"Don't wait for the last judgment - it takes place every day."

"Only after the Last Judgment will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children." - Saint John Marie Vianney

Gospel text: (MT 13:47-53)

Jesus said to the disciples:

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,

which collects fish of every kind.

When it is full they haul it ashore

and sit down to put what is good into buckets.

What is bad they throw away.

Thus it will be at the end of the age.

The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous

and throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”

They answered, “Yes.”

And he replied,

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven

is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom

both the new and the old.”

When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

One of the greatest sights in the world is found in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. There within the basilica is the Sistine Chapel. Here it is where the Holy Father has his private chapel and where the Cardinals come together to elect a new successor to St. Peter. Within this House of God is found some of the most stunning masterpieces of the painter Michelangelo. The ceiling is covered with frescos that literally retell creation history. Here we see Michelangelo’s depiction of the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Flood, and the prophets foretelling of the Messiah.

Arguably, the most famous of the paintings is the Last Judgment, which is found above the main altar. In the center of this awesome work of art is found Jesus Christ towering over creation holding up His right arm in judgment. Holy fear is striking all the people in the painting as Jesus brings final and absolute order to the chaos created by sin.

Michelangelo’s masterpiece wasn’t finished for 33 years after much struggle and hard work. Imagine if the Sistine Chapel was left unfinished. It is unlikely that so many millions of pilgrims would come from all over the world to see it. Works of art are meant to be finished. 

We are God’s work of art! 

We and all of creation were created to glorify Him. The Kingdom of God has already begun with the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. It will not be complete until the just are united with Him body and soul for all eternity. Then and only then will the masterpiece be complete!  And what a work of art it will be!!