Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
/Dominica XXXII per Annum A
12 November 2023
The selection of St. Matthew’s Gospel comes from the section offering parables about watchfulness and preparedness for the coming judgment. In this parable, Christ is the Bridegroom, the virgins are an image for the community of believers, an image for disciples, and the oil for lamps is an image of goodness or the performance of good works that should mark the disciple’s life. After all, elsewhere in St. Matthew, at the Sermon on the Mount, we hear that good deeds are like the light of a lamp that must shine before others (cf. Mt. 5:16). By showcasing in this passage the foolishness of going out to meet the bridegroom without preparing, the gospel calls us to be prepared and to consider whether our actions match up with our stated intentions to be disciples. Are we ready to meet Christ the Bridegroom and to enter Heaven, imaged as a wedding feast? Only those who are ready will enter. As the gospel describes, “those who were ready went into the wedding feast…. Then the door was locked.” Are we foolish and unprepared? Are we carrying enough oil (good works)?
Our Catholic faith teaches us about the origin and the meaning of things in our world, and how to live well in this world. Our faith also tells us about our end in this world and our destination beyond this life. Thus, our Catholic faith highlights what are called the Four Last Things. These four last things are death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Let’s examine them briefly. Being aware of our ultimate end goal can help us take the next step to be focused on the steps to get there. I’m going to reorder the typical listing so that we end on a more hopeful note with Heaven.
Death
Death is a consequence of Original Sin. Death is the event whereby the soul separates from the body; the soul lives on because it is immortal, while the body decomposes. The soul is immediately judged and is rewarded with Heaven, punished with Hell, or sent for a time of cleansing to Purgatory prior to final arrival in Heaven. We should always live as ready for death since, for the most part, none of us knows when, where, or how we will die. Being aware of death and reflecting frequently upon it can give us impulse to avoid sin. How foolish if we prepare our temporal, worldly affairs, by means of a last will and testament, but we leave our soul unprepared and open to being picked over and looted by agents of the kingdom of darkness and eternal death. For people of Christian faith bodily death is not the end. And death is not the greatest enemy. Let me say that again: for people of Christian faith, death is not the greatest enemy. Rather, the greatest enemy is a death for which we are unprepared since it may carry the consequence of an eternal death of the soul. For this reason, a wise devotion in our Catholic practice encourages us to pray that the Lord spare us from what is called an “unprovided death”. An “unprovided death” means a death that comes upon us suddenly and for which we are unprepared and found lacking because we have neglected our soul, we are not in a state of grace due to not having confessed our sins, and we have no recourse to the Sacraments at the time our end comes.
Judgment
Immediately after our death we believe we experience a judgment before Christ that is called the Particular Judgment. It is called ‘particular’ because it is individual and comes to each of us at the particular moment when our death arrives. The soul’s eternal destiny is decided and established at the Particular Judgment. The soul that dies in baptismal innocence, that is, in a perfect state of grace, and having satisfied and repaired for the sins he has committed, experiences the eternity of Heaven directly. The soul that dies in mortal sin experiences the eternity of Hell directly. The soul that dies in the general state of grace but imperfectly so, that is, being guilty only of lesser sins, or needing to atone for the temporal punishment due to sins already confessed and forgiven, such a soul experiences the final purification of mercy in the temporary “place” we call Purgatory. We should note that Purgatory is a temporary “place” leading eventually to entrance into Heaven. Wisdom calls us to live each day in preparation for the judgment that will come after death. Our prayer life, our service to others, our voluntary penances, our frequent confessions and worthy Holy Communions are all ways we seek to have enough oil for our lamps as we go to meet the Lord. We also express belief in a judgment that is called the General, or the Universal, Judgment. Unlike the Particular Judgment that comes to each soul individually, the General Judgment will be that day when the Lord returns at the end of the world. At that time, he will call all the dead to rise, bringing new life to our separated bodies. At the General Judgment we will experience the judgment we received at our death, only now as souls united to a resurrected body, experiencing bodily the glory and joys of Heaven or the pains of Hell.
Hell
The Book of Revelation teaches us that nothing unclean, nothing with the stain of sin, and no one who practices abomination and falsehood can enter God’s presence (Rev. 21:27). Sin and God cannot coexist. For this reason, our faith teaches us that the serious sin we call “mortal” separates us from God. And, if we die with unrepented mortal sin, even just one, we are destined for Hell. Hell is an eternal existence of separation from God, awareness of our foolishness in squandering God’s blessings, and an existence of torment and punishment. The words of Scripture and of Christ himself describe Hell as a ‘place’ of unquenchable and everlasting fire, a bottomless pit, everlasting punishment, a lake of fire, and the outer darkness. This truth of faith that sin offends God and deserves punishment is not unfair; rather, it is an expression of truth and justice. There is no true justice if wrongdoing is not punished. Likewise, on the flip side, there is no true justice if good doing is not rewarded. Both are needed as expressions of authentic justice. We should remember after all that, in God’s goodness, we are not required to remain in sin. He has died to save us and He gives us every good thing so that we can be fully alive in Him. God does not desire to send us to Hell. That should give us confidence and hope. Going to Hell would be our fault, not God’s.
Heaven
The eternal life of blessing and communion with God, described as a great wedding feast, is heaven. Heaven is God’s full desire for us and it is the fulfillment of our desire too, because we have been made for God. Those who die in the perfect state of grace or who, being in an imperfect state of grace have been purified in Purgatory, will enjoy perfect and everlasting happiness with God and all the angels and saints who worship around Him. In Heaven the blessed enjoy the greatest gift and fulfillment of seeing God as He is. This Beatific Vision of God refers to an active knowing and loving of God to our fullest capacity. And it refers to being known and loved by God in return. This is the destiny God desires for us and He has left nothing undone to provide this for those who are wise in being prepared.
The Collect of this Holy Mass states that we may be “unhindered” to pursue the things of God. Are we truly unhindered if we aren’t prepared, if our souls aren’t ready to have the obstacle of sin removed from us? In the psalm we prayed, “My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.” Does our preparedness reveal a real thirst for God, a real longing? We are called to be prepared as people who have hope. We are not called to an anxiety-filled preparation. We have hope because of the Lord’s goodness. He has told us in advance to stay awake and to prepare. He has given us time to do so. Furthermore, by his passion and resurrection, and the outpouring of his grace that comes to us in prayer and the Sacraments, he has given us all the gifts and tools necessary to be prepared. If we say we are going to Heaven and if we say we desire Jesus, then let’s be wise about it before the door is locked. For at a day and an hour we cannot know the cry will go out: “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”