On the General Judgment

March 18, 2015 by Dan Burke

ON THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

“The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgment.”
cf Psalm 9:17

At present, there is no one in this world more despised than Jesus Christ. There is more respect shown to a peasant than to the Lord; for we are afraid to insult a peasant, or provoke him to anger, lest he should seek revenge. But insults are offered to God, and are repeated as wantonly as if he could not avenge them whenever he pleases. “The wicked,” says Job, “looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing” (cf Job 22:17). Therefore the Redeemer has appointed a day of general judgment, and which is called, in the Scripture, the day of the Lord, on which Jesus Christ will make known the greatness of his majesty. “The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgment (cf Psalm 9:17). Hence that day is called, not a day of mercy and pardon, but “a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery” (Zephaniah 1:15). Yes; for then the Lord shall come to repair the honor which sinners have sought to take from him on this earth. Le us examine the circumstances of the judgment of this great day.

The coming of the Judge shall be preceded by fire. “A fire shall go before him” (Psalm 97:3). Fire shall descend from heaven, and shall burn the earth and all things upon the earth. “The earth, and the works that are in it, shall be burnt up” (2 Peter 3:10). Thus palaces, churches, villas, cities, kingdoms, all must be reduced to one heap of ashes. This house, defiled by sins, must be purified by fire. Behold the end of all the riches, pomps, and pleasures of this earth! After the death of all men, “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again” (1 Corinthians 15:52). “As often,” says Jerome, “as I consider the day of judgment, I tremble; that trumpet appears always to sound in my ears, ‘Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment'” [widely attributed to St. Jerome]. At the sound of this trumpet, the souls of the just shall descend to be united to the bodies with which they served God in this life; and the unhappy souls of the damned shall come up from hell to take possession of the accursed bodies with which they offended God.

O, how great shall be the difference between the bodies of the just and the bodies of the damned! The just shall appear whiter, more beautiful, and more resplendent than the sun. “Then the just shall shine as the sun” (Matthew 13:43). Happy he who knows how to mortify his flesh in this life by refusing it forbidden pleasures; and who, to keep it under greater check, imitates the saints, by denying it even lawful gratifications, and by treating it with severity and contempt. O, how great shall then be the happiness of those who shall have practiced mortification of the flesh! We may estimate it from the words which St. Peter of Alcántara addressed after death to St. Teresa, “O happy penance, which merited for such great glory!” But, on the other hand, the bodies of the reprobate shall appear black and hideous, and shall send forth an intolerable stench. O how great the pain of the damned in taking possession of their bodies! “Accursed body!” the soul shall say, “to indulge you, I have brought myself to perdition.” And, the body shall say, “Accursed soul! Why have you, who had the use of reason, allowed me the pleasures which have merited for you and me the eternal torments of hell?”

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my Jesus and my Redeemer, who shall be one day my Judge, pardon me before that day arrives. “Turn not away thy face from me” (Psalm 27:9). Thou art now a Father to me; and, like a father, receive into thy friendship a son who casts himself with sorrow at thy feet. My Father, I ask pardon. I have offended thee: I have unjustly forsaken thee. Thou didst not deserve such treatment from me. I repent of it; I am sorry for it with my whole heart. “Turn not away thy face from me.” Do not cast me off, as I deserved. Remember the blood which thou hast shed for me, and have pity on me. My Jesus, I wish for no other judge than thee. “I willingly,” said St. Thomas of Villanova, “submit to the judgment of him who died for me, and who, that he might not condemn me, has condemned himself to the cross.” St. Paul has said the same. “Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus, that died” (Romans 8:34). My Father, I love thee, and, for the future, I will never more depart from thy feet. Forget the injuries I have done thee, and give me a great love for thy goodness. I desire to love thee more than I have offended thee; but, if thou dost not assist me, I shall not be able to love thee. Assist me, O my Jesus; make me always grateful to thy love, that, on the day of judgment, I may be found in the valley of Josaphat, among the number of thy lovers. O Mary, my queen and my advocate, assist me now; for if I am lost, thou shalt not be able to help me on that day. Thou prayest for all; pray also for one who glories in being thy devoted servant, and who places so much confidence in thee.

Editor’s Note: This meditation is from St. Alphonsus Liguori’s “Preparation for Death” (1758).

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:March 18, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who through the Bishop Saint Cyril of Jerusalem led your Church in a wonderful way to a deeper sense of the mysteries of salvation, grant us, through his intercession, that we may so acknowledge your Son as to have life ever more abundantly. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Chicken Noodle Soup

ACTIVITIES

o Namedays

o What is a Nameday?

PRAYERS

o Prayer for the Fourth Week of Lent

o Novena to St. Joseph

o Lent Table Blessing 4

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Lent (2nd Plan)

o Novena to St. Joseph II

o Traditional Novena Prayer to St. Joseph

LIBRARY

o Saint Cyril of Jerusalem | Pope Benedict XVI

· Lent: March 18th

· Optional Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop, confessor and doctor

Old Calendar: St. Cyril of Jerusalem; Our Lady of Mercy (Hist)

Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, was banished from his see on three occasions. With St. Athanasius and others, he belongs to the great champions of faith in the fight against Arianism. Famous as a teacher and preacher, he has left a series of catechetical instructions that constitute a priceless heirloom from Christian antiquity. Of the twenty-four extant discourses, nineteen were directed to catechumens during Lent as a preparation for baptism, while five so-called mystagogical instructions were given during Easter time to make the mysteries of Christianity better known to those already baptized.

Historically today is the feast of Our Lady of Mercy.

Stational Church

St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Cyril of Jerusalem was given to the study of the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and made such progress that he became an eminent champion of the orthodox faith. He embraced the monastic institute and bound himself to perpetual chastity and austerity of life. He was ordained priest by St. Maximus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and undertook the work of preaching to the faithful and instructing the catechumens, in which he won the praise of all. He was the author of those truly wonderful Catechetical Instructions, which embrace clearly and fully all the teaching of the Church, and contain an excellent defense of each of the dogmas of religion against the enemies of the faith. His treatment of these subjects is so distinct and clear that he refuted not only the heresies of his own time, but also, by a kind of foreknowledge, as it were, those which were to arise later. Thus he maintains the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the adorable sacrament of the Altar. On the death of Patriarch St. Maximus, the bishops of the province chose Cyril in his place.

As Bishop he endured, like blessed Athanasius, his contemporary, many wrongs and sufferings for the sake of the faith at the hands of the Arians. They could not bear his strenuous opposition to their heresy, and thus assailed him with calumnies, deposed him in a pseudo-council and drove him from his see. To escape their rage, he fled to Tarsus in Cilicia and, as long as Constantius lived, he bore the hardships of exile. On the death of Constantius and the accession of Julian the Apostate, Cyril was able to return to Jerusalem, where he set himself with burning zeal to deliver his flock from false doctrine and from sin. He was driven into exile a second time, under the Emperor Valens, but when peace was restored to the Church by Theodosius the Great, and the cruelty and insolence of the Arians were restrained, he was received with honor by the Emperor as a valiant soldier of Christ and restored to his see. With what earnestness and holiness he fulfilled the duties of his exalted office was proved by the flourishing state of the Church at Jerusalem, as described by St. Basil, who spent some time there on a pilgrimage to the holy places.

Tradition states that God rendered the holiness of this venerable Patriarch illustrious by signs from heaven, among which is numbered the apparition of a cross, brighter than the sun, which was seen at the beginning of his Patriarchate. Not only Cyril himself, but pagans and Christians alike were witnesses of this marvel, which Cyril, after having given thanks to God in church, announced by letter to Constantius. A thing no less wonderful came to pass when the Jews were commanded by the impious Emperor Julian to restore the Temple which had been destroyed by Titus. An earthquake arose and great balls of fire broke out of the earth and consumed the work, so that Julian and the Jews were struck with terror and gave up their plan. This had been clearly foretold by Cyril. A little while before his death, he was present at the Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, where the heresies of Macedonius and Arius were condemned. After his return to Jerusalem, he died a holy death at sixty-nine years of age in the thirty-fifth year of his bishopric. Pope Leo XIII ordered that his office and mass should be said throughout the Universal Church.

Things to Do:

Read part of St. Cyril's Catechetical Lectures On the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is very fitting meditation material for Lent.

Our Lady of Mercy
Devotion to the Virgin of Mercy dates back to the time of the founding of Lima. It is known that the Mercederian friars, who came to Peru with the conquerors, had already built their primitive convent chapel around 1535. This chapel served as Lima's first parish until the construction of the Main Church in 1540. The Mercederians not only evangelized the region, but they also participated in the city's development, building beautiful churches that have been preserved as a valuable cultural and religious patrimony.

With these friars came their celestial patroness, the Virgin of Mercy, a Marian title of the thirteenth century. Tradition has it that around 1218, St. Peter Nolasco and James I, King of Aragon and Catalonia, experienced separately a vision of the Most Holy Virgin who asked them to found a religious order dedicated to rescuing the many Christian captives held by the Moslems. This Order of Our Lady of Mercy, approved as a military order in 1235 by Pope Gregory IX, was able to liberate thousands of Christian prisoners, and later became dedicated to teaching and social work. The Mercederian friars' habit imitates the garments worn by the Virgin when she appeared to the founder of the order. [Our Lady of Our Lady of Mercy] The image of the Virgin of Mercy is dressed all in white: over her long tunic she wears a scapular with the shield of the order imprinted breast high. A cloak covers her shoulders and her long hair is veiled by a fine lace mantilla. Some images have her standing, with the child in her arms, and others with her arms extended showing a royal scepter in her right hand and in the left some open chains, a symbol of liberation. Such is the appearance of the beautiful image venerated in the Basilica of Mercy in the capital of Peru. It was enthroned at the beginning of the XVII century and has been considered the patroness of the capital. In 1730 she was proclaimed "Patroness of the Peruvian Lands" and in 1823 "Patroness of the Armies of the Republic." On the first centennial of the nation's independence, the image was solemnly crowned and received the title of "Grand Marshall of Peru," on September 24, 1921, Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, since then declared a national holiday, when every year the army renders homage to her high military rank.

The image carries numerous decorations granted by the Republic of Peru, its governors and national institutions. In 1970 the town council of Lima gave her the "Keys of the City," and in 1971 the president of the Republic conferred on her the Great Peruvian Cross of Naval Merit, gestures which evidence the affection and devotion of Peru to Our Lady of Mercy, that many consider their national patroness.

Excerpted from The Mary Page

The Station today is at St. Paul without-the-walls. On this day the catechumens were subjected to a new examination and, if approved, were registered for Baptism. The beginning of the four Gospels was read to them, and the Creed and the Our Father was "given," or explained to them. Today's Mass has a decided Baptismal character. The joys of this day were anticipated on Laetare Sunday.