By Father Anthony F. Raso
SISTER CATHERINE Elizabeth, S.C., in her first-grade class in Our Lady of Angels School, Bay Ridge, in the fall of 1954, had a series of prints of “holy scenes” with which she illustrated the religion lesson each morning.
Early in the year, the lesson of the day was hell, and she had a picture of that location available to show us. It was designed to make the hair on the heads of first graders stand on edge. And at least as far as I was concerned, it achieved its goal most effectively. The resident devils looked like they were having the time of their lives torturing those lost souls who looked back at them with undisguised horror. There was fire and brimstone and pitchforks were being employed fully. It was, in short, quite a picture.
Mr. and Mrs. Raso of Owls Head Court, not to mention Christopher Raso, aged four, noticed with no bemusement how thoroughly and uncomplainingly I began to drink my milk and eat my vegetables at dinner for many a day thereafter.
Shifting Emphasis
In those days, there was quite an emphasis on eternal punishment as an assistance to keeping young and old alike on the straight and narrow road that led in the opposite direction from the place I saw in that picture. In the past generation or two, there has been much less of this kind of “assistance” as the emphasis has shifted rather to the mercy of God and the sacrifice of His Divine Son to inspire us. This is shown well and eloquently today in our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. However, there are times of the year – and the end of the liturgical year is principal among them – when we are given a trip down memory lane and are reminded that while heaven is a reality, so is hell.
Our first reading today, from the Book of the Prophet Daniel, is a stern warning that when the end of the world comes, God will send down the Archangel Michael and his army of angels, who had served Him so effectively in ridding heaven of Lucifer and his crew, to set things straight in this world. It will be “…a time unsurpassed in distress” when the unworthy will be “…in everlasting horror and distress” – a scene well depicted by Sister Catherine Elizabeth in 1954.
Heaven Is Waiting
This is not meant to amuse us in the manner of a Hollywood film or a night of Halloween fun. This is the Word of God and He means it. It is a warning to all of us not to be complacent or presumptuous about our eternal salvation and to realize that, while heaven is waiting for us, we can so misuse our free will that we can lose our salvation. This is not what God wants but if it is what we choose, it will happen. Free will is a powerful sword that cuts both ways.
This message is echoed in the Gospel of St. Mark today, as Jesus warns us about the “days of tribulation” when “…the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from the sky.” It sounds awful and to modern Christian ears, very unusual. However, we’re being warned to “learn the lesson from the fig tree” and to keep our eyes open because “…of the hour of that day, no one knows” except God Himself.
Again, the emphasis in modern times has not been on punishment, but on forgiveness and mercy. Jesus didn’t come into this world to punish us or to frighten us into being faithful. He came to show us how much the Father loves us by sending His Son to illustrate so indelibly on the Cross that “greater love than this has no one than to lay down his life” for His sisters and brothers. We aren’t being scared out of hell, but invited into heaven as the author of Hebrews tells us today. “By one offering” – the Cross – “He has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.”
The message of Jesus was forgiveness. He shared our human nature so that He could raise that human nature up to heaven and to the light and salvation that awaits us there.
The change in emphasis between punishment and mercy that came at the time of the Second Vatican Council was proper. The Bible is not a book about how God is going to fix our wagons if we’re bad, but rather about how there was nothing He would not do to save us.
Abraham and Moses were friends of God and related His love to His people. The prophets warned His people not to be so foolish as to forget the God Who loved them. This has been, in even more powerful form, the message of the Church from the days of St. Paul to these days of Pope Francis. Jesus, when He died on the Cross, wasn’t through showing us how much He loved us: Good Friday was only the prelude to Easter Sunday. “God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.”
Gift of Free Will
On the other hand, we are being warned today in our readings not to be such dopes as to throw all that love away. It is God’s will that we join Him in heaven, but we have the gift of free will. We must never forget that if we misuse that gift, we can lose everything that God wants for us.
So, for heaven’s sake, drink your milk and eat your vegetables and surprise your mom and dad, and little brother (not to mention your spouse and kids), by being smart enough to reject the darkness and see the light.
Readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daniel 12: 1-3
Psalm 16: 5, 8, 9-10, 11
Hebrews 10: 11-14, 18
Mark 13: 24-32
Father Anthony F. Raso is the parochial vicar at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Dyker Heights.