to return to it. We cannot just say I will wait until I sin no more, I will wait until I am ready to live for Christ, or I will wait because there is no urgency in my going. As a reminder our Advent penance service will be this Thursday at 6pm and there will be seven priests present assisting with confessions.
Our Gospel shows us that there is such urgency in our life. Our urgency is that we must remain prepared for our death and judgement. We must pray for the grace of final perseverance which is to say in the words of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, “He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.” Let us remain on guard for the Lord for we know not the time nor the hour that we will be called home to Him.
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