Ortus Christi Part 3

"Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of Him" (Apoc. I.

7).

"We shall all rise again." (1 Cor. XV. 51).

"The sea will give up the dead that are in it, and death and h.e.l.l ...

their dead that are in them." (Apoc. XX. 13).

"The dead who are in Christ shall rise first." (1 Thess. IV. 15).

"We shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. XV. 52).

"He shall send His Angels with a trumpet, and a great voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds." (St. Matt. XXIV.

31).

"Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them (those who died in Christ) in the clouds to meet Christ." (1 Thess.

IV. 16).

"Then shall He sit upon the seat of His Majesty," (St. Matt. XXV. 31) and "render to every man according to his works." (chap. XVI. 27).

Then "the heavens shall pa.s.s away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it shall be burnt up." (2 Pet. III. 10). And all these events are to take place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye!" (1 Cor. XV. 52).

With the vivid words of Scripture before us, it is not difficult to make a picture of the scene--the sign of the Cross where all can see it; the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of G.o.d heralding the approach of the Judge; the Son of Man, coming in the clouds with all His Angels and thousands of His Saints (all those from Heaven and Purgatory); the cries of those to whom His coming is as that of "a thief in the night" (1 Thess. V. 2); the shouts of joy of "the children of light" (verse 5); the opening of the graves, the sea giving up its dead and the reunion of each soul, whether from Heaven, Purgatory or h.e.l.l, with its body; the changing of the bodies of those who are living on the earth into Resurrection bodies; then the great mult.i.tude of the elect clothed in their bodies of immortality rising to meet their Lord in the air; then "the great white throne" set up and He who is "appointed by G.o.d to be Judge" (Acts X. 42) taking His seat upon it, "His garment ... white as snow ... His throne like flames of fire ... thousands of thousands"

ministering to Him (Dan. VII. 9, 10); the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne (Apoc. XX. 12), "ten thousand times a hundred thousand" standing before Him. (Dan. VII. 10).

POINT III. THE JUDGMENT.

(1) _The Separation._ Quickly the Angels separate that vast mult.i.tude into two companies--those on His right Hand and those on His left, the sheep and the goats, those who are to enter into life everlasting and those who are to enter into everlasting punishment (St. Matt. XXV. 46); those who have been faithful over the few things entrusted to them and those who have hidden their Lord's talent; those whose lamps are burning and those whose lamps are going out. There is fixed a great chaos between the two companies, so that they who would pa.s.s from one side to the other _cannot_, it is too late. (St. Luke XVI. 26).

(2) _The books._ "And the books were opened ... and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works." "And another book was opened, which is the book of life," and only "they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb" shall enter Heaven. (Apoc. XX. 12, XXI. 27). "Every man's work shall be manifest" (1 Cor. III. 13); "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of Judgment" (St. Matt. XII. 36). Then will be seen, and _all_ will acknowledge it, the triumph of right over wrong, the triumph of the Kingdom, the triumph of Christ; then will be adjusted all that we have so often longed to adjust but could not, for "let both grow together till the harvest" was the King's order. Then will seeming injustices be explained and crimes that have called to Heaven for vengeance receive their just reward. Then will the unanimous cry be: "The Lord He is G.o.d," and all will be forced to add: "He doeth all things well."

(3) _The Sentences._ There are only two: (1) "Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right Hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." He tells them why they are to have such a blessed reward--they have been faithful subjects of their King during their lives on earth, they have ministered to His needs, lived for Him and not for self. They seem surprised, they cannot remember doing acts of charity to their King and He explains: "As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me." (St. Matt. XXV. 40). The sentence "Come" is p.r.o.nounced on those who lived their lives for their King, who did all they had to do, no matter what it was, for Him, thus uniting themselves with Him, and now He will unite Himself with them for all eternity--"_Come_!"

(2) "Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left Hand: Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." And again He gives His reasons for this terrible punishment--they would not acknowledge Him as their King, would not serve Him, lived for self instead of for Him and His brethren: "As long as you did it _not_ to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me" (verse 45). During their lives they separated themselves from the King and His interests: "We will not have this Man to reign over us;" now He will separate Himself from them for all eternity.--"_Depart from Me!_"

Then He "will say to the reapers: Gather up first the c.o.c.kle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into My barn." (St.

Matt. XIII. 30). "The Angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire"

(verses 49, 50). "Then shall the just s.h.i.+ne as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear let him hear" (verse 43).

_Colloquy._

Inter oves loc.u.m praesta, Et ab hoedis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra.

(Among the sheep grant me a place, separate me from the goats, placing me on Thy right Hand).

_Resolution._ To remember "the doctrine ... of eternal judgment" (Heb.

VI. 2) to-day.

_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He shall come again to judge the living and the dead."

TRADERS AND TALENTS.

"A man going into a far country called his servants and delivered to them his goods; and to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability; and immediately he took his journey."

(St. Matt. XXV. 14).

_1st. Prelude._ JESUS telling this parable to His disciples.

_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to learn the lessons from it which He intended.

POINT I. THE TALENTS.

It is Christ Himself Who is the Author of this parable and He told it to show us how we are to prepare for His Coming. Every word of it is of importance and bears some instruction or warning for Advent.

The "_man going into a far country_" is the Man-G.o.d, He Who came from Heaven to take our human nature and to redeem us to G.o.d by His Blood.

His work of Redemption is finished and He is going back to His own country--"_A far country_"--implying that He will be gone a long time.

(He) "_called His servants_." They are His own servants, He has created them, He has bought them with His Blood, they belong to Him--their service, their time, their very lives are His, and this not because they are _slaves_ forced to labour, but because of their own free will and out of love and grat.i.tude to Him who has bought them from the cruel slavery of sin, they have said: "I love my Master ... I will not go out free" (Ex. XXI. 5).

"_And (He) delivered to them His goods._" They are _His_ goods not the servants', they all belong to Him and He entrusts them to His servants to take care of them and to do the best they can with them while He is gone. What are these "goods?" All the good things which G.o.d has given to man--his life, his preservation, his Baptism, his christian education, intellect, faith, health, rank, wealth, talents, conscience, opportunities of doing good, position,--and all have to be traded with, for the Master to Whom they belong. His "goods" include too what the world would label "evils"--ill-health, difficulty, failure, poverty, incapability; these have to be traded with too, and there is often a higher profit to be made out of these than out of the others. They are all the Master's goods and He delivers them to His servants.

"_To one He gave five talents and to another two and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability._" He knows His servants, and He knows exactly the strength and capability of each. He measures each burden before imposing it and calculates each sum before giving it. This servant can manage five, this one two, this can only manage one. It is no disgrace to have only one talent, the ability of the servants is the Master's affair, not the servants'. They cannot turn to Him and say: "Why hast Thou made me thus?" (Rom. IX. 20). He makes each one according to His own Will and endows him according to His Will too. What the servant has to remember is that he is responsible for all that is entrusted to him, that he _can_ trade with it and that it is not too much for him, it is "according to his proper ability," and that though his Master will never try to reap where He has not sown, He _will_ expect to reap where He _has_ sown, He will expect a harvest from each talent.

POINT II. THE TRADERS.

"_He that had received the five talents went his way and traded with the same and gained other five._" He lost no time, he loved his Master and he loved the "goods" because they belonged to his Master and because they had been lent by Him. The whole of their value lay in the fact that they were the Master's; he felt responsible, he must not only take care of them but put them to the best account, and so he set to work at once to trade with them, and he did well, for he gained _cent per cent_!

"_And in like manner he that had received the two gained other two._"

There was no jealousy, no thinking the Master partial or that He had underrated his powers in only giving him _two_ talents. He loved and trusted his Master; the two talents were very precious because they were His and because He had chosen them out with such love and care, giving the servant just what he could manage, no more and no less. He went and traded and did as well as the first, _cent per cent_.

Thus the good servants, that is those who love, who have said, I _will_ not go out free, are always trading for their Master. They say to themselves: This talent, this time, this opportunity, this health, this strength belongs to my Master not to me, I must use it for Him. They forget sometimes; the Master is so long away and they act as if the goods were their own, and even trade with them for their own profit, using their talents to attract people to themselves rather than to their Master! But as they really love Him and want to "trade" for Him only, they see the dishonesty of their trading and they do their best by acts of reparation to restore to Him His own. When He comes back, He will not expect perfection but _effort_. Some, He says, will gain "a hundred fold" but for our consolation and encouragement He adds: "some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold" (St. Matt. XIII. 8).

"_But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord's money._" He lost no time either, his mind was made up at once, he would take no trouble, make no effort, would hide his Master's talent and forget all about it; he wanted no responsibility, he could not be troubled with "trading." His Master could not expect much from him, he argued, because he had entrusted so little to him, he knew he was not capable of doing _much_, but he would do nothing at all. He did not waste or spoil his Master's goods, his sin was one of _omission_--you did it _not_ to Me. He dug in the earth instead of laying up treasure in Heaven.

POINT III. THE RECKONING.

"_After a long time the Lord of those servants came and reckoned with them._" Each servant must come up before Him to give an account and to be judged according to his works.

"_Lord, Thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above._"

"_Lord, Thou deliveredst two talents to me, behold I have gained other two._" The Lord gives exactly the same answer, the same reward to each, showing clearly that what counts in the reckoning is not the _number_ of good works but the spirit and intention and motive with which they are done, be they many or few.

"_Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things._" The reward is not given to the most capable, nor to those who have the most or the greatest talents, but to those who have been _faithful_ over the few things entrusted to them. They have traded with their talents for G.o.d's glory and for the salvation of their own souls. They have realized that each thing entrusted to them was a "good," whether it was sickness or health, poverty or riches, prosperity or adversity, and they have said about each: This belongs to the Master, how can I best use it for Him?