the living and the dead. But when? Immediately after those signs, or a long time after? But who can tell us that? It is useless to ask, for no one knows it. All we know for certain about the matter is that the last day shall come upon men quite unexpectedly, and therefore we should always be ready for it. This is the subject of my sermon to-day.
Plan of Discourse.
After the appearance of the signs, the last day of judgment shall come upon men quite suddenly and unexpectedly. This I shall briefly show in the first part. Therefore we should he ready for it every hour of our lives: “Make straight the way of the Lord.” This conclusion I shall prove in the second part.
That we may observe it carefully, help us with Thy grace, O future Judge of men! We beg this of Thee through the intercession of Mary and of our holy guardian angels.
It is clear that the last day shall come suddently, because God has kept the knowledge of it to Himself. That the day of judgment shall come upon men unexpectedly is evident from the fact that God has reserved the knowledge of it to Himself, and has not and will not reveal it to any of the Prophets or to any mere mortal. There have been many holy friends of God to whom He revealed the day, nay, even the hour, of their death; there have been wicked sinners the time of whose death and eternal damnation has been foretold by the Prophets. The heavenly city of Jerusalem was shown to St. John the Evangelist. St. Paul was rapt up to the third heaven, where, as he himself tells us, he saw mysteries that may not be revealed to men. Jesus Christ often spoke to His disciples about the kingdom of God, about the indescribable joys that there awaited them as the reward of their labors: “But I have called you friends,” He says to them, “because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father I have made known to you.”[1] But concerning the time of the end of the world and the coming of the Judge, no one either in heaven or on earth has ever heard a word. “But of that day or hour,” says Our Lord expressly to His disciples after having told them of the signs that are to announce the last day, “no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father.”[2] With these words He restrained the curiosity of His disciples regarding the time of
