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Post by Admin on Apr 6, 2020 14:48:52 GMT
First of a Four Part Series on the
Signs that are to precede the Last Judgment by Rev. Francis Hunolt 1694 -1746
Statim autem, post tribulatimem. dierum illorum, sol obscurabitur, et luna non dabit lumen suum.--Matt. xxiv. 29.
"And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light."
Terrible are the signs of which today's Gospel speaks as forerunners of the day of general judgment, the last day of the world. There shall he many such signs, some of which are to appear a long time beforehand, while others shall immediately precede the final catastrophe. Of the former class are those we have already known and experienced; such as the destruction of the Jewish nation: a people now without faith or king or commonwealth; the conversion of the heathens to the true religion, which has been already preached and accepted in all parts of the globe; the persecution of the Church by so many heretics as precursors of Antichrist; and besides these we have seen wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, the increase of wickedness and sin, men growing cold in the love of God, the want of reverence towards God in the churches and towards priests and spiritual superiors, and the fall of the Roman empire, which the Apostle St. Paul alludes to, according to Tertullian, St. Jerome, and St. Cyril. All these are signs of the approaching end of the world and the terrible day of judgment. Therefore St. John writes in his first Epistle: "Little children, it is the last hour."(1) These are, as St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostom. say, the sickness of the earth which is to precede its death; " because we are in the dying moments of the world, certain sicknesses of the world must go before."(2) A sickness of the world is famine, a sickness of the world is plague, a sickness of the world is war and persecution;" by these things God reminds us that it is approaching the end, so that we may not become too attached to it, too fond of it. Other signs of the coming of the last day, besides the fall of the Roman empire, are the advent of Antichrist and the terrible portents in the sun, moon, and stars, and the distress of all nations on earth, of which we read in today's Gospel. This latter class of signs I shall take as my subject, my dear brethren, today and during Advent, and shall try with God's help to deduce from them some moral doctrine for our advantage. Today I begin with the first, namely, the coming and the tyranny of Antichrist.
Plan of Discourse
Who shall Antichrist be, and what has he to do in the world? That I shall explain in the first part. What should be our thoughts regarding this? This shall be the moral lesson of the second part. Give us Thy light and grace, future Judge of the living and the dead, Christ Jesus; we ask it through the merits of Thy Mother Mary and the prayers of our holy guardian angels. Who then is Antichrist? Of what nature shall he be? In the Scripture the Holy Ghost never gives him a proper name, because, as St. Irenaeus says He did not wish to mention the name of such a wicked man; therefore He calls him only Antichrist, that is, one who is opposed to Christ in everything. The Prophet Daniel names him " a beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceedingly strong."(3) St. Paul calls him a man of sin, made up, as it were of vice and wickedness: " The man of sin, the son of perdition."(4) In any case he will be a man of the same nature as we, created by God for the same end, and he shall also have sufficient graces and means given him to save his soul, if he only chooses to make use of them. According to the opinion of St. Augustine and St. John Damascene, this wicked man is to be the offspring of adulterous intercourse, and as St. Jerome and St. Gregory maintain, to be born in the Jewish tribe of Dan at Babylon, and to be secretly brought up by people of the lowest kind: sorcerers and witches. It is easy to imagine the kind of training he is likely to get from such teachers. When he comes to man's estate he will at first conceal his wickedness and craft under a mask of hypocrisy and apparent sanctity; he will be very zealous for the law of Moses, and pretend to despise all earthly things; to be an enemy of idolatry and a lover of the Sacred Scriptures. Although he will privately wallow in all kinds of impurity, he will outwardly condemn adultery and decry it as most criminal; he will be very charitable to the poor; in a word, he will put on such an appearance of virtue that many nations shall desire to have him as their king. Above all, says St. Anthony, he will try to persuade the people that all that the Prophets have said of the Messias is fulfilled in him. Thus he will draw the Jews to his side in crowds, and they will soon look on him and adore him as their long-expected Messias, when they see that he is a sworn enemy of Christ and the Christian law and an upholder of the Jewish law and its ceremonies, and moreover that they can hope to profit by having him in power. When he shall thus have raised himself to a high position in the world and secured a great number of followers, then this wicked serpent shall commence to spit out his poison and to spread his authority over the world by craft, promises, and force of arms. Besides Turks, heathens, and Jews, he will attract to his standard and subject to his authority countless numbers of Christians. That he will effect first by the riches, honors, dignities, and sensual delights that he will place in the power of all his followers, as the Prophet Daniel says of him: "He shall increase glory and shall give them power over many, and shall divide the land for nothing."(5) For besides the immense revenues he shall have from conquered countries, the devil with the divine permission shall discover to him mines of gold and silver, and treasures hidden in the sea: "And he shall have power over the treasures of gold, and of silver, and all the precious things."(6) Alas! what an attractive bait that will be to ensnare the vain, ambitions, and greedy children of the world, who are already only too willing to grasp at such things! How will they be able to withstand this seductive and powerful temptation? But when Antichrist finds virtuous souls who will not allow themselves to be turned aside from the love of God by promises, flattery, caresses, money, honors, or pleasures, then he will use against them another terrible weapon, namely, tortures such as the most cruel tyrant has never yet even thought of. "For there shall be then great tribulation," says Our Lord of him in the Gospel, "such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be."(7) So that even many just and pious servants of God shall yield under the pressure of tortures and deny their God. "And it was given unto him," says St. John in the Apocalypse, speaking of the terrible beast, by which he meant Antichrist, "to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation."(8) So that he will overcome even the saints, some according to the body by martyrdom and torturing and putting them to death; and others, which is far more deplorable, according to the soul, by forcing them with cruel torments to deny Jesus Christ and His faith. There will be no choice left between enduring intolerable torture and falling away from the true religion, or else perishing with hunger and want in caverns and deserts. All that could encourage a pious Christian and console him in such tribulation shall then be removed; for this cruel beast in his daring pride shall set himself up as the true God and claim to be adored and to have churches built in his honor. "And the king shall do according to his will," says the Prophet Daniel; "and he shall be lifted up, and shall magnify him self against every god." (9) All the temples consecrated to Our Lord shall be pulled down and desecrated, the sacred images destroyed, spiritual books burned, all preachers and priests made away with, and the use of the holy sacraments and the celebration of Mass utterly abolished: "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice: and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation."(10) Such are the words of the Prophet Daniel. Thus for about four years, the duration of the reign of Antichrist, the public celebration of the holy Sacrifice shall be nowhere tolerated in the whole world; not a single crucifix shall there be that one might comfort himself in his sorrows by looking at it. He will give his followers another sign, which they are to wear on their foreheads or on their right hands, and a man who has not that sign may not buy or sell the least thing, or do any business whatever; and the sign shall be the blasphemous words: Nego Jesum--" I deny Jesus." O truly deserving of compassion shall the Christians be who are to live in those troublous times! Alas! how will it be with them? And how clearly they shall see the words of Our Lord verified "Many are called, but few are chosen."(11) And this shall be the case especially when Antichrist shall have recourse to the third and most powerful means he is to use to confirm his false doctrine; for, as St. John testifies of him, he shall by means of witchcraft and sorcery perform countless apparent miracles and wonders. "And he did great signs, so that he made also fire to come down from heaven unto the earth in the sight of men. And he seduced them that dwell on the earth for the signs which were given him to do."(12) And not only he, but also his servants and followers shall have the power of working those false miracles. Our Lord has foretold that already, as we read in the Gospel: "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders."(13) Alas! how many souls shall be misled when this great and mighty monarch so powerful in the eyes of the world, shall in the presence of Christians, as St. Hippolytus says, cleanse lepers, heal the paralytic, free those possessed by the devil, and even apparently raise the, dead to life, and then all these cured by him shall adore him as the true God! How will it be when he commands the sun in the heavens to stand still, and it will obey his command? when he calls forth storms from the sea, and quiets them again? when, as Lactantius says, he shall cause dumb beasts, infant children, nay, even lifeless images to cry out that all that Jesus Christ has taught is false, that He is not the Son of God, but a traitor, who is damned forever? when he shall call down fire from heaven, to consume those who oppose him, as the Prophet Elias did in former times; or to burn sacrifices in his honor, or to give his disciples fiery tongues, so that they can speak all languages, as was the case with the Apostles when they received the Holy Ghost in the form of fiery tongues? How will it be when, according to the testimony of Albert the Great, he shall appear to die and to come to life again in three days, and afterwards be carried by the demons heavenwards in the air? How will it be when legions of those demons disguised as angels of light shall assist and serve him in visible form, and sing hymns of praise in his honor, as if he were the true God and promised Saviour of the world? "Alas!" exclaims St. Gregory, imagining what those terrible times must be, " what a severe temptation that shall be for the human mind! "(14) And in fact it will be so great that, if possible, the elect would be deceived by it, as Our Lord says: " Insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect."(15) Thus shall Antichrist draw to his side almost all the world: the wicked and tepid by riches, honors, and pleasures; the pious and God-fearing by the intolerable torments he will inflict on them; the simple and incautious by the wonderful signs and prodigies he shall perform. "And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved."(16) Three years and a half shall his reign last, after which this cruel man shall raise himself up in the air from Mount Olivet towards heaven, and there, as some say. Our Lord shall strike him with lightning, or, as others maintain, shall by his mere voice hurl him down to earth and thence body and soul into the abyss of hell. "And then," says St.Paul, "that wicked one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of His mouth." (17) There you have, my dear brethren, a short description of Antichrist as a forerunner and precursor of the last terrible day of judgment, according to the prophets and apostles in the holy Scriptures, and to the holy Fathers of the Church and the commentators on Holy Writ. What do you think of this? What lesson should we draw from it for the good of our souls? That we shall see in the Second Part. What would you think, I ask again, if, as might easily be the case, Antichrist were to be born soon, so that we should live in his time? For no man knows when that time is to come, as God has reserved the knowledge of it to himself alone. Let us at all events imagine that the cruel man is really in the "world, and that we hear and see all that has been said about him; what should we do? Should we dare to renounce Christ and to side with that monster? Should we allow ourselves to be marked with that odious sign: "I deny Christ"? What! each one of you will say, deny Christ? Side with the demons? God forbid that I should think of such a thing! I would rather die a thousand deaths than be untrue to my Saviour and God, or abjure His faith in which alone salvation is to be found! I would laugh at the pretended miracles, and trample on the proffered delights of the flesh, the honors, and riches; I would heroically resist the torture, no matter how terrible, with the divine assistance; all this I would readily do in order not to lose my one immortal soul and the eternal joys of heaven. Oh, truly, that is a beautiful and Christian resolution! And such should be the determination of each one of us even under such terrible circumstances. But, alas! poor mortals that we are with all our resolution and professions! God of goodness! take me, take me out of the world before those fearful times come! Alas! what would become of us! It is easy for us to say that we would trample on the proffered riches, honors, and pleasures. Now while we are living in peace and quietness and have every opportunity of considering the matter duly, the least temptation is often enough to make us transgress most shamefully and renounce the friendship of the God Who is so worthy of our love. How then can we dare to say that we should be strong enough to resist the attacks of such a monster? Even now, although we are somewhat humiliated, the breath of human praise and the hope of honor or a high position are capable of so blinding our mind's eye that contrary to the law of Christ we become puffed up with filthy pride and show it in our dress and outward demeanor. How could we then be true to the humility of Our Saviour, if we were exalted by the whole world? Even now, although we learn by daily experience the transitory nature of earthly things, and how soon and easily we can lose them, we are sometimes so beset by the passion of avarice that we sell our souls and our salvation for a miserable coin, we try to make our profit out of public calamities, and when our conscience or the thought of losing our souls troubles us, we dispatch such thoughts by saying to ourselves: what matter how the money is made as long as I succeed in making it! How then could we hope to be able to trample riches under foot if they were offered to us in abundance? Even now, when we have such frequent occasion to bewail and deplore our weakness, with the Christian law painting to us the abomination and deformity of impure love and carnal pleasure, we allow ourselves to be so infatuated and be fooled by a friendly look, a laugh, a joking word, a caress, that we forget our God, indulge our lust, and sacrifice recklessly our modesty, purity, honor, and fidelity. What should we do if such pleasures were held out to us as lawful and praiseworthy? Oh, may God grant that such a terrible time may never come for us! It is easy to say that we should laugh at hypocrisy, false doctrine, and pretended miracles. Even now, while we have at hand countless opportunities of doing good, invited as we are to be zealous in the service of God by so many public devotions, having it in our power to frequent the sacraments almost daily, to cleanse our souls from sin in the sacred tribunal, to feed them with the body and blood of Jesus Christ; having our ignorance enlightened by so many sermons which encourage us to good, warn us against evil, exhort us to avoid the occasions of sin and the evil customs and usages of the world; with all this we still remain so tepid and cold in the divine service, so obstinate in the habits we have once acquired, that sometimes we even attach but little credence to the word of God, or at all events believe no more of it than suits our fancies. What the corrupt world preaches, what we learn from the example of others, what idle people say to us, that must be always true, valid, and lawful; to it must yield the maxims and infallible teaching of the holy Gospel, along with the doctrine of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. If we see one who has the name of being pious, conforming to the customs of the world, we say at once: oh, there can be no harm in it, since such a one does it! If here and there we hear a confessor who is liberal in certain matters in which we do not like restraint, we look on him as if he were as infallible as the Gospel itself, while we laugh at and ridicule all who hold the contrary opinion. So, I repeat, if this is how we act in the full light of day, what will we do when the use of the sacraments is abolished, public devotions prevented, sermons and instructions prohibited, and in the midst of general corruption and perversion, a new law promulgated to flatter our sensuality and pride, and that, too, confirmed by miracles and supported by a false appearance of godliness and by the approval of the whole world? Oh, no! I repeat, may God grant that we have not to live in such. troublous times; we know that we should be too weak for them. It is easy to talk of resisting torments and braving martyrdom! Ah! how could they give up their bodies to the rods, the scorpions, the leaded clubs, the iron hooks, to be torn and flayed, who are now so delicate and tender that they cannot bear the prick of a needle; who find a fast day intolerable, and are absolutely unable to stand or kneel for an hour in church, or to rise early in the morning on account of the cold? How could they allow themselves to be roasted or boiled alive who, if their beds are the least uncomfortable, cannot sleep for impatience? How could they laugh at torments to whom all crosses are terrible, who sigh and moan at the least trial, and give vent to their feelings in oaths and curses at the most trifling annoyance, expressing their dissatisfaction also by giving up the practice of prayer and devotion and the frequentation of the sacraments? Oh, no! God of goodness! we are not in want of an Antichrist to prove our virtue, our faith, hope, and charity by putting us to the torture! We have daily tribulations enough: more than we wish for, to try our virtue! Would that we could only bear them with patience and resignation for Thy sake and to gain heaven! Every hour, of the day we have abundant opportunity of mortifying our eyes, ears, tongue, sensuality, and evil inclinations; but to do so is often for us a bitter martyrdom that, without any tyrant to compel us, causes us to forget the obedience we owe Thy holy law. A slight chagrin, a word of contradiction, a cross look is sometimes enough to upset our so-called virtue, and change it into impatience, hatred, and anger. What would then become of us in the midst of a terrible persecution, which many even of the holiest and most innocent shall not withstand? Finally, it is easy to say that we should prefer rather to die a thousand deaths than deny Christ and take sides with His wicked enemy! Already most men are on the side of Antichrist against Jesus, our Saviour. Hear what St. John says in his first Epistle: "Every spirit that dissolveth Jesus is not of God, and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world."(18) "Not in person," says Cornelius a Lapide, "but in spirit; that is, in his precursors."(19) If you look into the matter, my dear brethren, you will find not one, but many Antichrists. Are not those parents Antichrists, that is, against Christ, who allow their children all license, bring them up to the vanity and filthy pride of the world, to idleness, and keep them from the zealous love of God and true devotion? Is he not an Antichrist who, contrary to the law of God, cherishes revenge against his neighbor and frequents the dangers and occasions of sin? Is he not an Antichrist who tries to lead a maiden astray from the path of virtue by presents and money? Is not that woman an Antichrist who by indecency in dress and dissolute manners leads others into sin? Is he not an Antichrist who gives scandal by sinful talk and bad example? All these, says St. Augustine, are Antichrists and servants of the devil: every one, no matter who he is, priest or layman, who lives contrary to justice and the requirements of his state is an Antichrist and a minister of Satan.(20) What better are you for not denying Christ with the lips, or not denouncing your faith, if you deny Him in work, and lose Him by mortal sin? Of what use will your faith be to you if not to serve for your deeper damnation? What else do you do when you allow yourself to be seduced by the antichrists you live amongst but renounce Christ in work? What is the false oath you have taken but renouncing God for the sake of some trifling temporal gain? When you indulge in impure thoughts and desires, what else are you doing but stamping on your heart the words: "I deny Christ"? When you sin by unchaste touches, do you not bear that same sign on your hand? In a word, every mortal sin you commit in thought, word, or action, is nothing else but a declaration that although you do not abjure your faith in Christ, yet you refuse Him the love and obedience due to Him, and you refuse it for the sake of some wealth, honor, or pleasure that the spirit of the hellish Antichrist offers you. And, alas! how many mortal sins are not committed daily in the world! Christians! what a responsibility this is for us! Ah, poor, unhappy souls that are to live in those times of Antichrist, how you are to be pitied! But if you, almost forced as you shall be by grievous persecutions, temptations, torments, hypocrisy, and pretended miracles to abandon God, shall nevertheless be condemned by a most just sentence to eternal torments, what excuse shall we have? What sort of a hell awaits us who can so easily enjoy the freedom of the children of God, and who yet allow ourselves to be led astray, to be turned away from God, to be drawn over to the side of the devil, and to live like antichrists, that is, sworn enemies of Jesus Christ? Innocent souls who have hitherto remained faithful to your Lord, ah, fly, fly with all possible diligence those who would try in any way whatsoever to lead you to do anything contrary to the law of God! Be firm in all temptations and occasions of evil! Think and say with courage against Antichrist and his followers: Away with you! I love Jesus! This sign shall be in my heart, in my eyes, and on my hands. I love Jesus Christ! Him alone will I faithfully serve; His friendship I will not sell for any worldly goods, honors, or pleasures. I love Jesus Christ, and will love Him while I have breath. I renounce forever all that is opposed to Him. And do Thou, Almighty God! grant us all Thy powerful grace that we may forestall the terrible times of Antichrist by a true repentance for all our sins, and by flying all those abuses which shall serve that proud, wicked monster to spread his kingdom! Grant that we may serve Thee with greater zeal, with more patience in adversity, with a more fervent love for Thee, O God and Saviour, in our public professions, in our outward actions and demeanor, so that we may have nothing to do with Antichrist and his followers, but persevere in Thy faith and love till death. Amen. Preached on the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost. The same sermon with its introduction may serve for the first Sunday of Advent: text from Luke xxi. 25. "There shall be signs,''etc. Source1. Filioli, novissima hora est.--I. John ii. 18. 2. Quia in saeculi sumus, praecedunt quaedam aegritudines mundi.--S. Ambr. L. 10, In Luc. xviii. 3. Bestia terribilis, atque mirabilis, et fortis nimis.--Dan. vii. 7. 4. Homo peccati, filius perditionis.--II. Thess. ii. 3. 5. Multiplicabit gloriam, et dabit eis potestatem in multis, et terram dividet gratuito.-- Dan. xi. 39. 6. Et dominabitur thesaurorom auri et argenti, et in omnibus pretiosis.--Ibid. 43. 7. Erit enim tunc tribulatio magna, qualis non fuit ab Initio mundi, usque modo, neque fiet--Matt, xxiv. 21. 8. Et est datum illi bellum facere cum sanctis, et vincere eos; et data est illi potestas in omnem tribum, et populum, et linguam, et gentem.--Apoc. xiii. 7. 9. Et faciet juxta voluntatem suam rex; et elevabitur et magnificabitur adversus omnem deum.--Dan. xi. 36. 10. Et brachia ex eo stabunt, et polluent sanctuarium fortitudinis; et auferent juge sacrificium, et dabunt abominationem in desolationem.--Ibid. 31. 11. Multi sunt vocati, pauci vero electi--Matt. xx. 16. 12. Et fecit signa magna, ut etiam ignem faceret de caelo descendere in terram in conspectu hominum. Et seduxit habitantes in terra, propter signa, quae data sunt illi facere.--Apoc xiii. 13, 14. 13. Surgent enim pseudo Christi, et pseudo prophetae, et dabunt signa magna, et prodigia. --Matt. xxiv.24 14. Quae erithumanae mentis illia tentatio!--S. Greg. L. 32. Moral. c. 13. 15. Ita ut in errorem inducantur (si fieri potest) etiam electi.--Matt. xxiv. 24. 16. Et nisi breviati fuissent dies illi, non fieret salva omnis caro.--Ibid. 22. 17. Et tunc revelabitur ille iniquus, quem Dominus Jesus interficiet spiritu oris sui.-- II. Thess. ii. 8. 18. Omnis spiritus qui solvit Jesum, ex Deo non est; et hic est antichristus, de quo audistis quoniam venit, et nunc jam in mundo est.--I. John iv. 3. 19. Non in persona, sed in spiritu, scilicet in suis praecursoribus. 20. Quicunqne contra justitiam vivit, etc., Antichristus est, minister Satanae.--S. Aug. c. 9. Tract, de Antichristo.
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Post by Admin on Apr 7, 2020 10:43:17 GMT
Second Part of a Four Part Series on the Signs that are to precede the Last Judgment
by Rev. Francis Hunolt 1694 -1746
There shall be terrible signs in the heavens and in all the elements. Erunt signa.--Luke xxi. 25. " There shall be signs."
These signs shall be for the wicked a source of fear, anguish, and dread; but for the good a source of joy and, exultation.--Preached on the first Sunday of Advent.
All Catholic Christians believe that in His second advent Jesus Christ shall come as the Judge of the living and the dead into this world; but no man knows the day of His coming. Yet the world shall be able to learn that the day of judgment is at hand from the signs that Christ Himself has announced as forerunners of the last day. The first sign, namely the reign of Antichrist, and what we have to learn therefrom I have already explained. I now go on to speak of the other signs.
Plan of Discourse
There shall be terrible signs in the heavens and in all the elements. These and their causes I shall explain in the first part. These signs shall be to the wicked a source of fear, anguish, and dread; but to the good a source of joy and exultation. This I shall show in the second part. Sinners! if you wish that the last day should not be a cause of dread to you, be converted! Just Christians! rejoice if you now have to pass through times of tribulation! Such shall be the conclusion. Help us, O future Judge, to observe it by Thy grace, which we ask of Thee through the intercession of Mary and of our holy guardian angels. When the three and a half years of the reign of that terrible persecutor Antichrist shall have expired, then, says Our Lord in the Gospel of St. Matthew, " Immediately after the tribulation of those days, 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."(1) Mark the word "immediately." We must not understand by it that the moment Antichrist sinks into the abyss those signs shall be visible. No; for according to commentators the mercy of God shall grant a respite of some months, or, as some say, of years for those who shall be perverted by Antichrist to repent, because then almost the whole world shall return to Christ after their accursed apostasy. But when the time of the general judgment is finally at hand, "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves."(2) The sun shall be deprived of its brilliancy and make night out of day, like to the darkness of Egypt: "There came horrible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself out of the place where he was."(3) The moon, of a blood-red color, shall appear like some grizzly phantom of night; the stars shall fall from the sky; not indeed the stars that God has placed in the firmament: for where should they fall? Not on the earth, because according to astronomers the smallest star is much larger than the earth. But the stars shall hide themselves as if they had fallen, and at the same time luminous vapor in the shape of stars shall fall in masses on the globe as if to set fire to it. All the elements shall be disturbed; the air shall resound with fearful storms and thunder; the sea and all waters shall be disturbed by mighty waves rising and falling; the earth shall be shaken and almost riven asunder by earthquakes that shall swallow whole cities, while fire shall burst forth with a great roar from the mountains and caverns. In a word, the wheels of the vast clock of the world shall be all broken and disordered, according to the works of Louis de Ponte, as a sign that the last hour of judgment is at hand, and such shall be the fear, anguish, faint-heartedness, and dread of men and the howling and roaring of beasts, that no one will know where to turn or what to do. Hence the old expression used of very bad weather: it is like the last day. And what is the meaning of all that, my dear brethren? To "what end that great disturbance and consternation of all creatures? First, says Abulensis, it is a sign of compassion, and as it were a fainting and death-agony of all nature at the destruction of the world. When the head of a household is at the point of death the whole family is disturbed and bewildered; the wife weeps and tears her hair in an agony of grief; the children give vent to their sorrow in noisy cries; the relatives weep; the servants run hither and thither sighing and moaning; the death-knell tolls its sorrowful note from the church-tower; friends and neighbors clad in mourning come to the funeral. All is grief and lamentation. So shall it be when the end of the world approaches, and the human race, the head of this household of the world is at the last gasp; all nature shall be stricken with fear and consternation; the sky shall lose its luminaries and put on the sable garb of night; the elements shall, as it were, weep, and become quite bewildered, while the atmosphere resounding with thunder and violent hurricanes shall be, so to speak, the death-knell of the dying world. Moreover, these signs shall show forth the great anger and displeasure of the Almighty at sinful men. The heavens now announce the glory of God, as the Prophet David says: "The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of His hands."(4) "But then," says Barradius, "they shall declare the anger of God against the wicked."(5) For He will cause all creatures to rise up against them; by making the stars to lose their light, He will, so to speak, shut up the windows by which any light might penetrate to the earth, that He may smite in the dark without mercy, as Isaias prophesies: "Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light." And what then? "And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity, and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty."(6) "The moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed:"(7) "because," adds Cardinal Hugo, "they have served such masters,"(8) masters who have been ungrateful to their Creator. Now, according to St. Paul, creatures serve sinners against their will and as it were through force and necessity: "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly;" therefore they groan under the yoke of their slavery, and sigh for the day when they shall be freed from it; "for we know that every creature groaneth, and travaileth in pain even till now."(9) Sun, moon, and stars groan and complain at having to give their light to men to be misused in offending and insulting God; the earth, fire, water, air, beg, as it were, the Almighty to free them from the servitude in which they are to sinners. This shall be done at the end of the world, when all creatures are to be set at liberty and released from slavery, and then like a mighty army they will all rush in a body against the wicked to put them to shame, as we read in the Book of Wisdom: "And His zeal will take armor, and He will arm the creature for the revenge of His enemies......and the whole world shall fight with Him against the unwise:(10) "The sun will declare war, as Tamerlane did of old, with a black banner spread; the moon colored like blood, and the stars disturbed out of their course shall begin the battle. We, they will say, have given our fair light for such a long time to sinners who were unworthy of it; we have marked for them the hours, days, weeks, months, and years; we have by our regularity in our motions set them a good example of the obedience they owe to God; but they preferred to follow the suggestions of the devil, the appetites of the flesh, the customs and maxims of the perverse world, instead of obeying the law of their Creator they loved, darkness more than the light; therefore our period of service is now at an end for them, and we shall be to them henceforth a source of nothing but fear and dread. In the same manner the four elements shall take the field against sinners. The air that gave them breath and voice, so that they could breathe and speak; from which they received the fruitful rain; in which the birds dwelt to their delight and nourishment--the air will attack them on all sides; it will throw down buildings by the violence of opposing winds; it will tear up trees by the roots; send down hail-storms to strike the beasts of the field dead, and with thunder and fierce lightnings and terrible apparitions that shall be seen in the air (such as were not beheld even in Egypt in the time of the hardened Pharao, nor in Jerusalem when that city was destroyed), it will fill every one with dismay, as if to complain of the sinner and say: "He hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath strengthened himself against the Almighty."(11) The water that supplied sinners with drink and with fish for their food, and with salt, and that carried them from one country to another in the pursuit of their business, will then overstep its boundaries and inundate the adjoining land far and wide; it will rage and foam against the godless, ready to swallow them up as it did Jonas: "Be thou ashamed, O Sidon! for the sea speaketh."(12) Be ashamed, O Christian! the sea shall cry out with its rushing waves; be ashamed that I, who have no understanding like you, for whom God has not died as He has for you, who have neither eternal punishment to fear nor eternal rewards to hope for as you have--be ashamed that I have been for six thousand years obedient to my Creator, and have not gone as much as the breadth of a grain of sand beyond the limits He marked out for me, but have always kept within bounds; while you, on the contrary, endowed with reason and countless benefits, allured by the hope of heaven, terrified by the fear of hell, have yet often and deliberately transgressed the commands of God, and wallowed in a very sea of vice! Be ashamed at being overcome by a senseless thing such as I am, in obedience to God! O Almighty God, the waves will cry out as they rise towards heaven, show forth Thy justice against sinners, and since they have not wished to live in the ocean of Thy mercy and find their salvation, let them now sink into the deep abyss of Thy justice, and feel the weight of Thy avenging arm! The earth which has hitherto served even wicked men for their nourishment, clothing, dwelling-place, medicine, and pleasure, supplying them with fruit, trees, herbs, and flowers which it brought forth in such plenty--the earth will then open with continual quakings, and as it were cry out for vengeance against the sinner for having so wantonly and ungratefully misused its gifts. The wild beasts will come forth out of their caves and dens with horrible howlings, and follow up the sinner everywhere, filling him with terror. "The whole world shall fight with Him against the unwise;" the universe shall take up arms with the angry God and fight against the foolish sinner, and by its ragings announce to him that the terrible day is at hand on which the Judge shall be revenged on all His enemies; that day which the Prophet Sophonias calls the great day of the Lord: "A day of wrath; a day of tribulation and distress; a day of calamity and misery; a day of darkness and obscurity; a day of cloud and whirlwind; the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation."(13) Where will they creep in order to hide themselves, or to find comfort and consolation, when heaven and earth are in such disorder and are uniting their forces to attack them? Our Lord has already told us how men shall feel on that day: "Men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world."(14) But this shall be the case only for sinners; for no matter how terrible the signs that are to precede the last day, the servants of God shall find them an occasion of rejoicing and exultation, as we shall see in the Second Part. Suppose that a Turkish city, say Constantinople, in which many Christians are held captive and groan in chains, is beleaguered by a Christian potentate; the roaring and crashing of artillery resounds the whole day, so that one can hardly hear his own voice; the walls and towers are here and there thrown down by the cannon-balls; fire-spreading bombs and grenades are flying about incessantly in the air, burning and destroying the houses in all directions, and throughout the whole city nothing is heard but the roar of artillery, the crash of tumbling walls, and fearful howlings and lamentations. Men crawl away and hide themselves in the darkest cellars so as to avoid the cannonballs; the soldiers in despair cry out; alas! it is all up with us! we must surrender! the city is taken, etc. What do you think, my dear brethren, would be the feelings of the Christian captives on the occasion? Truly, as far as sight and hearing are concerned they are as badly off as the Turks; they too must hide away to avoid the bombs and balls; but how do they feel at heart? There is not a doubt that they rejoice and exult the more vigorously the siege proceeds. The greater the despair of the soldiers engaged in the defence the greater the joy and hope of the Christians. Why? Oh, they think, now the time is at hand when the city must surrender to a Christian power, and we shall be freed from captivity and slavery. There, my dear brethren, you have in some degree a figure and picture of the state of mind of the just and of the wicked at the sight of the awful portents that are to herald the end of the world. The wicked, those who have a bad conscience, shall indeed wither away with fear and dismay, and seek to hide themselves under the earth; they will howl and moan and lament like the beleaguered Turks: alas! now all is up with us! We must surrender; there is an end to all the pleasures and delights we enjoyed on earth; honor and high places are no more; we must leave our wealth behind us; the last day is at hand; in a short time the terrible trumpet shall sound in our ears the words: arise, ye dead, and come to judgment! Soon shall we appear before our angry Judge, whom we have despised and made our enemy by our sins! Now the time is approaching when the shameful things we have kept hidden from men and not dared to mention even in the tribunal of penance shall be openly declared before the world! Soon shall we hear the awful words: " Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire."(15) And we shall have to bid an eternal farewell to God, our supreme Good, to Mary the Mother of God, to all the angels and elect, and go down to hell with the devils! Alas! how great will be the terror and anguish of the wicked at the sight of the signs and portents of the last day! But what shall he the feelings of those just servants of God who have either kept inviolable fidelity to their Creator, or by true repentance have washed away their sins, and who have hitherto in this vale of tears, amidst so many dangers of soul and body, sighed like prisoners for their eternal home and place of rest! How, I ask, will it be with them? Hear what Christ says to them, after having spoken of the terrible forerunners of the last day: "But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads: because your redemption is at hand."(16) To go with downcast head is a sign of sorrow and fear, and My dear children, that is not for you, but for the wicked who refused to love and honor Me. Let them wither away for fear, because they have no part in My eternal kingdom; but you, just souls! who have kept My law and in all things tried to do My will, "look up, and lift up your heads;" rejoice and be glad; why? "Because your redemption is at hand!" This is the time for which you have been sighing so long; the time for your release from captivity, from all dangers and troubles; the time for you to enter into the eternal repose of the children of God. This is the day on which your enemies and Mine, who have persecuted and oppressed you in so many ways--this is the day for them to lie trembling and shaking under your feet. This is the time when I shall make known to the world your humility and other virtues which men knew nothing of, and vain worldlings despised you for! Rejoice, My children! your redemption is at hand; the kingdom of heaven will soon be opened to you. Come, ye blessed! possess the kingdom that My Father and you yourselves have prepared for you! Come with Me into everlasting joys! "See the fig-tree, and all the trees," continues Our Lord; "when they now shoot forth their fruit, you know that summer is nigh," and the cold winter past. "So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand."(17) His meaning is, in winter-time the trees are bare, without leaves or fruit, and covered with snow as with a mourning garment; but when the pleasant springtime comes, what a change takes place in them! They are adorned with the fresh buds, with green leaves and fruit, and the birds sing joyous melodies in their branches. So it is also with you. My faithful servants. Hither to you have had the cold winter-time; you were hated and despised by the world, which you disregarded for My sake; you have often had to groan under the pressure of adversity; but now, when you shall see those signs of the spring and eternal summer, "look up and lift up your heads: because your redemption is at hand." Be ready! Raise your hearts and minds on high! Your redemption is near you; the works of virtue that you performed for Me are now about to bear fruit, and you shall be crowned with a crown of everlasting joys. It was this thought that brought such consolation of spirit to St. Paul in his manifold trials and persecutions, as he writes to his disciple Timothy: "The time of my dissolution at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have a kept the faith." I have been true to my God, and now what have I to expect from Him? "As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love His coming."(18) It is for that we should long unceasingly, as Our Lord Himself has taught us to pray daily: "Our Father, who art in heaven; Thy kingdom come!" "Seeing then," says St. Peter, "that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversations and godliness; looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord." Truly the heavens shall be burnt up, and the elements consumed by heat. "But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promises, in which justice dwelleth. Wherefore, dearly beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent, that ye may be found undefiled and unspotted to Him in peace."(19) Hasten in your desires with joy to meet the day of the Lord. My dear brethren, what should be our thoughts on this subject? If these awful portents were visible in the heavens this very day to announce to us the end of the world, should we all have occasion to lift up our heads and to await the coming of our Judge with joy and exultation? Would you, O ambitions man, rejoice, who now value the esteem of men more than the grace and favor of your God? Would you rejoice, O avaricious man, whose greatest and only care every day of your life is to amass wealth in every possible way; whose hands and coffers are still closed on ill-gotten goods? Would you rejoice, O unchaste man, who have hitherto indulged your foul passions, and by your wicked importunities have seduced many an innocent soul; who still continue to live in unlawful intimacy with one who has captivated your heart in the meshes of impure love? Would you rejoice, O vindictive man, who still nourish anger against your neighbor, and indulge in dreams of revenge? Would you rejoice, O drunkard, who on every occasion that offers itself rob yourself of your reason, and ruin yourself and those belonging to you? Would you rejoice, O vain child of the world, who are still so much attached to the world and know no law but its false maxims, leading meanwhile an idle, tepid life? In a word, all of you who have a mortal sin on your consciences, would you exult at the coming of your Judge? Should one have reason to encourage you in the words of Our Lord when the terrible signs are seen in the heavens: "look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand"? Alas! it is easy to speak to you of joy! Fear, anguish, terror, withering away for fear; such are rather the sad effects that those signs will have on you. Ah, why then do we not fear to offend God? How can we dare to spend even one hour in the state of mortal sin; for if death were to surprise us then, we should have nothing to expect but judgment without mercy and a hell without end. Just souls who have a good conscience! for you is the joy, the exulting hope! Ah, only continue to serve your God with fidelity and zeal! "We should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world," such is the exhortation given us by St. Paul, "looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and Our Saviour Jesus Christ."(20) Afflicted Christians, who have to suffer all kinds of trials and contradictions, what are you to think? Troublous are the signs you now see, visited as you are so severely by the hand of God; troublous indeed! But be comforted! For as the terrible signs that are to announce the end of the world shall he forerunners of approaching redemption for the just, and therefore a source of joy and consolation to them, so the sorrows, no matter how great they may be, that now afflict you, if you only bear them with a good conscience and resignation to the divine will, are for you infallible signs of future glory in heaven, as I shall show you on a future occasion. To comfort yourselves then and alleviate your sorrows, say to yourselves: what I am now suffering shall come to an end; it will not last long; every day brings me nearer to my release. If I am poor and destitute for a short time, this very poverty is a sure sign of future riches in heaven. If I am despised, persecuted by the world, and abandoned by men, this humiliation is a sign of my approaching glory and honor in the society of the elect in heaven. If I now suffer injury and loss in my worldly goods, this loss is a sign of my future gain, of a treasure. that awaits me in heaven. If I now weep with sorrow and trouble, it is a sign of my future joy in heaven. If I am now sickly and weak, it is a sign of future eternal well-being in heaven. If I am now obliged to work hard every day in order to support myself and those depending on me, it is a sign and forerunner of future eternal repose in the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, O my God, I will resign myself to Thy will and providence: with the help of Thy grace I will suffer as long, how, and whatever Thou mayest will me to suffer! No matter how great my troubles may be, they shall not be equal to the joys of heaven that Thou hast promised me. "Looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and Our Saviour, Jesus Christ." With this consolation I will rejoice in all my trials, expecting the fulfillment of that most blessed hope and the coming of the great glory of my God and Saviour. "I know," I will say with Job, "that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth........and in my flesh I shall see my God. Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold: this my hope is laid up in my bosom."(21) This one hope is comfort enough for me. Amen. SourceFootnotes: 1.Statim autem post tribulationem dierum illorum sol obscurabitur, et luna non dabit lumen suum, et stellae cadent de caelo, et virtutes caelorum commovebuntur.--Matt. xxiv.29.
2.Erunt signa in sole, et luna, et stellis, et in terris pressura gentium prae confusione sonitus maris et fluctuum--Luke xxi. 25.
3. Factae sunt tenebrae horribiles in universa terra Egypti tribus diebus. Nemo vidit fratrem suum, nec movit se de loco in quo erat.--Exod. x. 22, 23.
4. Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei, et opera manuum ejus annuntiat firmamentum.--Ps. xvii.2.
5. Tunc vero iram Dei, impiis annuntiabunt.
6. Ecce dies Domini veniet, crudelis, et indignationis plenus, et irae, furorisque, ad ponendam terram in solitudinem, et peccatores ejus conterendos de ea. Quoniam stellae caeli, et splendor earum, non expandent lumen suum; obtenebratus est sol in ortu suo, et luna non splendebit in lumine suo. Et visitabo super orbis mala, et contra impios iniquitatem eorum; et quescere faciam superbian infidelium, et arrogantian fortium humiliabo.--Is. xiii. 9-11.
7. Erubescet luna, et confundetur sol.--Ibid. xxiv. 23.
8. Quod talibus dominis servierunt.
9. Vanitati enim creatura subjecta est non volens. Scimus enim quod omnis creatura ingemiscit, et parturit usque adhuc.--Rom. vii.20, 22.
10. Accipiet armaturam zelus illius, et armabit creaturam ad ultionem inimicorum,....et pugnabit cum illo orbis terrarum contra insensatos.--Wis.v. 18, 21.
11. Tetendit adversus Deum manum suam, et contra Omnipotentem roboratus est.--Job xv. 25.
12. Erubesce Sidon; ait enim mare.--Is. xxiii.4.
13. Dies irae dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiae, dies calamitatis et miseriae, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulae et turbinis; vox diei Domini amara, tribulabitur ibi fortis.--Soph. i. 15, 14.
14. Arescentibus hominibus prae timore, et exspectatione, quae supervenient universo orbi.--Luke xxi. 26.
15. Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum.--Matt. xxv. 41.
16. His antem fieri incipientibus, respicite, et levate capita vestra, quoniam appropinquat redemptio vestra.--Luke xxi. 28.
17. Videte ficulneam, et omnes arbores. Cum producunt jam ex se fructum, scitis quoniam prope est aestas. Ita et vos cum videritis haec fieri, scitote quoniam prope est regnum Dei.--Ibid. 29, 30, 31.
18. Tempus resolutionis meae instat. Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi. In reliquo reposita est mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex; non solum autum mihi, sed et iis qui diligunt adventum ejus.--II. Tim. iv. 6-8.
19. Cum igitur haec omnia dissolvenda sint, quales oportet vose esse in sanctis conversationibus et pietatibus, exspectantes et properantes in adventum diei Domini. Novus vero caelos, et novam terram secundum promissa ipsius expectamus. Propter quod, carissimi, haec exspectantes, satagite immaculati et inviolati ei inveniri in pace.--II. Pet. iii. 11-14.
20. Sobrie, et juste, et pie vivamus in hoc saeculo; expectantes beatam spem, et adventum gloriae magni dei, et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi.--Tit. ii. 12, 13.
21. Scio enim quod Redemptor meus vivit, et in novissima die de terra surrecturs sum,....et in carne mea videbo Deum meum. Quem visurus sum ego ipse, et oculi mei conspecturi sunt; reposita est haec spes mea in sinu meo.--Job xix. 24-27.
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Post by Admin on Apr 8, 2020 12:54:30 GMT
Part III of a Four Part Series on the Signs that are to precede the Last Judgment by Rev. Francis Hunolt 1694 -1746
"And there came one of the seven angels, who had the vials full of the seven last plagues"--Apoc. xxi. 9
"Who shall prepare Thy way before Thee." Qui praeparabit viam tuam ante te.--Matt. xi. 10.
John was the angel who was to make ready the way for the coming of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, into the world. In what manner did he prepare for it? "He came into all the country about the Jordan," says St. Luke, "preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins."(1) Everywhere he cried out to men: "Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."(2) My dear brethren, the Almighty God shall cry out and give similar warnings at the approach of the last day of the world, by those terrible signs that shall be forerunners of the second coming of Christ as Judge. What will those signs say? What John said in his time: " Make straight the way of the Lord;"(3) prepare for the coming of the angry Judge; do penance for your sins; be converted to God, for the last day is at hand. And it is a mark of the great goodness and mercy of God to send those signs to warn the world, as it is also a mark of His goodness and mercy to afflict the world frequently by public calamities. Both these truths I shall now prove. Plan of Discourse
The signs that are to precede the last day are all effects of the goodness and mercy of God, that sinners, being terrified by them, may prepare by doing true penance, which, however, few of them will then do. Such is the subject of the first part. Public calamities in our own times are also effects of the goodness and mercy of God, that we, being chastised by them, may amend our sinful lives, which, however, few of us do: the second part. I will do penance, O God of goodness, with Thy grace, which I beg of Thee through the merits of Mary and the prayers of our holy guardian angels; such is the conclusion that each one should make. But what am I saying? That the signs that are to announce the coming of the Judge on the last day are signs and effects of God's goodness and mercy? Those awful signs, the mere sight of which shall fill men with terror and dismay? Those signs that, as we have seen already, are ghastly portents showing forth the implacable hatred, anger, and wrath of God against sinners? Are they at the same time to be signs of His mercy towards the same sinners? Truly, my dear brethren, that is the case! They shall be signs of the implacable wrath of God that will be poured out without mercy on all sinners on the day of judgment; but at the same time they will be signs of the present goodness and mercy of God, according to the words of the Prophet: " When thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy;"(4) so that the sinners who are in the world in those days, frightened by the signs, may enter into themselves, do penance, be converted, and thus escape the anger of the Judge; as St. Thomas of Aquin says, "that the hearts of men may be prepared for the judgment, being forewarned by those signs." (5) "No one," says St. Augustine, "who wishes to strike you will cry out to you to be on your guard."(6) I am about to draw my sword to kill you! A man who threatens in that way gives clear proof that he is not in earnest, but that he wishes the other to escape his sword by running away. If a judge were to send to a thief whom he has caught in the act, telling him that when he hears the clang of arms or a certain bell toiling, it is a sure sign that the soldiers are on their way to apprehend him, put him in prison, and when sentence has been passed on him to bring him out to the place of execution, what would you think of that? Would the judge appear to you to be in earnest about putting the thief to death? No; quite the contrary; the judge in such a case must be a good friend of the thief, and would be very glad to see him make his escape. For as the old saying has it, "the cat that mews too much will never make a good mouser," So it is; he who intends to get hold of his enemy lets not a word of his purpose be known; he hides his weapons and does not draw them until he has the other completely in his power, so that he cannot escape. One of the first and most necessary qualities of a general is silence; he must know how to keep secret the plans he forms against the enemy; he should not reveal them even to his most intimate friends, much less to his own soldiers, that no one may betray them; and if sometimes he publishes that on a certain day, at a certain hour he shall make a sally to surprise the enemy, the latter think at once: "'oh, that is only a blind! We need not fear that attack; but there is some other plan in his mind, and we must be on our guard not to be surprised by it." Mark, says St. Augustine, and be amazed at the wonderful long-suffering and mercy of God, which He will show even on that day when He will with terrible portents arm all creatures against sinners: "if He really wished to condemn sinners to hell He would conceal His wrath against, them,"(7) and would reserve His vengeance till the very last moment, when He might fall upon them unawares in the midst of their sins and vices. But as it is, He has already warned them long since by His prophets to be on their guard; for "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; "(8) so when you behold those signs be sure that the angry Judge shall soon come to condemn you to hell if you do not repent and amend your lives. What else, then, do the manifold signs that are to succeed each other signify, if not that God does not wish the sinner to be lost, and that He intends to warn him to do penance in time, so as to escape the divine anger? When the disobedient Absalom rebelled against his father David with intention of usurping the crown, David at once raised an army and marched against him. Who would not have thought that the father's intention was to punish his undutiful son and put him out of the way? Yet his loving, paternal heart was quite differently disposed. When he sent out his generals to fight, his strictest injunction on them was, " Save me the boy Absalom.'(9) Whatever you do, see that he escapes unhurt. His wish was not merely that his son should not be killed, but that he should be taken care of; "Save me the boy!" But did David act consistently in this? If he wished Absalom to be saved, why did he send an army against him? Or was he forced to do so in order to protect himself? Otherwise could he not have kept his army at home if he wished his son to come to no harm? Truly he might have done all that, says St. Augustine; but he wished, to humble the pride of his rebellious son. I will show him, thought he, that I am not wanting in the power to punish him, so that, frightened at the sight of my army, he may submit and return to his father; but my generals must know that I do not desire his destruction, and therefore I command them to be careful of him and do him no harm. Such, too, is the reason "why the Almighty God will assume the appearance of anger when, as we have seen in the last sermon, He will with terrible portents call all creatures to arms to conquer sinners, His rebellions children. His object, namely, is to chastise their disobedience in such a way that through fear of the impending last judgment and the signs that are to precede it they may humble themselves, and by doing timely penance gain eternal life. " Save Me the boy," He says in His fatherly, loving heart. Save Me the souls of My children, although they are rebels and disobedient! And as we read in Holy Writ, such is the manner in which God has always acted. When He was forced by the many sins of mankind to inflict some general punishment on the world, He hardly ever did so without having long beforehand announced it by His prophets, or by signs and portents, so that people by doing timely penance might escape the effects of His anger. Thus He acted towards the Ninivites, to whom He sent the Prophet Jonas to announce through all the streets of the city: "Yet forty days, and Ninive shall he destroyed."(10) Who, on hearing this terrible threat, would not imagine that God was exceedingly embittered against the wicked city? Yet it is beyond a doubt that by that very threat He showed Himself most merciful and gracious to it. St. John Chrysostom, considering this circumstance, turns to God in wonder and asks Him: My Lord and my God! what art Thou doing? "Why dost Thou announce the punishment Thou art about to inflict?"(11) I do so, answers the Almighty, that I may not be obliged to punish; that My threats may not have to be fulfilled. And the Ninivites found out the truth of that; they knew God and were aware that He is a merciful Lord, says St. Ephrem.(12) When they heard the sermon of Jonas they entered into themselves, did penance, and thus appeased the anger of God, so that His threats against them came to nothing. So He acted towards the wicked king Pharao, who so cruelly persecuted the people of Israel. The many and wonderful plagues with which He afflicted the whole land of Egypt are well known from Scripture, yet He did not actually inflict one of them until He had sent Moses to Pharao to give him warning. "Behold," says the Lord, if thou wilt not let My people go, "I will kill thy son, thy first-born."(13) I will send on thy land a plague of grasshoppers, etc. If Pharao had submitted, not one of the threats would have been fulfilled. And so the Almighty acted afterwards. When He was minded to give the city of Jerusalem into the hands of its enemies, Isaias had to wander about the streets for a long time beforehand without clothing, to give warning of the impending calamity. When He threatened the Jewish people with slavery under the hard yoke of the Assyrians, He sent Jeremias bound in chains on before. And again when about to punish the inhabitants of Jerusalem with famine, Ezechiel had to eat nothing but the dung of cows and oxen for three hundred and ninety days. All these things were signs of the future wrath of God; but at the same time they were proofs of His present mercy. With reason does the Prophet David say to his God: "Thou hast given a warning to them that fear Thee, that they may flee from before the bow, that Thy beloved may be delivered."(14) Now, my dear brethren, you see how it is that those terrible signs that are to announce the wrath of God before the last day are at the same time proofs of the divine mercy and goodness, intended for the conversion and amendment of the sinner. And yet, what should excite our utmost astonishment, a very small number of sinners shall then be moved to bewail and amend their wicked lives. The natural fear and anguish inspired by such awful phenomena will cause them to wither away with terror, that is true; but when their fear is past they will not be a whit better than before; they will be like the people of the time of Noe when he was preparing for the flood; they will not even believe that those signs are to announce the last day, nor that the general judgment is at hand; but will rather laugh at the good who will believe in them, and ridicule their credulity as too simple, and so they will continue in sin until the fire carries them off impenitent before the tribunal of God; and that shall be the case with many. Is not that, I ask, a most astonishing thing? Yet why should we be surprised at it, my dear brethren? Do we not act in precisely the same manner in our own days when the Almighty sends us or threatens us with public calamities? We shall see that in the Second. Part. Public calamities are to us what the signs that are to precede the last day shall be to those who are to live towards the end of the world. They shall be exceedingly terrified and dismayed, "for there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now."(15) Such, too, is the effect of calamities on us; they terrify us and fill us with anguish; when we feel them we commence to moan and sigh: alas! how wretched we are! etc. And yet, as with the signs of the last day, so with those calamities. For what else are they but proofs of God's mercy and goodness to sinners, whose only object is to humble men, chastise them in a fatherly manner, make them enter into themselves, repent of their sins, amend their lives, and so escape eternal punishment in hell? For public calamities are never sent on a country except on account of the sins of the people, in order to eradicate them and put a stop to them. This truth has often been preached from the pulpit, and therefore it requires no further proof; it is a truth founded on the infallible word of God, and one therefore of which the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church have not the least doubt. The seraphic St. Francis, as St. Bonaventnre writes in his Life, being once on a journey, came to a country where there was nothing but weeping and lamentation among the people because their cattle were devoured by the wolves and their corn was destroyed by constant hail-storms. When Francis heard this he said to the people: "My dear people, do you know the cause of the evils you suffer from? Do you know the hand that inflicts them? It, is God, Who in His mercy visits you for your sins and misdeeds, that you may not be lost eternally. But do you wish to be freed from this scourge? Then the matter rests with yourselves; remove the cause; repent and amend your lives, and the evil will cease." And wonderful to relate, because it is such a rare experience, this one exhortation was enough to induce the people to amend; they did penance for their sins and humbly begged God to forgive them, when, behold! the scourge ceased at once:(16) the wolves disappeared; the hail-storms, although they came now and then and did some damage in the neighborhood, melted before they arrived at the land of the penitent people, as if to say: we are not any longer commissioned by the Creator to injure this country. When Constantinople was shaken by terrible earthquakes, so that the people, filled with fear and anguish, knew not where to turn, St. John Chrysostom mounted the pulpit and began to preach in the following terms: Blessed be those earthquakes! What you, my brethren, think of them, I know not; the trouble and agitation you manifest give me to understand that you look on them as a calamity; but for my part I praise and bless my God on account of them, and am convinced He merits our sincerest gratitude for having sent them to us. Why so? "You have seen the goodness and mercy of God. The shaking and trembling of the earth is a voice that cries out to our hearts, that being led to repentance by fear we may avoid a far worse punishment."(17) With a similar reasoning St. Jerome shut the mouths of the Manichaens. These heretics advanced so far in error and malice that they did not hesitate to accuse God of cruelty and tyranny, and they tried to support this blasphemous assertion by the words of the Prophet Amos: "Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?"(18) See! they exclaimed, what sort of a God is that who causes so much evil in the world by plagues and pestilences, that carry off thousands; by unfruitful seasons, that cause many to be in want of proper nourishment; by wars, that devastate cities and countries, and reduce the inhabitants to the verge of poverty and despair? All these and similar hardships come from God, who persecutes poor mortals; and besides He boasts that He is the Author of them. What tyrant ever acted more cruelly to his unfortunate subjects than this God does to His creatures? O wicked, ignorant, and conceited heretics, cries out St. Jerome, what are you saying? What you call cruelty in the Creator we refer to the multitude of His mercies.(19) There is no evil, misfortune, trouble, or whatever else you may call it in the world, that does not come from the Lord. True; infallibly true! But what then? Do you think that God should allow your sins to remain unpunished? Should the God of infinite holiness look on calmly while the world is being turned into a nest of adulterers, drunkards, thieves, and murderers? Where is the righteous ruler in the world who does not ordain just punishment for the vices of his people? It is you, you, O wicked people, who, if there were no other sinners besides yourselves, would force the good and merciful God to have recourse to such chastisements. And besides your sins, what a mass of wickedness is not committed daily in the world? Is it any wonder then that the godless world should be chastised by so many calamities? Let us rather return humble thanks to the Lord whenever He visits us in that way. The punishments are hard indeed, but at the same time they are a wholesome medicine which we can and ought to use for the amendment of our lives and to gain heaven, lest being hardened in sin we should be hurled down to hell. Such was the sermon preached to the heretics by St. Jerome. Therefore, my dear brethren, in our times, too, public calamities and troubles are proofs and effects of the divine mercy and goodness to sinners. But, alas! I must again ask, how do we receive them? Do we not generally act as the wicked will act towards the end of the world, when they shall behold the portents that announce the last day? The good and pious pray and cry out to Heaven, and redouble their penances and works of devotion to avert the punishments impending over us; but they who are almost the sole cause of the evil, who for years and years have been indulging in sin, how do they act? How are they affected? If there is nothing more than menaces at first; if there are signs of plagues, war, or famine in the distance to warn them to repent and amend, oh, they think, like the incredulous Israelites when warned of impending chastisement by the prophets, "the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine. The prophets have spoken in the wind."(20) No, there is no danger; preachers are talking of it, but their words are mere empty threats to frighten children; we have heard them often and not seen them fulfilled. We shall go on in the old way; "the evil shall not come upon us." Others may feel the rod a little, but we shall remain unharmed. And if they, too, feel the chastising hand so that they are convinced that the threats are not idle, how do they act then? Do they amend their lives? Very few of them do; the most remain obstinate and refuse to see what is before their eyes. "O Lord, Thy eyes are upon truth," so speaks the Prophet Jeremias to God: " Thou hast struck them and they have not grieved; Thou hast bruised them and they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return."(21) But, holy prophet, how is that possible? If they have been beaten, surely they must have felt the blows? How then is it that they had no sorrow or repentance? I will tell you, answers the prophet; "they have denied the Lord, and said: It is not He."(22) They feel the rod and it hurts them, but they refuse to believe that it is wielded by the hand of God; they will not acknowledge that it is God who punishes them, who sends, them wars, sickness, famine, misfortune, poverty, on account of their sins. "They have said: It is not He;" the Lord has not done this; the sickness comes from the impure air; princes and potentates are the cause of the war: this or that cruel man has brought misfortune on our country, etc. Thus they lay the whole blame on creatures; they try to get hold of the rod that beats them, but they do not look at the hand that wields it. And why so? For what purpose do they refuse to acknowledge God as the Author and Cause of calamities and troubles? That they may not have to confess that such things are sent as a punishment of their sins, and be not forced to repent and amend their wicked lives. "O Lord, Thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved;" they have not entertained the least thought of repentance; Thou hast pressed hard on them, but they are not convinced; "they have refused to return." It is not so in reality, my dear brethren? Is the world any better for the troublous times it has been passing through hitherto? Is there any diminution of pride, of vanity, luxury, and indecency in dress? Is avarice a thing of the past? Are people more scrupulous as to how they make money? Are unlawful intimacies given up? Is drunkenness, is the foul habit of cursing and swearing, abolished? Are parents more careful in looking after their children? Alas! is not the world just the same in these respects as it always was? Nay, does it not seem to have grown worse than ever? Must we not acknowledge with the Prophet Isaias: " Behold Thou art angry, and we have sinned: in them we have been always"?(23) O Lord, Thou hast chastised us through mercy, yet we continue to sin; we remain as bad as we were before. There is no denying the evidence of our own eyes. It seems to me that things are going on as in the ship that was carrying the obstinate Jonas. A furious storm burst upon the sea and exposed the ship to the greatest danger; the sailors and rowers ran hither and thither in a fright; with great trouble they succeeded in taking in sail; they pumped the water out, and cried and groaned to Heaven in their distress. Meanwhile what was Jonas, the sole cause of the disaster, doing? "Jonas," says the Scripture, "went down into the inner part of the ship and fell into a deep sleep." The cries and groans disturbed him not in the least, so that the sailors had to awaken him by force: "And the ship-master came to him, and said to him: Why art then fast asleep? rise up! call upon thy God, if so be that God will think of us, that we may not perish."(24) In the same way, I repeat, we act in the storm of calamity; prayers and sighs and groans, entreaties for mercy and grace are sent up to Heaven; but by whom? Generally speaking by those who are least to blame for the storm; by good, pious souls who have always been zealous in the performance of works of devotion and piety, and faithful in the service of God. But on the other hand, what is done by sinners who alone are to blame for the evil on account of their bad and vicious lives, and for whose sake the innocent, too, have to suffer? Ah, little they care for the cries of the others! Like Jonas they sleep in the depths of their sins; the calamities they suffer do not make them more diligent in visiting the church; they do not dream of trying to avert the divine anger by doing penance for their sins. Nay, some of them are so stupid as to give up praying; their despair drives them to curse when they feel the rod; they seek still more the occasions of sin and bad company, and rejoice when the carnival begins at Shrove-tide. Fine times indeed we have now to think of such things! Sinner, "why art thou fast asleep?" Rise up; call upon thy God! be converted; help us to pray and do penance, for God has visited us on account of your sins! Rise up, O unchaste man! give up your impurity, the intimacy in which you have been living unlawfully with this or that person! Call upon thy God; it is your adultery, your shameful acts, your unlawful love that has brought this chastisement on us! Rise up, vain child of the world! lay aside that scandalous dress and put on the garb of penance! Call upon God; humble yourself before Him whose anger you have aroused by your filthy pride and vanity! Rise up, O vindictive man, and be reconciled with your enemy! Call upon God for pardon of your sins; your hatred, anger, quarrelling, and fighting are the occasion of the evils we are suffering! Rise up, unjust man! give back what you have gained by usury and injustice; your greed of gold has brought us to poverty! Rise up, all of you, and call upon God! Awake out of your sleep; do penance; for God will not relax until they who are the cause of His wrath submit to Him. The sole object of the Almighty in thus chastising us is that we may amend our lives. But there is little use in preaching or exhorting. At the first call Jonas acknowledged that he was to blame: "Take me up," he said, "and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is come upon you."(25) But they hear others groaning and lamenting and do not mind it in the least; they keep on in the sleep of sin and never think of repenting. But wo to us if we are not led to repent by the scourge! For what else have we to expect but that after the temporal evil, which is an effect of the divine mercy, we shall have to suffer eternal torments in hell as an effect of the divine justice? No, O good God, let it not come to that! If I am the Jonas who has brought on the storm, behold! I give myself up to Thee; I acknowledge that I have deserved to be punished; I humbly implore Thy mercy, and kiss the fatherly hand that chastises me here. Truly, O Lord, I thank Thee for having thus awakened me from the torpor of sin! I will atone for my sins; even now I begin to detest them with all my heart; my life and all in me that has hitherto been displeasing to Thee shall with Thy help and grace be completely changed and amended. I only beg of Thee to turn away from so many innocent souls in this city and country the evils that menace them, and to save me from eternal punishment, for the temporal evils that I confess I have deserved I accept from Thee as an atonement for my sins. Amen. Footnotes: 1. Venit in omnem regionem Jordanis, praedicans baptismum poenitentiae in remissionem peccatorum.--Luke iii.3. 2. Poenitentiam agite; appropinquavit enim regnum caelorum.--Matt.iii.2. 3. Dirigite viam Domini.--John i. 23. 4. Cum iratus fueris, misericordiae recordaberis.--Havac.iii.2. 5. Ut corda hominum ad judicium praeparentur, hujusmodi signis praemoniti. 6. Nemo volen ferire, dicit, observa. 7. Si damnare vellet, taceret. 8. Erunt signa in sole, et luna, et stellis, et in terris pressura gentium prae confusione sonitus maris et fluctuum.--Luke xxi. 25. 9. Servate mihi puerum Absalom.--II. Kings xviii.5. 10. Adhuc quadraginta dies, et Ninive subvertetur.--Jonas iii.7. 11. Cuju rei gratia quae facturus es mala, praedicis?--S.Chrys. Hom. de Jon. 12. Cognoverunt Deum ut misericordem. 13. Ecce ego interficiam filium tuum primogenitum.--Exod.iv.23. 14. Dedisti metuentibus te significationem, ut fugiant a facie arcus; ut liverentur dilecti tui.--Ps. lix.6. 15. Erit enim tunc tribulatio magna, qualis non fuit ab initio mundi, usquemodo.--Matt.xxiv.21. 16. Ab illa hora cessaverunt clades. 17. Vidistis Dei benignitatem; ut timore meliores effecti supplicium repellamus. 18. Si erit malum in civitate, quod Dominus non fecerit?--Amos iii.6. 19. Nos referamus ad magnitudinem misericordiae.--S. Hier. in c. 3. Amos. 20. Neque veniet super nos malum; gladium et famen non videbimus. Prophetae fuerunt in ventum locuti.--Jer.v. 12,13. 21. Dominie, oculi tui respiciunt fidem; percussisti eos, et non doluerunt; attrivisti eos, et resuerunt accipere disciplinam; induraverunt facies suas supra petram, et noluerunt reverti.--Ibid. 3. 22. Negaverunt Dominum, et dixerunt: non est ipse.--Ibid.12. 23. Ecce tu iratus es, et peccavimus in ipsis fuimus semper.--Is.lxiv.5. 24. Jonas descendit ad interiora navis, et dormiebat sopore gravi. Et accessit ad eum gubernator, et dixit ei: Quid tu sopore deprimeris? Surge, invoca Deum tuum, si forte recogitet Deus de nobis, et non pereamus.--Jonas i.5,6. 25. ollite me, et mittite in mare, et cessabit mare a vobis; scio enim ego quoniam propter me tempestas haec grandis venit super vos.--Jonas i. 12.
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Post by Admin on Apr 9, 2020 14:00:53 GMT
Part IV of a Four Part Series on the
Signs that are to Precede the Last Judgment
by Rev. Francis Hunolt 1694 -1746
"For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be."--Matthew 24:27
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty."--Matthew 24:30
Hitherto we have been considering the signs that are to precede the end of the world and the day of general Judgment, and also the persecution that is to be carried on by Antichrist, who will turn almost the whole world away from Jesus Christ by offering worldly goods, honors, and pleasures as a bribe, by deceiving people with false miracles and hypocrisy, and by forcing them to adopt his views, adhere to his side by means of cruel tortures; we have seen, too, what we are to learn from all this. In another sermon we considered the terrible signs that shall be seen in the sun, moon, and stars, and the disturbance that is to take place in all the elements, signs that shall fill the wicked with fear, but the good with consolation; and the same is to be understood of public calamities that afflict the world in our own times. On last Sunday we saw that those signs are proofs and effects of the divine mercy and goodness toward sinners, so that they being terrified may enter into themselves, do penance, and escape the anger of God on the last day; so also the calamities that we suffer from nowadays are warning voices coming from the goodness and mercy of God, to chastise us for our sins, induce us to amend, and so help us to escape the eternal punishment of hell. And what is to happen after all those signs and portents, my dear brethren? "Then they shall see the Son of man;" then the last day shall come, and Jesus Christ in His majesty and glory shall appear in the valley of Josaphat to judge the living and the dead. But when? Immediately after those signs, or a long time after? But who can tell us that? It is useless to ask, for no one knows it. All we know for certain about the matter is that the last day shall come upon men quite unexpectedly, and therefore we should always be ready for it. This is the subject of my sermon today.
Plan of Discourse
After the appearance of the signs, the last day of judgment shall come upon men quite suddenly and unexpectedly. This I shall briefly show in the first part. Therefore we should lie ready for it every hour of our lives : "Make straight the way of the Lord." This conclusion I shall prove in the second part. That we may observe it carefully, help us with Thy grace, O future Judge of men! We beg this of Thee through the intercession of Mary and of our holy guardian angels. That the day of judgment shall come upon men unexpectedly is evident from the fact that God has reserved the knowledge of it to Himself, and has not and will not reveal it to any of the Prophets or to any mere mortal. There have been many holy friends of God to whom He revealed the day, nay, even the hour, of their death; there have been wicked sinners the time of whose death and eternal damnation has been foretold by the Prophets. The heavenly city of Jerusalem was shown to St. John the Evangelist. St. Paul was rapt up to the third heaven, where, as he himself tells us, he saw mysteries that may not be revealed to men. Jesus Christ often spoke to His disciples about the kingdom of God, about the indescribable joys that there awaited them as the reward of their labors: "But I have called you friends," He says to them, "because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father I have made known to you."(1) But concerning the time of the end of the world and the coming of the Judge, no one either in heaven or on earth has ever heard a word. "But of that day or hour," says Our Lord expressly to His disciples after having told them of the signs that are to announce the last day, "no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father."(2) With these words He restrained the curiosity of His disciples regarding the time of the general judgment, as if He said to them: why should you desire to know what is hidden from the angels and even from the Son of man Himself? But, dearest Lord, how is it that Thou dost not know this? Art Thou not the Judge of the living and the dead, to whom the Father has committed the supreme power of deciding the fate of mortals at the last day, and therefore is it not for Thee to fix the date, to determine when the judgment shall be held? And art Thou not to know anything about it, although according to the testimony of the Apostle all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God are hidden in Thee? These words of Our Lord, my dear brethren, are interpreted in different ways by commentators, amongst whom are SS. Gregory, Ambrose, Hilary, and Augustine. They say that the Son of man knows nothing about the last day, not that He is absolutely ignorant of it, but that He does not wish to reveal it to any creature; that is, He has not of it a knowledge that He can communicate to others. In the same way a priest if asked what such or such a one has said to him in confession, can with truth answer: I do not know. For in such circumstances the words mean simply: I do not know it by a knowledge that I can communicate to others; or else; I am as little at liberty to speak of it as if I were absolutely ignorant of it. Thus the knowledge of the time of the last day is kept most strictly from men, and therefore that day will come quite unexpectedly, and will fall upon men when they are least thinking of it. Again the same truth is evidently proved by the words of Our Lord in the Gospel of St. Matthew: ''For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."(3) Lightning, as we know, appears suddenly and before one is aware of it, it shoots out of the clouds and flashes before our eyes; "so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." He will appear to men before they have time to cast a thought on His coming. St. Paul says: "But of the times and moments, brethren, you need not that we should write to you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night."(4) Almost identical are the words we read in the Epistle of St. Peter: "But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief."(5) A thief would never dare to break into a house when he knows the inhabitants to be on their guard. No; he who is robbed is not aware of it until he finds his things gone. Like a thief in the night the day of the Lord shall come unexpectedly. From the words of St. Paul, St. Chrysostom concludes that the coming of the Judge shall take place during the night, when men are asleep and not even able to think of it. Finally, the same truth is confirmed by the similes used by Our Lord in the Gospel of St. Luke to describe the manner in which the men of those times shall live: "And as it came to pass in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." And how did people act then? "They did eat and drink: they married wives and were given in marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark." And what then? "And the flood came, and destroyed them all."(6) Wonderful was the blindness and stupidity of the men of those days; not the least attention did they pay to the oft-repeated warnings of the Patriarch Noe.
He was a hundred years engaged in building the ark; the people went to see his work; they doubtless asked him what the huge structure was intended for; why it contained so many divisions, rooms, partitions, and stables. Noe said to them: do penance; sin no more; appease the anger of God; in a few years the whole world shall be destroyed, for the waters shall ascend higher than the highest mountain, and there shall not be dry land enough left for a little bird to stand on; therefore be converted to God. Oh, fool that you are! they said to him; who put that nonsense into your head? Why do you plague yourself so with that useless labor? Enjoy yourself as we do; eat, drink, and be merry. Meanwhile the time for the flood came; the sky was darkened; the clouds began to collect; the sea swelled up and encroached on the dry land. Poor mortals! do you still refuse to believe? Yes; they are not the least disturbed; they go on as before, as if they were still in the golden age and had no danger to dread. They did nothing but eat, drink, dance, and sing; they had marriage-feasts, and sports, and enjoyed themselves to their hearts' content: "And the flood came, and destroyed them all; "while they were in the midst of their sins the flood-gates of heaven were opened, and the water swept them all away. "Likewise," continues the Evangelist, "as it came to pass in the days of Lot: They did eat and drink; they bought and sold; they planted and built; and in the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."(7)
"Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed."(8) Should we not think that so many signs and portents--wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, the persecutions of Antichrist, the disturbance of the elements--would be enough to make the men of that time watchful and vigilant? But no! When the fear and terror caused by the signs shall be at an end, they shall resume their former mode of life. Following the opinion of St. Jerome writing on the words of St. Paul, "When they shall say peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them,"(9) I maintain that when the signs shall have vanished men shall live in peace and quiet for a time (how long no one can say), and will continue in their former mode of life; and although the true faith shall then be general over the world, there shall be sinners who shall lead a very wicked life, and tepid Christians who shall lead a very slothful one. Under those circumstances then, when they least expect it, "in the twinkling of an eye," as the Apostle says,(10) fire shall fall from heaven and reduce the world to ashes, and then the dreadful trumpet shall resound in all places, and the angel's voice be heard crying out: " Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment!" There, my dear brethren, we have all the preparation that shall be made to introduce the great day of the general judgment. And what conclusion are we to draw from this? "Make straight the way of the Lord; " therefore we should now prepare ourselves most carefully for that day, as we shall see in the Second Part. Second Part
This conclusion is not mine, but that of Jesus Christ, as He tells us Himself plainly in the Gospel of St. Matthew. For after speaking of the uncertainty of the last day, and saying that no man nor angel knows anything about it. He adds: " Watch ye, therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come."(11) Be ready like to a householder who expects a thief to break in, and knows not when he will come. "Watch ye, therefore," He says, after having foretold the signs that are to precede, "for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning, lest coming on a sudden He find you sleeping."(12) And lest we should think this warning is intended only for the disciples, He adds the following words: "And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch;"(13) prepare yourselves for My coming; do penance for your sins; order your lives so now that when the Judge comes He may find you in the state of sanctifying grace; otherwise the fire that consumes your bodies shall be only a prelude to the eternal flames of hell. But, you think, how does this concern us? It is of interest only for those who shall be in the world after the signs shall have vanished; there is no fear of our living till the last day. But, my dear brethren, who has told us that? Can any one produce a document to certify it? Have not most of the portents that announce the end of the world been seen already? Are they not still to be seen? "Nation shall rise against nation," says Our Lord, speaking of the signs of the general judgment, "and kingdom against kingdom." Has not sad experience already shown us the truth of this prophecy, and do we not even yet see it actually verified? " And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences and famines, and terrors from heaven, and there shall be great signs."(14) Has not the world already beheld them? "And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold."(15) Alas! is not this only too true, in our days, of many Catholics amongst the chosen people of God? Where do we find any characteristics of the early Christians, who had but one heart and one soul? Their very name was sufficient amongst the heathens to absolve them from every suspicion of crime. Have not pride, vanity, avarice, treachery, injustice, intemperance, impurity, reached their highest degree? Has not a beginning already been made of the dismemberment of the Roman Empire, which is one of the proximate signs of the approach of the end of the world? What more do we wait for? The coming of Antichrist? But for all we know he may be already in the world. His reign and persecution of Christians will last for three years and a half; we know not how long the interval is to be between that and the last day; and therefore it is quite within the bounds of possibility that some of us shall see the end of the world. But, be that as it may, perhaps we shall not live till the last day. To keep one's self always prepared for that day means to profit by the warning signs, so as to be ready to withstand the temptations and persecutions with which Antichrist shall try to pervert mankind. But although we may be in no danger from him, and the world may last for another thousand years, yet it behooves each one of us to be always on guard, and to prepare most carefully so that all may go well with us in the general judgment. Hear what St. Augustine says: "In whatsoever state the end of life shall find each one, in that state too shall the last day of the world find him;"(16) for as a man dies, so shall he be judged on the last day. If I die in the state of grace, I need not fear judgment, but rather rejoice at it; the kingdom of heaven, the society of the elect is surely open to me. If I die in the state of sin, I have nothing good to hope for on the last day; the fire of hell amongst the reprobate is and will be my lot forever. Therefore the judgment that awaits me on the last day depends on my death and the last day of my life; hence, as I should always be prepared for that day, so, too, should I be always ready for the hour of death. Now, who can tell me when that hour shall come, or where it shall find me? God alone knows that; to no purpose should I expect a messenger to be sent to warn me. I know not whether it will be after ten or twenty years, today or tomorrow, or even in this very hour while I am preaching to you. One thing I know, and that is that the Lord has warned me and all men: "Wherefore be you also ready; because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come."(17) In the hour when you are not thinking of it, death will come and take you out of the world before the tribunal of God to the particular judgment, and whatever sentence you receive then and no other shall be the one you shall hear in the general judgment. Therefore, my dear brethren, the conclusion is evident; every one of us who values his soul and its salvation should and must now be ready for the coming of the Judge. And I say "be ready;" for it will be too late to begin to prepare when the Judge knocks at the door; and it will be forever too late. "Watch, therefore," I say, or rather Our Lord says, "because you know not what hour your Lord will come." And as you cannot know it, be on your guard at all times; keep in the friendship of God; let no one dare to remain even a quarter of an hour at enmity with Him in the state of mortal sin; for perhaps during that quarter of an hour death may come unexpectedly and hurry you off to the judgment-seat. "If the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open."(18) He would take measures to prevent his property from being stolen. And if we knew the hour of our death, would any one of us be so reckless as not to repent of his sins beforehand and be reconciled to God? But since we do not know that hour, and since any hour maybe our last, we must be at all times intent on this important business, and be ready for the long journey into eternity. Keep constantly before your minds the uncertainty of the hour of death, in which you shall have to appear before God to be strictly judged by Him. For the reckless lives that so many Christians lead can be traced to forgetfuluess of the last end, and we have the authority of the Holy Ghost for that: "Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin."(19) Hear the cunning yet holy strategem employed by a certain priest who was well skilled in the art of converting souls. A man old in years and wickedness came to him for confession, and told him a long story of iniquity; the priest, guessing that he had a hard case to deal with, imposed on him as a penance a fast of one or two days. "Oh," exclaimed the man, " I cannot fast; it makes me giddy!" "Then," said the priest, "put on a penitential girdle." "A penitential girdle?" replied the other; "what is that?" "It is a belt made of coarse horse-hair or iron, which is worn on the body next the skin," answered the priest. "O Father," said the man, " I am altogether too weak to wear a thing of that kind!" "Well, then, would you like to try a discipline, and flog yourself a few times a week?" "Oh, still worse for a poor old man like me! Please give me a lighter penance." "Then," continued the priest, "say the Rosary once a day on your knees." "But I cannot do that," was the man's reply, "because I am not accustomed to kneeling." "Well, then," said the confessor, "as none of these penances suit you, all I ask you to do is to stand before the looking-glass every morning when you get up, and every night before going to bed, and there stroke your long beard with your hand for a time." The old man laughed at the droll penance, but accepted it, as it seemed a light one. When he had contemplated his beard for a few days in the manner prescribed, he remarked how grey his hair was becoming, and that was precisely what the priest wanted. " Oh ho!" thought he, "it is winter time with me already; I am hastening to the grave and it will be soon time for me to go! And what is to become of me after the sinful life I have been leading? And I have done so little good!" This thought at first filled him with dismay, but the grace of God then touched him and he came back to the priest with tears of contrition in his eyes, repeated his confession with many sighs and groans, and said he: "O Father, I can kneel, and fast, and use a penitential girdle, and take the discipline, and I will do so very willingly; there is no penance too hard for my deserts; none that I am not ready to accept, that I may at least begin to prepare for the death which I now see is close at hand for me." And in future he led such a penitential life that his confessor had to restrain him, instead of urging him on, in the practice of mortification. My dear brethren, I cannot give the same advice to all here, for some of us have no grey hairs to contemplate in the looking-glass. And that is the very thing that serves many as an excuse. Oh, they say, I am not old yet; I am still young, strong, and healthy; I am not in danger of death; there is no hurry for me; I can begin later on to amend my life and prepare for death, etc. Alas! that wretched "later on!" I am not old! I am still young! How many thousand souls have been hurled into hell by those excuses! Do you mean, then, that young people cannot die? But very few attain old age; most people die in their best years; and no one knows the hour when the Lord will come for him; so that young as well as old should be prepared at all times. You will amend later on, you say. What! exclaims St. Augustine, later on? " He who thinks in that way deceives himself, and treats his death as a joke."(20) Consider the great risk of the last day, and what depends on it. Nothing less than eternal joys or eternal torments! It is no child's play! Is heaven such a trifle that it can be allowed to depend on an uncertain "later on"? Is hell a trifle, that the escaping it can be left to a "later on" that you know nothing about? Do you know what is said of that servant in the Gospel who puts off everything to a future time, thinking to himself: "My lord is long a-coming, mean meanwhile enjoy myself and make merry," etc.? But how shall he fare? "The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not, and shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."(21) Therefore let each one, whether young or old, make this short meditation daily, like that old man; it need not be made before the looking-glass (although that might be good for some who spend the beautiful morning hours curling their hair, or even having it curled by a person of the opposite sex-- a scandalous practice that it would be well for them to change for a short meditation); you might say to yourselves: how old am I now? Fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty or more years. Shall I live a year longer? I cannot tell; this very day or hour I may be summoned before the tribunal of the Almighty. If that happened to me this day or hour, should I be ready? Is there anything on my conscience that I should first repent of and confess? If such is the case, oh, go to confession at once! Perhaps in another day or hour it may be too late! A whole eternity depends on this, and I cannot and will not burn forever with the demons in hell. I am fully determined with God's help to go to heaven, and be happy there with God and His elect. Now, my eternity depends on my last hour, on the state in which it finds me. Therefore, I shall always be ready for it. But, you think, these are sad and melancholy meditations. Not by any means! They are full of consolation for the soul that is determined to work out its salvation; for it must be a great consolation for such a soul to find itself prepared at all times for death. These thoughts are indeed sad and melancholy for those who are not minded to amend; but they should think of the sad and melancholy meditations they will one day make in hell, when they think: I could have been eternally happy, but I did not wish to be so! O my good God! if I had during my past life made such a meditation seriously for the space of even one Miserere, would it have been possible for me to act so carelessly as I have hitherto done? Could I have spent so much precious time in idleness, vanity, and dangerous company, and so little in Thy service? Could I have committed this or that grievous sin so often, and have remained whole weeks, months, and years in the miserable state of mortal sin? I am terrified now when I think of my negligence, and of the constant danger of eternal damnation in which I was day and night. For I might have died at any hour, and been summoned before Thy strict tribunal. Infinite thanks to Thee, O God of mercy, for havingspared me! I now heartily condemn and detest all that I have done during my life to displease Thee. In future I shall always keep before my mind my death and the judgment that awaits me. This will be a check on my evil inclinations and desires; it will spur on my sluggish will to zeal in Thy service; it will detach my heart and affections from earthly goods and pleasures; it will sweeten the short-lived trials of this uncertain life, so that I shall bear them with patience and resignation for Thy sake and to gain heaven; for I shall say to myself: this cross may possibly last only for an hour, and then I shall go to my God and possess Him in eternal joys. Daily, as Thomas a Kempis exhorts me, I will live as if I had daily to die, to appear before Thy judgment-seat. In the morning when I awake I will make such a resolution as I should make if I knew that at evening my body was to be lying dead in the coffin; and at night before retiring to rest I will purify my conscience as if I expected to be found dead in my bed next morning. Thus I shall be ready any moment to meet Thee, my future Judge, whenever it may please Thee to call me from the world; and I shall meet Thee, not with fear or terror, but with joy and consolation, confident in Thy promise that at the general judgment I shall be among Thy elect on Thy right hand in the valley of Josaphat, and shall hear the joyful invitation: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."(22) Come, My children, enter with Me into eternal joys! Ah! grant me that great grace. My dear brethren, "make straight the way of the Lord," and it shall be done as you wish. Amen. Music is from the Dies Irae or Day of Wrath composed by Luigi Cherubini (The Sequence of the Mass for the Dead)
Like the " Stabat Mater," the " Dies Irae" was originally intended for private devotion,--a sort of pious meditation on the Last Judgment, whose appeal lay in the graphic portrayal of the emotions that fill the soul of man when, conscious of his guilt, he is reminded of the all-knowing and just Judge. Its excellence caused its adoption as a sequence in the Mass for the Dead (Requiem) as early as the second half of the fourteenth century, but it was not until the sixteenth century that its use became universal through a rubric of the Roman Missal as revised by Pius V. Hymn: Dies Irae, dies illa (by Thomas of Celano 13th Century)
Dies irae, dies illa: Solvet saeclum in favilla Teste David cum Sibylla
That day of wrath, that dreadful day, When heaven and earth shall pass away, Both David and the Sibyl say.
Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando judex est venturus, Cuncta stricte discussurus!
What terror then shall us befall, When lo, the Judge's steps appall, About to sift the deeds of all.
Tuba, mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum.
The mighty trumpet's marvellous tone Shall pierce through each sepulchral stone And summon all before the throne.
Mors stupebit, et natura, Cum resurget creatura, Judicanti responsura.
Now Death and Nature in amaze Behold the Lord His creatures raise, To meet the Judge's awful gaze.
Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus judicetur.
The books are opened, that the dead May have their doom from what is read, The record of our conscience dread.
Judex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet, apparebit: Nil inultum remanebit.
The Lord of Judgment sits Him down, And every secret thing makes known; No crime escapes His vengeful frown.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix justus sit securus?
Ah, how shall I that day endure? What patron's friendly voice secure, When scarce the just themselves are sure?
Rex tremendae majestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salva me, fons pietatis.
O King of dreadful majesty, Who grantest grace and mercy free, Grant mercy now and grace to me.
Recordare, Jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae: Ne me perdas illa die.
Good Lord, 'twas for my sinful sake, That Thou our suffering flesh didst take, Then do not now my soul forsake.
Quaerens me, sedisti lassus: Redemisti Crucem passus: Tantus labor non sit cassus.
In weariness Thy sheep was sought; Upon the Cross His life was bought; Alas, if all in vain were wrought.
Juste judex ultionis, Donum fac remissionis Ante diem rationis.
O just avenging Judge, I pray, For pity take my sins away, Before the great accounting-day.
Ingemisco, tamquam reus: Culpa rubet vultus meus: Supplicanti parce, Deus.
I groan beneath the guilt, which Thou Canst read upon my blushing brow; But spare, O God, Thy suppliant now.
Qui Mariam absolvisti, Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Thou who didst Mary's (Magdalene) sins unbind And mercy for the robber find, Dost fill with hope my anxious mind.
Preces meae non sunt dignae: Sed tu bonus fac benigne, Ne perenni cremer igne.
My feeble prayers can make no claim, Yet, gracious Lord, for Thy great Name, Redeem me from the quenchless flame.
Inter oves locum praesta, Et ab hoedis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra.
At Thy right hand, give me a place Among Thy sheep, a child of grace, Far from the goats' accursed race.
Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis: Voca me cum benedictis.
Yea, when Thy justly kindled ire Shall sinners hurl to endless fire, Oh, call me to Thy chosen choir.
Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis: Gere curam mei finis.
In suppliant prayer I prostrate bend, My contrite heart like ashes rend, Regard, O Lord. my latter end.
Lacrimosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus.
Oh, on that day, that tearful day, When man to judgment wakes from clay, Be thou the trembling sinner's stay,
Huic ergo parce Deus. Pie Jesu Dominie, Dona eis requiem. Amen
And spare him, God, we humbly pray. Yea, grant to all, O Saviour Blest, Who die in Thee, the Saints' sweet rest. Amen.
Footnotes:
1. Vos autem dixi amicos, quia omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis.--John xv. 15.
2. De die autem illo vel hora nemo scit, neque angeli in caelo, neque Filius, nisi Pater.--Mark xiii.32.
3. Sicut enim fulgur exit ab Oriente, et Paret usque in Occidentem, ita erit et adventus Filii hominis.--Matt. xxiv.27.
4. De temporibus autem, et momentis, fratres, non indigetis ut scribamus vobis. Ipsi enim diligenter scitis, quia dies Domini, sicut fur in nocte, ita veniet.-I. Thess. v. 1,2.
5. Adveniet autem dies Domini ut fur.--II. Pet. ii.10.
6. Sicut factum est in diebus Noe, ita erit et in diebus Filii hominis. Edebant, et bibebant; uxores ducebant et dabantur ad nuptias, usque in diem, qua intravit Noe in arcam; et venit diluvium, et perdidit omnes.--Luke xvii. 26, 27.
7.Similiter sicut factum est in diebus Lot: edebant, et bibebant; emebant, et vendebant; plantabant, et aedificabant; Qua die autem exiit Lot a Sodomis, pluit ignem et sulphur de caelo, et omnes perdidit.--Luke xvii. 28, 29.
8. Secundum haec erit qua die Filius hominis revelabitur.--Ibid. 30.
9. Cum enim dixerint: Pax et securitas, tunc repentinus eis superveniet interitus.--I. Thess.v.3.
10. In ictu oculi.--I. Cor. xv.52.
11. Vigilate ergo, quia nescitis qua hora Dominius vester venturus sit.--Matt. xxiv.42.
12. Vigilate ergo (nescitis enim quando dominus domus veniat: sero, an media nocte, an galli cantu, an mane), ne cum venerit repente, inveniat vos dormientes.--Mark xiii. 35, 36.
13. Quod autem vobis dico, omnibus dico: Vigilate.--Ibid. 37.
14. Surget gens contra gentem, et regnum adversus regnum. Et terrae motus magni erunt per loca, et pestilentiae, et fames, teroresque de caelo, et signa magna erunt.--Luke xxi. 10, 11.
15. Et quoniam abundavit iniquitas, refrigescet caritas multorum.--Matt. xxiv. 12.
16. In quo quemque invenerit suus novissimus dies, in hoc eum comprehendetmundi novissimus dies.--S. Aug. Ep. 80. ad Hesich.
17. Ideo et vos estote parati, quia qua nescities hora Filius hominis venturus est.--Matt. xxiv. 44.
18. Vigilate ergo, quia nescitis qua hora Dominius vester venturus sit. Si sciret paterfamilias qua hora fur venturus esset, vigilaret utique et non sineret perfodi domum suam.--Ibid. 42, 43.
19. Memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis.--Ecclus. vii. 40.
20. Ipse se seducit, et de morte sua ludit, qui hoc cogitat.
21. Moram facit dominus meus venire. Veniet dominius servi illius, in die qua non sperat, et hora qua ignorat, et dividet eum, partemque ejus ponet cum hypocritis; illic erit fletus, et stridor dentium.--Matt. xxiv. 48, 50, 51.
22. Venite benedicti Patris mei, possidete paratum vobie regnum a constitutione mundi.--Matt. xxv. 34.
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