During the month of November, the Church asks us to pray for the Holy\nSouls in purgatory. Of course, this attention to the souls in purgatory causes\nus to think more often of death \u2013 and not just death in general, but our own\ndeath! Yes, during the month of November (and for the rest of the year as well)\nwe should meditate on our own death. \u201cBut isn\u2019t that\u201d, someone might ask,\n\u201cmorose? Isn\u2019t it better to think about happier, more pleasant things?\u201d\nAccording to today\u2019s gospel, the answer to that question is NO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, stay awake<\/em>, our Lord says, for you know\nneither the day nor the hour<\/em>. The \u2018hour\u2019 which our Lord mentions is the\nhour of the bridegroom\u2019s return, which is to say, it is the hour of Christ\u2019s\nreturn when he will judge the living and the dead. Just as the virgins in the\nparable should have been prepared for the bridegroom\u2019s return, so we must be\nprepared for Christ\u2019s return. But how do we prepare for Christ\u2019s return? The\nanswer is simple: by meditating on our death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an absolute sense, Christ will return at the end of time; but in a\nrelative sense, Christ returns at the hour of our death. This is not to say\nthat the two events are identical, but they are nonetheless connected. How so?\nWhen Christ returns, he will judge all. For those who stand alert with lamps\ntrimmed, that is, for those who die in his grace, he welcomes them into his\nembrace. But to those who have been foolish and are not ready for his return,\nthat is, for those who die in a state of mortal sin or separation from God, he\nwill say Amen, I say to you, I do not know you<\/em>. This moment of judgment,\nwhich is often called the particular judgment, occurs immediately when we die.\nIn that moment, Christ \u2018returns\u2019 to judge us individually. This same judgment\nis then ratified at the end of time at the final judgment, when Christ returns\nabsolutely to judge all. The question, then, is this: how do we die well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meditating on death prepares us for this judgment. As Thomas a Kempis\nexplains, \u201cevery action of yours, every thought, should be those of one who\nexpects to die before the day is out. Death would have no great terrors for you\nif you had a quiet conscience\u201d. Meditating on death, therefore, sharpens the\nfocus of our life and gives us eyes to see what truly matters. When we meditate\non death, we realize that many of are anxieties are futile, many of our actions\nare vain, and many of our inner thoughts are hollow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, many associate death with darkness, nothingness and pain. But\nfor those of us in Christ, death is not an enemy. Indeed, for those of us in\nChrist, death is the hour of Life. It is the hour of Life, for only when we die\ndo we come to see God face to face. Let us therefore stand alert and keep our\nlamps trimmed, for we do not know the hour of our death \u2013 we do not know the\nhour of our Lord\u2019s return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ian Mahood<\/strong> \u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Vidar Nordli Mathisen\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n