“Eschatology” — a Greek word that is defined as “the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.” As we fast approach the month of November and the final weeks of the Church’s liturgical year, both in its Scripture readings and in its liturgical celebrations, the Church universal is being invited to consider our destiny and the harvest festival that we are being invited to share in.
I think this is why I consider this month one of my favorite months of the year. November’s prayer and liturgies direct our attention to the simple fact that “there is still something to wait for.” Yet, it invites also to consider our own preparations to share in the banquet that Christ is preparing for you and me; and desires greatly for us to share in.
In our Gospel reading from this past Sunday, we were invited to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22:21). This simple instruction of Jesus to his disciples ultimately signifies a call not to compartmentalize our lives under the guise of the separation of Church and State. Rather, we are invited to consider how our faith informs and influences how we live in the world with our eyes always looking beyond to our ultimate and final destiny — citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
Yet, recalling God’s instruction to Moses in Exodus 3:5 to “take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” and Jesus’ own announcement that the “Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk 1:15) and in fact “is within you” (Lk 17:2) — illustrates for you and me that our citizenship is not some future event! Our living as God’s Saints — as members of God’s family and citizens of the Kingdom of God is meant for right now. Accordingly, in Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation 1, the Church prays: “Help us to work together for the coming of your Kingdom, until the hour when we stand before you, Saints among the Saints in the halls of heaven.”
This working together for the coming of God’s Kingdom is not only found in the words Jesus taught us to pray with in Matthew 6:9-13 and in Luke 11:1-4. Paragraph 2816 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
In the New Testament, the word basileia can be translated by “kingship” (abstract noun), “kingdom” (concrete noun) or “reign” (action noun). The Kingdom of God lies ahead of us. It is brought near in the Word incarnate, it is proclaimed throughout the whole Gospel, and it has come in Christ’s death and Resurrection. The Kingdom of God has been coming since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst. The kingdom will come in glory when Christ hands it over to his Father: It may even be . . . that the Kingdom of God means Christ himself, whom we daily desire to come, and whose coming we wish to be manifested quickly to us. For as he is our resurrection, since in him we rise, so he can also be understood as the Kingdom of God, for in him we shall reign.
Herein, we find the reason that the last Sunday of the Church’s year is dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. It is He who is ushering us into the “beatific vision” — that is, the ultimate direct self-communication of God to the human person — as was mentioned in the above Eucharistic Prayer excerpt: “until the hour we stand before you.”
Now some may be wondering what you and I are expected to do until this moment. Stand around and twiddle our thumbs? Well, as seen in the Gospel accounts of our Lord’s Ascension into heaven (Mt 28:16-20/Mk 16:14-20/Lk 24:36-53), that is not the case! Rather, we have a mission to be Christ’s witnesses — to radiate the light of Christ — to the farthest corners of the earth, so that all may know that they are invited to the harvest feast!
This is why I also so much like the month of November. It contains our national feast of Thanksgiving. In my own life, I have shared this feast not only with my own family, but with other families also — including the American community in Rome, Italy. More than any other gathering, this day reminds me of the heavenly banquet to which we are all called. Isn’t it interesting that our chief prayer, Holy Mass, is called by the Greek word for “thanksgiving” — “Eucharist.” In it, we find truly the foretaste of what God wants to share with us for all eternity.
Yet, touching on something I mentioned earlier, there is no real thanksgiving without our care for God’s creation. Pope Francis reminds us of this essential mission of the citizens of the Kingdom of God in his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Laudate Deum, addressing the climate crisis in our world. Particularly relevant to our reflection is the section of the exhortation speaking of our response in “The Light of Faith.”
As we enter into the month of November, I invite us to use this section of the Pope’s message for our own reflection as we consider both our destiny and God’s vision for it:
62. The Bible tells us: “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). His is “the earth with all that is in it” (Deut 10:14). For this reason, he tells us that, “the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants” (Lev 25:23). Hence, “responsibility for God’s earth means that human beings, endowed with intelligence, must respect the laws of nature and the delicate equilibria existing between the creatures of this world.”
63. At the same time, “the universe as a whole, in all its manifold relationships, shows forth the inexhaustible richness of God.” Hence, to be wise, “we need to grasp the variety of things in their multiple relationships.” Along this path of wisdom, it is not a matter of indifference to us that so many species are disappearing and that the climate crisis endangers the life of many other beings.
64. Jesus “was able to invite others to be attentive to the beauty that there is in the world because he himself was in constant touch with nature, lending it an attraction full of fondness and wonder. As he made his way throughout the land, he often stopped to contemplate the beauty sown by his Father, and invited his disciples to perceive a divine message in things.”
65. Hence, “the creatures of this world no longer appear to us under merely natural guise, because the risen One is mysteriously holding them to himself and directing them towards fullness as their end. The very flowers of the field and the birds which his human eyes contemplated and admired are now imbued with his radiant presence.” If “the universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely … there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.” The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?
