Shine like night stars

FROM A READING FOR NOV. 18, 33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength....Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these...’ — Mk 12:30-31

We are approaching the end of the liturgical year. For Catholics, the first Sunday of Advent is a kind of “New Year’s Day.” The readings for Mass focus our attention on preparing for the end times.

This is not meant to scare us, but to remind us that we will all have to stand before the Son of Man at the moment of death. It will be a moment of profound truth and humility, and — please God — a moment of mercy for each of us.

Jesus does not want us to be caught off-guard. In Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 12:24-32), He warns us that the signs of the end times will be dramatic and unmistakable.

Yet, there have been many times that people have thought the end was near, and the world has continued. Even in our times, the constant unrest, wars and rumors of war have some people convinced that the world is headed toward a cataclysmic ending.

Perhaps they are right, but whether it ends tomorrow or in another 10,000 years, the message of Jesus remains unchanging: first, everything that He did, said and taught will remain true forever. Jesus is the one Savior, the one mediator between God and us. There is no salvation apart from Christ.

Keep watch

Because of that, the clear message in Sunday’s Gospel shines brilliantly: Be vigilant. Be ready. We don’t know when our lives will end — but we do know for certain that they will end, and that the world will also end.

By preparing for the first, we will also prepare for the second. It is not our response, as Christians, to be morose and gloomy, for our redeemer lives. Our death will be a homecoming. If we have come to know, love and serve God faithfully, then we will be happy with Him forever after death.

Sunday’s first reading (Dn 12:1-3) also drives home this point: Some will rise in glory; others shall be in everlasting horror. By God’s mercy, we can hope to rise in glory.

What will that be like? Daniel describes it poetically: “But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”

What a beautiful image! Remember, in the ancient world, without the city lights that we now can rarely escape, the stars shone like diamonds in the night sky. The brilliance of the just soul will be like that. Words hardly capture the beauty of the pure night sky, let alone the loveliness of a pure soul.

Be a star

Our redemption was made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus. By His death, He cleansed our souls so that they would gleam like the brilliant light of the stars. As we read this Sunday in the letter to the Hebrews (Heb 10:11-14,18), Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins, and took His seat forever at the right hand of God.”

Not only that, He continues to guide us toward our heavenly homeland where, in the end, He will make His enemies His footstool. This means promise of redemption carries with it the possibility of damnation.

This is real and meant to make us think. Jesus’ sacrifice was made out of love for each one of us, and grace is not cheap. It was not cheaply earned, nor is it cheaply given.

Let us, in the measure possible, prepare ourselves to receive grace. When the time comes for us to cooperate with grace, if we are properly disposed and open to God, we will act in a way that brings Him glory. Prepare, and may you shine like the stars.