Be ready for Judgment Day

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT gospel parable about a king asking his invited guests to come to the wedding banquet of his son (cfr. Mt 22,1-14) reminds us that God can call us anytime and we should be ready to correspond to his call and to face him on Judgment Day.

In that parable the guests refused to come, and so the king asked anybody to join him in the banquet, but some of those who came were not properly dressed. This only shows that God surely calls all of us to join him in heaven. We should heed that call properly, ever ready to face him as he settles accounts with us.

That is why we should see to it that at any given moment we should be eternity-ready and not just future-ready. We know that we like to give ourselves adequate preparation for the future in terms of our human needs for security, health, etc. But we seldom give any due consideration to the preparation we always need in order to face God on Judgment Day and to start to live our definitive life with God for all eternity.

We know that it is among the many important duties of any serious business enterprise to settle or at least balance the accounts in a regular fashion. Retail stores, for example, have to monitor their stocks at the end of the day. Failure in that can mean disaster for them in a day or two.

In our spiritual lives, it is also important that we settle accounts with God regularly. In fact, saints and the Church herself have recommended that we make a daily examination of conscience just before going to bed.

This is to see if the day went as it should, that is, if love for God and neighbor is really the motive of all our actions, and so that we at least can be reconciled with God no matter how the day went. We should at least say sorry to God, even if we still have to do things to make up for our mistakes and sins.

This is an important task, because more than just resting physically, mentally or emotionally, we need to be at peace with God at the end of the day. God is everything to us. Regardless of our status at the moment, whether good or bad, moral or immoral, God not only will tell us what to do but also will give us what we need at that time.

God is always available, and what he gives us is also what we actually and ultimately need. What he gives us is at least the actual grace that we need to be able to act properly. If corresponded to properly, the actual grace can bring back the state of grace to us.

While present in every good act that we make, this actual grace is far beyond what any human solution to our human problems—health, financial, etc.—can give. This grace infuses the spiritual and supernatural character of our actions.

Again this is something that we have to be more aware of. We often understand our actions as purely human, if not purely material or of economic, political, social coverage only. Our human acts have a spiritual and supernatural character because first of all we are persons, and then we too are made children of God created in his image and likeness.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com