FA+
Shop
Last Sunday. 2021
4 years ago
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: For the first heaven, and the first earth, were passed away ... And I saw the city, the holy new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God prepared as a bride bedecked for her man."
"For as much as thou wert abandoned and hated, and there were none who passed through thee: so shall I set thee as the pride of the ages, as gladness unto generation and generation. And the children of those that humiliated thee shall come and bow down to thee; and they who slandered thee shall adore the prints of thy feet; and they shall call thee the city of the Lord: Sion of the Holy of Israel."
(Apocalypse 21:1-2, Isaias 60:15, 14 AVP)
Again, I am very late. Indeed practically out of time, for tomorrow a new liturgical year starts. I had it in mind that, as every week is liturgically an extension of the Sunday that opens it, it would not be too bad to be a day or too late -- but this is cutting it very close. ^^; So my apologies.
The last Sunday is so-called because it is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. There is in this significant difference between the East and West, as the Orthodox churches do not have the same season of Advent as the Western traditions (Catholic and Protestant), and their liturgical calendar begins with September. Moreover in the West the idea of the "last Sunday" has been transferred to the modern feast of Christ the King (instituted initially by the Pope for earlier in the year in 1925, but transferred by a later Pope to the last Sunday, where it is now observed by a number of Protestant denominations as well as the Novus Ordo rite of the Roman Church).
Either way though, it is an eschatological observance, meaning it looks forward to the end of the world. As such it is a time to look back over the previous year, and consider what we did well and what we could have done better, to make a "judgement" of our lives as it well -- not in a harsh spirit, but merely an honest one, with the firm hope of improving and being ready for the Last Judgement which we all look forward to.
And I do say "look forward to." Once upon a time the prospect of the end of the world and the Last Judgement frightened me, but not any longer. For, as St. James observes in his epistle, mercy far surpasses "judgement" or rigourous "justice:" God is not so concerned with what we have done, or what we believe, but with how much love is in our hearts. And so long as our hearts are open, it is His pleasure to nurture that love until we can fully embrace ourselves, each other and Him.
As it is written in the Gospels and in the Apocalypse of John (or Revelation : p ), the key for entry into Heaven is simple -- all it takes is the desire for it. "[W]hoso thirsteth, let them come who desire, that they may freely take of the water of life." (Apoc. 21:17) I did not wish these reflections to be controversial; but I will affirm now that all the rules and dogmas that so many Christians preach are, if not mistaken, at least of far less importance then the simple desire to love and be loved. There are no bars or locks on Heaven's gates; they stand open day and night, offering refuge to all who will love.
And what indeed is Heaven? To be sure, it surpasses our current ability to comprehend. But there are plenty of "hints" in Scripture that describe it as lush and alive -- one could not get further from the sterile "Heaven" of pop culture than the glowing, even erotic, depictions of Heaven in the Bible. Nor is it a disembodied "spiritual" union with God; as it is repeatedly emphasised, the new heaven and new earth shall be very material; our souls will be joined to new flesh, like our current bodies but more responsive to our desires and free from the taint of death and decay.
And finally, reviewing my chosen quotes; I remember a final point I wished to make. That as the Bible refer to cities as individuals, so too are individuals referred to as cities. Jesus, in encouraging His disciples, compared them to a "city seated on a mountain." And John, again in the Apocalypse, explicitly equates the new Jerusalem with a "man" or "angel." So the wondrous descriptions of God's city, in Revelation, Isaias and elsewhere, apply as much to God's desire to comfort and adorn His beloved souls as individuals, as to the place of their habitation.
So nay, the end is not something to fear. xD Indeed I think, that while the heaven and earth we know will pass away, in a sense there is no true "end;" and all good things will be restored in the Resurrection, and all wounded things healed.
But that is the future. For now this series is coming to an end. It was an interesting experiment in setting myself a project and carrying it through; and I hope the reflections have touched some hearts. But the liturgical year is over, and I do not intend to create a similar series for next year. Beyond that, who knows?
Until next time, and forever, may God bless you. ^^
"For as much as thou wert abandoned and hated, and there were none who passed through thee: so shall I set thee as the pride of the ages, as gladness unto generation and generation. And the children of those that humiliated thee shall come and bow down to thee; and they who slandered thee shall adore the prints of thy feet; and they shall call thee the city of the Lord: Sion of the Holy of Israel."
(Apocalypse 21:1-2, Isaias 60:15, 14 AVP)
Again, I am very late. Indeed practically out of time, for tomorrow a new liturgical year starts. I had it in mind that, as every week is liturgically an extension of the Sunday that opens it, it would not be too bad to be a day or too late -- but this is cutting it very close. ^^; So my apologies.
The last Sunday is so-called because it is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. There is in this significant difference between the East and West, as the Orthodox churches do not have the same season of Advent as the Western traditions (Catholic and Protestant), and their liturgical calendar begins with September. Moreover in the West the idea of the "last Sunday" has been transferred to the modern feast of Christ the King (instituted initially by the Pope for earlier in the year in 1925, but transferred by a later Pope to the last Sunday, where it is now observed by a number of Protestant denominations as well as the Novus Ordo rite of the Roman Church).
Either way though, it is an eschatological observance, meaning it looks forward to the end of the world. As such it is a time to look back over the previous year, and consider what we did well and what we could have done better, to make a "judgement" of our lives as it well -- not in a harsh spirit, but merely an honest one, with the firm hope of improving and being ready for the Last Judgement which we all look forward to.
And I do say "look forward to." Once upon a time the prospect of the end of the world and the Last Judgement frightened me, but not any longer. For, as St. James observes in his epistle, mercy far surpasses "judgement" or rigourous "justice:" God is not so concerned with what we have done, or what we believe, but with how much love is in our hearts. And so long as our hearts are open, it is His pleasure to nurture that love until we can fully embrace ourselves, each other and Him.
As it is written in the Gospels and in the Apocalypse of John (or Revelation : p ), the key for entry into Heaven is simple -- all it takes is the desire for it. "[W]hoso thirsteth, let them come who desire, that they may freely take of the water of life." (Apoc. 21:17) I did not wish these reflections to be controversial; but I will affirm now that all the rules and dogmas that so many Christians preach are, if not mistaken, at least of far less importance then the simple desire to love and be loved. There are no bars or locks on Heaven's gates; they stand open day and night, offering refuge to all who will love.
And what indeed is Heaven? To be sure, it surpasses our current ability to comprehend. But there are plenty of "hints" in Scripture that describe it as lush and alive -- one could not get further from the sterile "Heaven" of pop culture than the glowing, even erotic, depictions of Heaven in the Bible. Nor is it a disembodied "spiritual" union with God; as it is repeatedly emphasised, the new heaven and new earth shall be very material; our souls will be joined to new flesh, like our current bodies but more responsive to our desires and free from the taint of death and decay.
And finally, reviewing my chosen quotes; I remember a final point I wished to make. That as the Bible refer to cities as individuals, so too are individuals referred to as cities. Jesus, in encouraging His disciples, compared them to a "city seated on a mountain." And John, again in the Apocalypse, explicitly equates the new Jerusalem with a "man" or "angel." So the wondrous descriptions of God's city, in Revelation, Isaias and elsewhere, apply as much to God's desire to comfort and adorn His beloved souls as individuals, as to the place of their habitation.
So nay, the end is not something to fear. xD Indeed I think, that while the heaven and earth we know will pass away, in a sense there is no true "end;" and all good things will be restored in the Resurrection, and all wounded things healed.
But that is the future. For now this series is coming to an end. It was an interesting experiment in setting myself a project and carrying it through; and I hope the reflections have touched some hearts. But the liturgical year is over, and I do not intend to create a similar series for next year. Beyond that, who knows?
Until next time, and forever, may God bless you. ^^
