The glory of Judgment Day

Good News Reflection
Tuesday of the 34th Week of Ordinary Time
November 23, 2010

Today's Saint: Clement I
Pray against worries:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Clement.htm

Today's Readings:
Rev 14:14-19
Ps 96:10-13
Luke 21:5-11
http://www.usccb.org/nab/112310.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_11_23.mp3

The glory of Judgment Day

Are you afraid of being judged by Jesus? Don't be! The Judgment Day is good news for us, bad news for evil.

Consider that the Bible, as a whole, is the story of salvation – it's your story, your journey to heaven. It began once upon a time in the book of Genesis, when God created humankind and knew full well that YOU would eventually be one of his masterpieces. He said, "This is good!" He wasn't speaking generically. He wasn't speaking only about Adam and Eve and other early humans. The all-knowing Creator was referring to you, too.

"This is good!" he said about you in the very moment that you were conceived in your mother's womb. You became his precious child when your life began; not when you took your first breath, not when your fetal heart began to beat, but when God selected one sperm out of 200 million to unite with one egg, creating a very special you.

Throughout your life outside the womb, you've been like the Israelites in the Old Testament: You've been journeying toward the Savior, sometimes straying in wrong directions, eventually reaching the promised land where you are now. Your story will end in the book of Revelation, when heaven is revealed to you in all its glory.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples are discussing the final day of judgment. Today's responsorial psalm says, "The Lord comes to judge the earth." In today's first reading, Jesus reaps two kinds of harvests: the earth's harvest and the grape harvest.

In the earth's harvest, all God's people are gathered into heaven. This scripture connects back to Matt. 9:37, where Jesus asked for an increase of laborers to work in the harvesting fields of God's kingdom.

In the grape harvest, all evil is cut from the earth and destroyed. This verse connects back to Isaiah 63:3, where the Messiah's garments are stained by the blood of evil-doers.

We are grateful for his sacrificial cure for our sinfulness. Therefore, when we die and experience our personal Judgment Day, we'll be redeemed, blessed and filled with joy because we've been freed from evil. (Even those in purgatory rejoice, because they have escaped Satan and his destructive plans.) In the meantime, Jesus warns us to be careful of false beliefs and unholy decisions.

While we are still living out our story on earth, the hurts and struggles and other battles that we endure are used by God – if we agree – to strengthen our victorious living. The earthquakes of disrupted plans, the famines of insufficient love from others, and the plagues of diseases and difficulties are all converted by God – if we let him do it – so that no evil has any victory whatsoever.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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