9781644135945

The Light of the World
dead and lead them forth that they may live again. Then they will all acknowledge that He
is the Lord, “for He must reign until He hath put all His enemies under His feet. And the
enemy death shall be destroyed last” (1 Cor 15:25 f.). When He calls, everyone without
exception will rise from his grave; no one will be able to resist His powerful word. All must
obey Him and resume the body which they laid aside at death. The power of the word of
Christ will unite again the elements that had returned to dust, that had decayed and had
been scattered to the four winds. The power of death will finally be conquered by the power
of Christ, which on this day will be made manifest to all the world. How the Church rejoices
in this victory of Christ! It will indeed be the “day of Christ.”
The power of Christ will also be manifested in the destruction of the world. “Heaven and
earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Gospel). “But the heavens and earth
which are now, . . . [are] reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment. . . . But we look for new
heavens and a new earth according to His promises, in which justice dwelleth” (2 Pt 3:7, 13).
The resurrection of a single soul is the guarantee of the redemption of the universe. “For the
expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. . . . Because the creature
also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of
the children of God” (Rom 8:19, 21). What God intended for humanity and for the whole of
creation, but which is now obscured by the mire of sin and death and which sighs under the
curse of vanity, will in that day be restored to its pristine beauty and harmony; and the excellence
and the beauty of God’s plan will be revealed.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Apoc
21:1 f.). The new Jerusalem, heaven, will descend to the earth from above. This new Jerusalem
will appear as a bride adorned and going to meet her spouse. Heaven will then no longer be
the secret dwelling place of God, but the revelation of God to man. The heavens above and
the earth below, appearances and reality, will be one. What is earthly will become heavenly,
and what is of the body will be but a mirror for the spirit. Creation will be perfected in God;
it will know no decline, no change, no distress. Nothing will be altered; but creation will take
on the beauty of God Himself and enjoy an eternal spring. It will be always young and always
new. Healed will be the conflict between the flesh and the spirit which sin caused in man and
in all creation, and harmony and order will be re-established, not only in individual men, but
in all creation, “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). Salvation and final redemption will
be granted to the body and the soul of man, to heaven and earth, and to all that exists, through
the incarnate Son of God. “Thy kingdom come.”
“The day of Christ” will be a day of victory, the day of triumph for Christ’s truth, humility, and
love. Glory to Thee, O Christ, the Victor, the King in whom all things live.
“The day of Christ” will be a day of triumph for the Church, for her beliefs, for her sacraments,
for her sufferings borne for Christ, for her prayer, for her work for souls. The Church
will conquer and live triumphant, and we shall triumph with her.
“The day of Christ” will be a day of victory for the Holy Eucharist, which has nourished the
germ of life in us. “He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life. And I
will raise him up in the last day” ( Jn 6:55). “The day of Christ” will be a day of triumph for our
faith in the Eucharist and our devotion to It.
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