From Archbishop Donoghue
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Mass at Pinecrest Academy |
Dear Friends in Christ, and especially, dear students here at Pinecrest Academy, You may well wonder, after hearing this morning's first reading, if Dungeons and Dragons, or many other fantasy games and movies, weren’t thought up by someone who had just been reading the Book of Revelation. What with its stories about dragons and pools of fire and the book of the living and the dead, and the earth and the sky disappearing before the white throne and the One who sat on it, it sounds to me like many of the science fiction and fantasy ideas that we think are so new, are in fact very old, and can be found, simply by opening the Bible to its final pages, and reading what St. John wrote there. And truly, the Book of Revelation is a very deep and mysterious book - our tradition tells us that St. John wrote it when he was an old man, and was living on the tiny island of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea. I've been to Patmos, and it is a very interesting place - just a small volcanic island, with one small village at the shore, and a long road that goes up into the hills – and if you walk up that road, eventually you come to the monastery where St. John lived out his final days, and where he had the visions that we read about in the Book of Revelation. We call it that, because the Church believes that what happened is that St. John was given a vision of the last times – all the events and characters that will be here, and that we will see, when the last day of time, when the last day of the earth's existence will finally come, and Christ will come back from heaven, to judge for one final time, the living and the dead, the good and the bad - and after that day, time and the world as we have known them, will cease to be, and reality will become something entirely different. St. John describes it by saying that he saw a new heaven and a new earth - and here is the key to the whole thing - a new city, the new Jerusalem, as beautiful as a new bride prepared to meet her husband. You all know that when the time came for our Lord to finish what He came on earth to do, to die for our sins, He went with His disciples to Jerusalem, which had been the holy city of the Jews for hundreds and hundreds of years. And although we know that terrible things happened to our Lord, His sufferings and His death, we also know that it was from the tomb in Jerusalem that He rose from the dead, and put a final ending to the work He had come to do - to die for our sins, and to make it possible for us to look forward to everlasting life in heaven. And so, even though many sad things happened, it was ultimately a joyful event that was to take place when our Lord went into Jerusalem - in fact, He was like a bridegroom going to meet His bride, going to meet the one thing that could make His life complete, that could finish His work, and that would give birth to the great gift He had in mind for us - our salvation. And so, when His death and His rising came together during the few days in Jerusalem, it was really like a marriage – a marriage between Jesus, who was life, and the sacrifice He had to make, which was death, and from that marriage a great thing was born – our salvation. And since that time, whenever the Church talks about "a new Jerusalem", then she is talking about herself - for the Church, the Catholic Church especially, the Church to which we belong, will really be at the end of time, the bride of Christ – and He will come, and take us, when that time comes, back to the house of His father in heaven, where we will live as one family, for ever. That is what all this story about the end of time means - St. John wanted to paint a picture of the great things that will happen on that day, and he used every image and every device he could think of to make it seem dramatic and awesome - that is why he uses the images of dragons, and spirits, and all the rest of it - to make an impact on our minds and our hearts. And why does he do this - because he wants us to be ready. It is true that we have no idea when the end of time will come - but it will come. We all hope to live long and good lives, but sometimes, as you all know, that doesn't happen. And that is why it is important, to always be in good grace, to always be maintaining and keeping safe, our friendship with God, and with His Son Jesus Christ Jesus talks about this Himself in the Gospel we have heard, when He says that the reign of God is near. Maybe it won't happen for another thousand years or even more - but maybe it will happen tomorrow - who knows? But the important thing is to remain close to Jesus. What does He say? The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass. And so dear friends, and dear boys and girls, to keep the words of Jesus close to us, we need to stay near them - by keeping close to His Church - by listening at Mass, and during our Catechism lessons to what we are taught from the Holy Scriptures - and by receiving grace, the powerful love of God, by going to Confession and Communion. If we do these things, then the Lord makes His words stay in us – and He stays in us too. And that is the important thing - because no matter what comes against us - dragons breathing fire, evil spirits or the Devil - or just the simple but very big challenges of life - growing up, going to work, raising a family, and taking care of other people who need our help - no matter what comes against us, big or small, if we wear the words of Christ like shining armor on our bodies and souls, and if we keep Him inside us, in our souls, then we will remain safe, and we will come through all the fire, all the tests, and be stronger when it is all over. It is like the Psalm says: Happy the people whose strength you are! They go from strength to strength, and dwell in your house forever! + |