While the Christian faith is grounded in the here and now, it is only fully understood and valued when it is placed and lived in the light of eternity. While many blessings can be received by God’s grace in this life, none of them compares to the heavenly glory won for us in Jesus Christ.
No earthly blessing, however emotionally satisfying or physically pleasurable, can come even close to the eternal life offered to us in the Lord Jesus.
St. Paul gives testimony to the unimaginable joy that awaits those who love God: “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
As such, we believers are called to see every sacrifice, suffering, blessing, triumph and joy in this life as a part of God’s providential plan by which he gives us the grace to work out our salvation in Jesus Christ and so have the great hope of one day rejoicing with him in everlasting bliss.
Again, St. Paul helps us. He teaches us, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:18-19).
The Church teaches the truths about eternal life throughout the entire year, but she especially uses the month of November as a time to both offer supplication for the faithful departed and to remind believers of the Four Last Things.
There was a time when most Catholic believers could rattle off the Four Last Things — Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Today, however, a majority of Catholics aren’t even familiar with the term, let alone able to list them. This state of affairs is one of many signs that our liturgical, catechetical and devotional life as a Church has not sufficiently taught or stressed the Four Last Things.
As a case in point, early in the month of the dead, the Church observes All Souls’ Day. The holy day is one of the few times in which a priest can offer three Masses in one day. (Incidentally, it was for this reason that Father Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope St. John Paul II, requested to be ordained on All Saints’ Day — so that he could offer three Masses on All Souls’ Day, his first full day as a priest. The request was a sign of his Catholic faith and his knowledge of eternal things. And so, it’s no surprise that he offered the three Masses for the deceased members of his family.)
Sadly, due to our current neglect of the Four Last Things, parishes do not readily offer the traditional three Masses on All Souls’ Day. When such Masses are offered in some places, very few people come. It’s a lamentable thing to see our churches empty on Nov. 2, the very day we are called to come together, remember, pray and offer sacrifice for the faithful departed.
It is faith in Jesus Christ and in his resurrection that gives us the certainty of eternal life. If faith is drained and sluggish, then it cannot provide the necessary strength and certainty that’s needed to believe and order our lives according to the Four Last Things.
As a help to building up and forming our faith, we can look to the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus and especially reflect upon the lifesaving and eternal truths manifested to us through his Paschal mystery, namely, his passion, death and resurrection.
In the Lord’s Paschal mystery, we see the Four Last Things:
The Lord accepts death, even an ignoble death. We are called to offer up our dying process and death to God in Jesus Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church beautifully teaches: “In death, God calls man to himself. Therefore, the Christian can experience a desire for death like Saint Paul’s: ‘My desire is to depart and be with Christ’ (Philippians 1:23). He can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ” (1011).
In the Paschal mystery, the Lord Jesus fulfilled and lifted the Father’s judgment upon the world. All judgment now rests in Jesus Christ, as St. John records:
“Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to his Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:22-24).
By cooperating with God’s grace in this life, we can receive freedom from condemnation and a judgment to eternal life. At our death, we will be called upon to give an accounting of our lives. If we have lived for Christ, then we will share eternal life with him.
As believers begin to understand death and judgment, they naturally have questions about purgatory and wonder why it is not one of the Last Things. In response, purgatory is not a Last Thing because it’s a transient state of purification. It is the Lord Jesus completing his saving mission in our lives and cleansing us of venial sin, attachment to sin, and the temporal punishment caused by our sins, and so preparing us for the joys of heaven.
In the Paschal mystery of the Lord, heaven is once again opened to us and hell is overthrown from the inside out. The state of eternal torment is vanquished. It only has power to those who choose it. For those who love God, however, the beatitude of heaven is revealed and grace is poured into their hearts throughout their lives so that they might be ready for eternal life in God.
The Four Last Things flow from the Paschal mystery, and a strong faith in them should order and direct the entire Christian way of life. They need to be known and adhered to by all.
November is a good month for us to learn the Four Last Things and commit ourselves to a way of life that prepares us for them.
