Summer is speeding swiftly by with nothing to show for it but a really bad sunburn. I am so itchy right now, even as I type my trusty backscratcher is never far from me. I know, I should have been smarter in the sun. I guess we just can't feel ourselves cooking until we're cooked. Or maybe it's the classic, "it could never happen to me." Whatever the case this particular sunburn has made me think about my own mortality. Oh, it's not just the sunburn, I happen to be reading a book right now titled, The End of The Present World and The Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr. Charles Arminjon, AND, I just finished a course on Biblical Archaeology.
It must be the cataclysm of these three events combined that have made me focus on the eschatalogical,(End Times)and my own mortality.
St. Therese of Lisieux said that "Reading this book was one of the greatest graces of my life."
It is a fascinating book indeed and I highly recommend reading it. The archaeology course was also pretty amazing. It made me realize how alike we are to peoples of the past. They were smart, solved problems, worked, created art and inventions, educated themselves, worshiped The God, a god or many gods and built upon the foundations of previous civilizations. I will never look at a retaining wall the same way again. They lived and died as we will also. What will be our legacy when they unearth our civilization? Will they say of us that we were a nation committed to child sacrifice? Will they consider us uncivilized barbarians, unable to see the wealth of the human person?
We looked at so many slides of the Holy Land, it was just beautiful. One picture showed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is the church built over the spot of the Crucifixion of Christ and the tomb where he was laid. It showed the Hill of Calvary which was a rock formation that had cracked open and permeating the rock was a red stain. Tradition says that when Christ shed his blood it ran down the hill of Calvary staining the rock, cracking it open and falling upon the skull of Adam buried beneath it, thus redeeming mankind. I will think about this for a long time. It is tradition, not dogma, but beautiful none the less.
It is good for us to think of the end, the greatest uncertainty of our existence and yet the greatest confidence.
St. Jerome says with regard to St. Paul's reference to the "sounding of the last trumpet", "At the sound of the last trumpet, the whole earth will be stricken with fear", and, "Whether you are reading or sleeping, writing or keeping watch,let that trumpet always resound in your ears."
Let us always be attentive, listening for the sound of that trumpet. For one thing is certain, the trumpet will blow whether for one or for all, and to the God who made us we will render an account.
