Somewhere around the year 1400, a custom was introduced into the papal coronation ceremony. As the new Pope was being vested in the robes of his office, flax was set on fire in a small bowl and its smoke wafted under his nose. A simple priest or monk stood next to him and whispered in his ear in Latin, Sic transit gloria mundi, meaning, “thus the glory of the world passes away.” It was a reminder to the new pope that all the pomp and pageantry of the papal court was nothing, the political power of his office temporary, and that he must seek for himself, and the Church he was called to lead, those things which eternally endure.
I suspect many of us find the apocalyptic images found in today’s readings – earthquakes, wars, signs in the heavens – somewhat terrifying, but at the same time perhaps more the stuff of science fiction than reality. After all, people have been predicting the catastrophic end of the world since the beginning of the world and, well, we’re still here.
But before we dismiss this message of sudden, catastrophic endings as pure religious fantasy, let’s consider something for a moment: haven’t we all learned that life can sometimes turn on a dime and everything we know can change, or end, in a single instant? Yes, we have all learned that lesson and sometimes painfully so.
As we quickly approach the end of a liturgical year, the Scriptures selected by the Church for this season remind us to keep the end in mind; the world as we know it is passing away. The Word assures us that God will bring creation and human history to completion. The prophets called this day the “Day of the Lord.” Jesus referred to it as “the Day of the Son of Man.” This day will indeed be terrifying precisely because it is God’s day, His definitive act of judgment upon the world. It will be a day of turmoil on a cosmic scale, but it does not remain in some undetermined future. If the truth be told, the day of both judgment and salvation has already begun.
The coming of Christ into the world is the dawn of this “day.” Benedict XVI once wrote that, “…the fire that both burns and saves is Christ Himself, because He is both Judge and Savior. The encounter with Him is the decisive act of judgment… (because) when the impurity and sickness of our lives becomes evident to us, therein lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of His heart heals us…the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally for God” (Spe Salvi, 47). The Christ who judges me and the Christ who saves me are one and the same. Judgment and Salvation are not just future realities; they begin today so that I may be, as Benedict describes, "totally myself, totally for God."
So what are we supposed to do with this message? Very simply, stay the course. It is a gift to live with a clear purpose and strong direction. It is a grace to live a life of faith in the Son of God, who is both my Savior and Judge. It is a grace to set our lives against the backdrop of eternity and be able to weigh our lives against it, but not an eternity that remains in some undetermined future; the eternity that is among us now, here, today.
Yes, life turns on a dime and nothing on this side of the tombstone lasts forever. But, today, Christ is here. Today the touch of His heart heals us so that we may be fully ourselves and fully God’s. So, stay the course until that day dawns, when all things will be made new again in Christ!