ENTERING THE ETERNAL LIFE OF GOD

 

FRIDAY, THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Apoc 20:1-4,11-21:2; Ps 84:3-6,8; Lk 21:29-33

My Word shall not Pass Away

Our Lord ended his prophetic instructions to his disciples with a statement about his words that points to his divinity and immutability. “I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” The statement is the foundation on which every other thing rests; it demonstrates that the words he has spoken carry the immutable will of the Father. Whatever his words have pronounced is already in being by that fact, for the word of God is creative. But everything will manifest to the world in its own time and as planned by the Father. Hence, he bid us to pay attention to the gradual evolution of God’s plan for the world. By paying attention to the words spoken by Jesus Christ, we enter into the plan of God and live in communion with him. The presence of God remains with us always, but the doorway into his communion or the kingdom of God is by close attention to the word of God. Nature follows the will of God without fail, thereby helping us to predict the seasons; “So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near.”

Our vocation to pay attention to the words spoken by the Lord is also a duty, for it is by understanding the will of the Father and doing it that we remain in his favour or communion. Thus, John sees in his vision the setting of the general judgment. But before the general judgment, the Lord showed him the banishment of the ancient dragon who deceived the world and caused many to neglect the word of God. The angel from heaven with the key to the Abyss received the power to overcome, chain, and throw the dragon into the Abyss for a given period. The angel did this because the time given to the dragon to deceive the world and overcome the saints had elapsed. The time following the banishment of the dragon into the Abyss is for the manifestation of the saints who have lived with close attention to the word of God. They are to reign with the Lord for the given symbolic time of a thousand years. The symbolic period marked by the resurrection of the saints who bore witness for Jesus Christ by shedding their blood is the first fulfilment of the Lord's promise of resurrection and life. Those who staked their lives believing the words spoken by the Lord receive life from him and reign with him in a peaceful kingdom, where their bodies and elements will be subject to them. “Then I saw some thrones, and I saw those who are given the power to be judges take their seats on them. I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for having witnessed for Jesus and for having preached God’s word, and those who refused to worship the beast or his statue and would not have the brand mark on their foreheads or hands; they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

The period of Christ's peaceful reign with his saints who received consolation from the Lord for all they suffered is in preparation for the final and general judgment. In their resurrection, the Lord fulfils his statement in the Gospel that heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away. Because these saints lived faithful to the words of Jesus Christ, they entered the immutable life of God through the Eternal Word. In the subsequent vision, John saw the passing away of earth and sky; that is, the destruction and replacement of all the elements. The general judgment follows in which the just would be separated from sinners. The sinners would suffer a passing because they failed to build their lives on the words of Jesus Christ. “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of his throne, while the book of life was opened, and other books opened which were the record of what they had done in their lives, by which the dead were judged.” Everything not founded on the word of God goes into the burning lake described as the second death. A new heaven and earth constructed by God from heaven for the saints were seen. These events are already ongoing spiritually, for those not paying attention to the word of God are already disintegrating. Those living the will of God experience divine life deep within their being, which may not be visible in their bodies. “I saw the holy city, and the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband.” The only indication that we constitute the bride is a deep yearning for the courts of the Lord.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace that will stir up our will to strive more eagerly to live and do your will in order to bring your divine work in us to fruitful completion and be made worthy of the dwelling in your new heaven and earth which is only spiritually visible to the elect. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.