J.M.J.
Lately, I have been often listening to two versions of the song If – the original male version by the American band, Bread, and a Filipino female cover version that I first listened to back when I was thirteen years old. I like the song for its poetical lyrics, melancholic tune, and because it has some personal significance to me. Its last stanza, which talks about the end of the world, captures my imagination, especially now that the decade is coming to a close, as to who the person is or who the people are that I would be with when it happens, should it happen in our lifetime.
One night, on my way to Confession, just recently, I had that song on repeat. As I listened to it and looked around the streets in city lights and the hustle and bustle of traffic and people of all sorts of backgrounds going about their own lives, it seemed to me that the world would never end. I’m not sure if you ever had that same sentiment as mine. But sometimes, it just really seems that the world will not end. Day by day, I do my own thing and so do you. We are so used to life’s routine that no one probably thinks that today or tomorrow might be the last day of the earth. And if other people, not of the same Catholic faith, find out that we are pondering about the end of the world, they might say it’s ‘crazy.’
The Central Message of Advent
Although the world does look like it will never end, as Catholics, we should know that it certainly will and it could happen at any moment. It is a basic truth that the Season of Advent reminds us of—everything, the earth and the rest of the Universe, will end as Jesus Christ fulfills the promise of His Second Coming, the “Day of the Lord” or the Parousia.
Advent, from the Latin words advenire ‘to come’ and adventus ‘arrival’, does not simply recall the story of the birth of Jesus. It calls us to prepare our hearts, as the ancient Israelites did with much anticipation, for the coming and arrival of the Word Incarnate as a Merciful God in the person of Baby Jesus on Christmas Day.
Oft forgotten is its other significant message. Advent likewise prompts us to look much further; to prepare for the arrival and return of God as a Mighty Judge on His Second Coming, which is the reason why the Church traditionally speaks of the Four Last Things (Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell) during this Season.
Beginning with the Gospel on the First Sunday of Advent, the call to action of this Season is very clear:
“Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come… So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
-Matthew 24:42, 44
My Reflection
There are four reminders that I would like to impart in this Advent Reflection.
We should never forget that…
1. We are ‘nearing’ the End Times
As in 1 John 2:18, the world is already “at the last hour.” This “last hour” is a literal reference to the period between the Death and Resurrection of Jesus and His Second Coming. Clearly, we are in this period of time, the last hour.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (670) says that since the Ascension of Jesus, “God’s plan has entered into its fulfillment... Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way…” Being at the final age means that the world could end any day; that’s today, tomorrow, a hundred years from now or so. To all of us who live by the Faith, this striking reminder should not cause fright but inspire in us a renewed desire for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; a renewed desire to become worthy to dwell with God for eternity in the New Jerusalem.
No matter how far we think the world is from getting there, it surely will get there because time on earth is linear. And because time is linear, the world is heading toward the end each day. Salvation history is unfolding right before our eyes every day of our lives. All those figures we only know from the Bible, every person that ever lived, and all of us living are all purposely made part of the eschatological plan of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God of the holy Prophets and Kings of the Israelites is the same GOD of our own generation and all those to come. He manifests His Will among His creation throughout the ages and no skepticism or denial can hinder what He has begun from being fulfilled in the end. It is sufficient that we are aware of the truth that “Christ’s coming in glory has been imminent” even if the timings are unknown to us.
“Since the Ascension Christ’s coming in glory has been imminent, even though “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.” This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are “delayed”.” (CCC 673)
2. We must be vigilant to see the ‘signs’ of the End Times
Movies, television series, novels and video games depict the Apocalypse as a time of widespread global catastrophes, and even zombie attacks. Secular people may be tempted to think that the end of the world is just an exaggerated work of fiction. As Catholics, we must be vigilant, and not be unprepared onlookers.
I believe there are obvious signs that the world is moving toward the end times such as wars, religious persecution, diseases, natural disasters. We may not experience them where we are, but we hear about these things happening more commonly in many places. Such things can awaken and move us to pray and call on to God.
But for me personally, the biggest ‘sign’ is the ongoing fight for the Faith. Scandals within the Church, ‘bad’ Catholics in our midst, priests opposing other priests, different expressions of faith among the laity, that is, ‘traditional’ versus ‘modern,’ Catholics arguing on what the Bible really means and what the Church teachings really instruct, which oftentimes, only one of them is ‘right’—all of these cause confusion to the Catholic faithful in general. Other ‘Christian’ sects and denominations also complicate the whole situation with the ideas that they are disseminating, which are against the Roman Catholic Church. There really is widespread apostasy everywhere. And we do not have to look elsewhere because right inside us, there is an inner conflict of faith—we ask ourselves who and what to believe and how to remain a believer. This inner struggle is clearly the work of the Devil and his minions. They are trying to get in and seduce even those in the devout circles of the faithful.
Many of the inner conflicts among Catholics, even those who are actively practicing, also arise from being swayed by worldliness and material things. One step forward and two steps back. At times despite the real desire to repent, amend their wrongs, and change their way of life, some become lax or stop altogether because of doubt and weakness to settle their inner conflict in faith. Some see that others ‘get by’ without practicing the faith, being soft on morality, making them apathetic about growing their own Catholic spiritual life because of the mistaken idea that spiritual life ‘does not really matter anyway.’ To be glorious these days is not to be saintly or holy, or to live a life in the grace and glory of God, just like our beloved Saints did. The ‘glory’ of a person is now measured by worldly achievements, pleasures and riches.
I consider the inner fight and struggle for the faith a warning sign from God to show that we are really nearing the End Times, or are actually already in it, because this kind of fight is a crucial battle of will, happening right inside a person’s heart, mind and soul. It is no ordinary test, which is worse than any physical and material battle. The Devil and his minions can harm our bodies. But they can also target and weaken our spirits to lure us away from virtue. As the world gets nearer to the end of time, demons are ‘working’ doubly hard to take as many neglectful souls with them as they could. Let us be vigilant; be always mindful and strong against the temptations of the world around us. We should be aware of where these are coming from—the demonic, which very well know that the souls of the reprobate or the damned will be their company in Hell for all eternity.
3. There is no guarantee that everybody will be a citizen of the New Jerusalem
There is no guarantee that every person ever born will be able to go to the “place” where Jesus is, a place that He Himself prepared (John 14:3), because upon His return, Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”
-Matthew 25:31-33
This only means that anyone can never be too sure. We should not behave or act as if it is certain that we are definitely going to Heaven, as the battle is only ‘finished’ at the moment of death, our own ‘end of the world,’ which is the particular death and the particular judgment that comes right after. We must try our hardest to help ourselves and help each other to not go to Hell; and to go to Heaven together. Let us observe a holy fear of God in everything we do. Above all, let this Season remind us that the love for God must be the reason why we desire to become citizens of the New Jerusalem, “the bride, the wife of the Lamb (Revelation 21:9),” our eternal home, which will have finally descended in all its fullness.
4. We must live in anticipation of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ
To live in anticipation of something is to prepare for it accordingly.
We can see how it is to be prepared in awaiting the Bridegroom, as illustrated in The Parable of the Ten Virgins, wherein five “wise” virgins came prepared with enough oil for their lamps, while five “foolish” ones came unprepared and brought none. It is said that the oil of this parable signifies the good deeds, which the wise carried out and the fool lacked.
And these good deeds will be brought forth by improving on these two things:
On the interior life
While we are sharing the Faith with others, let us prepare by focusing on growing our interior life and our own relationship with God as well. I think these two are truly the most important because they serve as the foundation of our thoughts, words and actions in our lives.
As the Second Coming of Jesus becomes more imminent as time passes, the influence of evil in this world becomes worse. People can one day turn their backs on you, and the whole world might go against you. Fellow Catholics could come in conflict with you and dishearten you. But we must not allow ourselves to be disheartened by the disappointments we experience in our relationships with other creatures of God, when they fail us, or harm us with their inequities.
Our relationship with God should be the foremost relationship we nourish than all the other relationships we have with the creatures of God. Rather than allowing ourselves to feel sad from the unkindness and injustice that others did to us, and sometimes such evils are caused on us by ‘practicing’ Catholics, we must rather focus ourselves on conversing with God in every moment. We should constantly ask the Holy Spirit, “God, is this what you want me to do? Is this your Will in my life? Am I fulfilling your grand plan through my choices and actions?”
My holy spiritual adviser from Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism (AMOE), which is a reputable Ministry in the Philippines, always reminds me that when I’m doing a devotion, it should not be just to feel ‘good’ about myself. She also tells me that when I go to Confession, which is weekly or twice a month, it should not be because I do not want to feel the guilt, but it should be because I do not want to offend God and hurt Him with my sins, and most of all, because I love Him. This is how we grow in our relationship with God.
In the end, when we are judged, it is really between Him and us. If Jesus should return this day, what do we think are we doing when He finds us? Does that action make us humbly confident to present ourselves before Him, or would it cause us to feel shame? We should make it a personal goal to be blameless in His sight, which is only possible through God’s grace that blesses our honest efforts to live in virtue.
On love or charity
Jesus Christ, “the Sun of Justice,” whose coming in glory will be just like as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west (Matthew 24:27), will judge us according to how much we loved God and our neighbors.
Many people say that they give ‘so much love’ because they love their family and friends. For sure, having those people in our lives is a grace from God, which is why we love them. But it is always ‘easy’ to love these people such as our family, because of the familial bond, and our friends, because of their fun company, their help and the benefits we get from them.
With God, the real charity or love is loving those who are not easy to love. Why is it not easy to love those people? The main reason is that they are the people we get nothing from. Even we do good things to them, they are unable to return the favor because of their life conditions. These people are composed of the poor, the sick, the oppressed, and the vulnerable, who cannot give us any fun company, help and benefits. When they asked for our help, did we give them some alms at least? Do we treat them with respect and compassion when dealing with them? When they ask us for some consideration, do we listen to them? Those with problems and issues who ask for advice, do we give them honest, sound and proper responses that could help them in their lives? Do we regularly remember them in our prayers?
While loving our family and friends is very important, Jesus Christ, on His Second Coming, will judge us according to how we loved the least of our brothers. To the righteous, the sheep, the elect, He will say to them:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
But to the unrighteous, the goats, the reprobate, who did not do the corporal works of mercy and charity above, He will say to them:
“Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
It is traditionally believed that at the Final Judgment, Jesus Christ will indeed enunciate, “Come, you who are blessed…” and “Depart from me, you accursed…”
That is why, to prepare for His Second Coming, we must always try to perfect our corporal works of mercy and acts of charity or love, without expecting for something in return. It is because of our love for God that we are loving them.
Conclusion
Like I mentioned earlier, listening to the song If led me to ponder the end of the world. During that part where it said that the stars would all go out, I particularly felt an immense longing for the Second Coming of the Lord. At the same time though, I felt a deep sense of fear of the “fire” that would consume the whole earth and destroy everything in it.
But there is nothing to fear.
My friend Stephen Beale, a great writer and columnist for Catholic Exchange, clever as he always is in his writings, happened to have a piece that furnishes an answer to my sentiment, which arose from the song. And I find his answer remarkable. So according to him, “Advent assures us that we can survive” the end of the world (see his article here). He notes that despite how terrifying the end times would be as described in Scripture, we must remember what Jesus said to His disciples about the coming of the Son of Man:
“But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand (Luke 21:28).”
Stephen explains what it means to us. He says, “So while sun is burning out, the moon is turning to blood, and the stars are falling (emphasis added) (see Revelation 6:12-13), Christians are encouraged to stand firm, not just in a moral sense, but a literal one.” He reminds us that “Jesus tells us to not be afraid,” as the world comes to witness the End Times unfold. Equally important, he answers the question, “Why?”
Pointing out to us Malachi 3:2, a passage about the Second Coming, wherein the Prophet speaks of the “refiner’s fire,” Stephen finely sums up in his piece that “The answer as to why we should not be afraid is that we already know this fire.” That “fire” is none other than Jesus Christ Himself, the Judge and Savior. He is our God Who “comes to us in Advent the humility of a newborn” in our hearts, and Who will come again one day “in the fullness of majesty and royal glory.”
Therefore, allow me to remind everyone that instead of being petrified at the thought of the end of the world, we should actually join the Church in praying to hasten the Second Coming of the Lord, as we declare in the Nicene Creed, “He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His Kingdom will have no end,” as we recite in the Our Father, “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” and as we pray as one during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:
“The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord “until he comes,” when God will be “everything to everyone.” Since the apostolic age the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit’s groaning in the Church: Marana tha! The liturgy thus shares in Jesus’ desire: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you . . . until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” In the sacraments of Christ the Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while “awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus.” The “Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come . . . Come, Lord Jesus!'” (CCC 1130)
“The Holy Spirit’s transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father who hears the epiclesis of the Church, the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the “guarantee” of their inheritance.” (CCC 1107)
***
A Personal Message this Advent to my Readers
Once, I received a heartfelt email from a Reader who was a seminarian from Africa at the time. He sent me a message as he was moved by a post I wrote on this Blog. I thought that he was a kind and genuine person. He says in the message that he prays that someday, we will be able to meet each other in Heaven. My human thinking said that his words sounded quite ‘negative’ as nothing would be impossible for God, and our paths on earth might cross. It also sounded ‘sad’ because yes, our chance to meet would most likely be in Heaven only.
But soon after, I thought that what he said to me was in fact, really beautiful. Catholics ought to think in a way that he did. More than meeting one another on earth, it is really about meeting each other in Heaven, and being happy there together for all eternity.
I also know a line from Saint Bernadette Soubirous, whom I consider my dearest spiritual sister in Heaven, in one of her letters that she sent out to different people. She said it to the receiver to imply that she thought they would not see each other anymore here on earth:
“I shall meet you in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.”
What the seminarian messaged to me and what Saint Bernadette wrote in her letter remind me of this blog I’m now writing. As we go through this Season of Advent, may we see beyond the festivities and the material gifts, and think about what truly matters to us — God and His Church, our Faith, our family, and any person who has touched our lives in a surprisingly meaningful way and made us feel loved, cared for, or appreciated.
To all of you, dear Readers, there is a bigger chance that we will never meet in person. But I pray that through the reflections I shared in this post, I will be able to touch your life for a moment. And though I only would have touched your life briefly, I hope that my writing will help you in discovering a deeper love of God. I also think of you, dear Readers, as I write this, knowing that you have a lasting effect in mine. May we meet in the Heavenly Jerusalem one day.
“Marana tha! Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Email: [email protected]
Like 'The Best Catholic' on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheBestCatholic
Leave a Reply