God’s Justice is Coming

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark, they did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So, will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. So, you too must also be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” So, Advent begins with this strong prophetic call to vigilance. The second reading we had today was also a strong call to vigilance, to staying awake. And our Lord gives us in the Gospel today focuses on Noah, the account of Noah, and the account of Noah seems very hard to believe. It’s something, such an extraordinary thing. A lot of times it just seems like a myth or like a tale for little children, or there’s a lot of jokes about Noah. But one interesting thing is that so many ancient civilizations, ancient civilizations spread all throughout the world, civilizations which don’t seem to have been in contact with one another have similar stories of an ancient flood, similar to the story of Noah. And so that’s already very interesting. How do all these different civilizations, again, spread throughout all the world, have the same accounts? And many believers, including many scientists, believe that we’re surrounded by signs of the flood, like sometimes spectacular signs, like the Grand Canyon. And many feel like even that, something like our hill country, right here, the little hill that we’re on and our hill country are signs of this great deluge. And most important, the New Testament, our Lord Himself, like in the gospel, the gospel we read is one of the examples, our Lord Himself treats it as a historical event. So, God Himself who, if anyone knows what really happened, it’s our Lord Himself and Jesus treats it as a historical event in the Gospel. And also, there’s other examples in other passages of the New Testament. St Peter speaks of it in his first letter, and then he comes back to it in his second letter. And so, I wanted to share with you a little bit from that second letter of Peter, because it’s a part that probably most of us are not very familiar with, and it uses language that we’re not used to hearing in the Church today. It can even be shocking, and that can be and that’s one of the more the reason to read it, because maybe it’s parts that we have neglected today – merciful and just, and He judges justly. And so, every individual experiences it at their own death. But there’s also, there can be a worldwide judgment, and that’s what our Lord is speaking of. And so, this is a warning to those who are sinning, willfully committing terrible evil, terrible evil, and evil that much of us are not aware of, but even evil, unbelievably evil things like human trafficking and torture, torture even of little children and human sacrifice. Even and again, this is things that are not just going on; I mean, these are things that even some of the most powerful people in our society, it seems, are involved in. So, these are not marginal things. And so, this is a warning to those who are committing evil, and it’s a message of hope and consolation to those who are struggling to be faithful. And so in our world, again, where there’s the Lord knows the evil and even the evil in the Church. I remember talking to an exorcist, a priest exorcist, who spoke of discovering satanic practices, satanist among the clergy, among the hierarchy, and even human sacrifice and so forth. So, the morality and also the teaching even in the Church, has been affected, distorted. And that’s partly what this passage from Second Peter is speaking of. It’s talking about the internal dangers of the Church, of the false teaching which can corrupt, can bring corruption inside the Church. So, it says, “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” “False teachers among you,” that is in the Church, “who will secretly bring in,” – so, they’re acting very subtly, very deceptively. “They will secretly bring in destructive heresies.” And Bishop Strickland, in his recent publications, just even in the past weeks, has been calling attention to these destructive heresies which are being brought into the Church. And it goes on, “even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will.” So, again, this is language that we’re not used to hearing in the Church. It says, “many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them, the way of truth will be reviled.” The way of truth will be reviled. “And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words,” so speaking of deception, and that’s one of the things that struck me in so many of the messages that the Lord has given Sister recently is the Lord’s insisting on alerting us to deception, how deceptive the evil one will be. And so, St Peter goes on to say, “from of old, their” – so, speaking of the judgment, “from of old, their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep.” And then he gives three examples. He says, “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to the pits of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment.” So that’s the first example, then the second, is about Noah, “if He did not spare the ancient world,” did not spare the ancient world, “but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven other persons when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” So, it’s talking about not a localized flood, but a worldwide catastrophe. And then a third example, “if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, He condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly,” talking about the immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah. I remember St Faustina in her diary, talks about a special punishment that was threatening Warsaw, Warsaw Poland, because of its immorality. Some people have highlighted that Warsaw, at that period, was a center of abortion, among other things, and she was praying for Warsaw. Warsaw suffered extremely a few years later in the Second World War. So, it’s talking about the judgment God gives, but also that God knows; since it is a just judgment, God knows how to distinguish those who deserve judgment from those who are righteous. And so, he says, “if He rescued righteous Lot,” Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah, “greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked, for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them. He was tormented in his righteous soul, day after day with their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial.” So these judgments are just, and the Lord rescues the righteous, He says. And then he goes on, “and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority, bold and willful, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, they will be destroyed, suffering long for their wrongdoing.” So. St Peter is a simple, very blunt, spoken man. “They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation, carousing with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed, accursed children, forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They are waterless springs in mist driven by a storm. For them that do the deepest gloom of darkness has been reserved for uttering loud boast of folly. They entice with licentious passions of the flesh. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a man to that he is enslaved.” So, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh, St Peter says, and it’s similar to St Paul’s message to the Romans today. And so, there’s we know, that about morality, there’s a lot of confusion today, confusion about sexual relations outside of marriage, which are seen as just something normal. And we know there’s a lot of confusion around what’s called today’s sexual orientation and also gender identity and even the rainbow; the rainbow that God gave as this divine sign to Noah of the Covenant after the flood, we know how the rainbow has been distorted as a symbol today. And unfortunately, even members of the Church are not always helpful. There’s very, especially in our days, there’s very mixed signals, very, very confusing messages coming out from the highest levels, from the Vatican and so forth. And so, I think it’s important to remember that these messages are not aimed at those who are struggling to do better, but still falling sometimes into sin. And we remember the great message given to St Faustina of Jesus as the Lord of mercy. And so distinguishing, say, take the example of drug addiction. We need to distinguish those who are victims, who have been addicted, maybe even from their youth, and who are trying to overcome it, sometimes even fighting heroically, even if they sometimes fall. So that’s very different; those who are trying and struggling, and, as I say, often, often affected and even abused in different ways, very young. And so that’s very different from those who are cold-bloodedly orchestrating it, enticing others. For instance, think of the whole pornography industry. And so, the Lord is speaking of rescuing the just who trust in Him and who listen, who are trying to obey Him, who trust, above all in His mercy. That’s the great message that He gave to St Faustina, that He in the message of St Faustina, He speaks often of His judgment, but He above all, is calling to trust in His mercy; and those the awareness of His judgment can be a spur to trust, to call out to His mercy. And so, for instance, Jesus said to St Faustina, “I do not want to punish, aching mankind. I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful heart, I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so. My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice.” So, notice that balance – the Lord, it would be false for those who think that God is not a God of justice, that sin will not be punished. Yes, He will punish. He does take up the sword of justice, but He only does it when we refuse to accept His mercy. If we accept His mercy, then His mercy protects us from that, So He is, again, both the God of mercy and of justice. And as He said, in another part to St Faustina, “those who do not accept His mercy will have to pass through His justice.” And this is the passage from the book of Wisdom in Scripture, speaking of Noah –  it said, “even in the beginning when arrogant giants,” that’s also very interesting reference, “that when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft,” meaning the ark, “and guided by your hand left to the world the seed of a new generation.” So that’s a beautiful expression. “The hope of the world took refuge on a raft and guided by your hand, left to the world the seed of a new generation.” And then it has this very prophetic passage. It says, “Blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.” Blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes. And so, that was a reference, first of all, to the wood of the ark, which Noah built in obedience of faith to God. But Christians see that also as a prophetic reference to the cross, the cross of our Lord, which both reveals evil, the evil, especially unfortunately and especially the evil of the religious leaders who caused that crucifixion. They were the principal ones responsible. But the cross is even more a revelation of God’s infinite mercy. And so that’s the role of prophetic messages to reveal God’s light, both as a warning to those who are willfully promoting sin, but calling us all back to His heart, his heart, which is the true Ark, which leads to the fullness of life. So, to conclude, “as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” So, Jesus is saying that this has a message for us today. And we know in our time, especially our Blessed Mother, has been offering her Immaculate Heart as a refuge, to take refuge, in her Immaculate Heart. The Mass is also an opportunity to take refuge with her in our Lord Jesus, through the sacrifice of His cross, made present at the Mass. To take refuge in the heart of Jesus, because on the cross, His heart was opened, opened, to pour out graces and open to invite us, all, though we’re sinners, to enter into the refuge of his merciful heart. And so, I’ll just end with another final passage from St Peter. This is again from that same second letter of St Peter, he says, balancing again mercy and justice. He says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness.” So sometimes, that seems like the Lord is slow, but St Peter said “the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is forbearing or merciful toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But according to His promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth. New heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Amen. 

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Matthew 24:37-44
Romans 13:11-14
Second Letter of St. Peter
Wisdom 14:6-7