The big test is coming, but we can see the answers now

Aday is coming when our life here will cease. Will we be ready for the judgment that awaits all of us? Will we pass the test? Can we know the answers to the judgment test in advance? Yes we can!

In our hearts, we all know that life is fleeting.

James 4:14 tells us: “You have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.” In our heads, we often struggle with the reality of our mortality. We never want to assume this day will be our last, so we put off until tomorrow things that need our immediate attention today.

Being prepared for the time we breathe our last breath is important.

Matthew 24:44 says this: “So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Luke 12:35-36 tells us: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.”

Are you ready? It has been said that we all might be more prepared if we knew exactly when our death would come. In Psalm 39:5, the author asks God to tell him the time of his death when he writes: “Lord, let me know my end, the number of my days, that I may learn how frail I am.” If you could know the exact number of days remaining in your life, would you really want to know? How would this change the way you live your life?

The fact is, we don’t know when our time will be up, and therefore, we should strive to be ready at all times. When that day does arrive, there will be judgment. Are you prepared for what that judgment will bring? Not everyone who cries “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, according to Matthew 7:21. Jesus tells us that only those who do the will of His Father will enter heaven. So, if we want to spend eternity with God in Heaven, we should ask ourselves this question: “What is God’s will for me?”

WITH THE ANSWERS, WE SHOULD PASS

Imagine for a moment that you had a very important test coming up in school. In fact, this test is so important that your performance on the test will determine whether or not you graduate. Wouldn’t you want to know the questions on the test in advance? Imagine further that the teacher has such a strong desire to see everyone in the class pass that he gives all of the students the answers to the test. One would assume that no one should fail the test, right?

Ignatian prayer: Imagination brings the Gospels to life

Not so fast. Our Heavenly Father has done just that for all of us. He has told us exactly how Judgment Day will go. You could say He has given us the answer for our eternal quiz in advance. He has told us how He will grade our test. With the answers in advance, shouldn’t we all pass? Unfortunately, He tells us that not everyone will.

Matthew 25:31-46 is the answer sheet that God has given us in advance of our judgment day. God wants us to love Him above all others, and He wants us to love others as He loves us. Not only has He given us the answers to the quiz, He has also told us that as our shepherd, He will separate us on His right and left based on our test results. Here is that eternal test:

1. Did you feed the hungry?

2. Did you give drink to the thirsty?

3. Did you welcome the stranger?

4. Did you clothe the naked?

5. Did you care for those who were ill?

6. Did you visit those in prison?

The answer that God is looking for from us for all six questions is “yes.” How did you do? Did you answer “no” to any question? Did you pass the test?

Be Vigilant And Ready For The Test

The day will come when He will say to those who passed the test: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” He then says to those who failed the test: “‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment.”

Yes indeed, God has given us the answers to the test. He has told us just how important it is that we show kindness and compassion to others, just as He has shown the same to us. He has warned us to be vigilant and ready for the test.

God has told us that our sins of omission can cause us to flunk the most important test we will ever encounter. He has given us the answers to the quiz. Will we utilize those answers or will we live life by our own standards? Are you ready if the test came today? If not, it’s not too late to start cramming for the exam.

BRIAN PUSATERI, founder of 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries, is a Catholic author and speaker. This was previously published at brokendoorministries.com.

Today, I spent time with the Gerasene demoniac. At least I did so in my imagination. I journeyed there in prayer and then stood with Jesus, watching the tortured and screaming man descending the hillside and identifying his demons as “legion.”

Praying with the imagination is a hallmark of Ignatian spirituality. It’s an active form of prayer, used in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. It’s used particularly when we explore the life of Jesus in Scripture. In Ignatian parlance, it’s called contemplation, but instead of keeping our mind free of thoughts as one would in some forms of contemplative prayer, in the Ignatian tradition the mind, heart and memory are fully engaged.

The demoniac’s story is one of Scripture’s most captivating. Jesus arrives “on the other side of the sea” (Mk 5:1), having sailed into pagan territory on the Sea of Galilee, directly across from the Jewish town of Capernaum. We have reached the land of Gerasenes.

Jesus is immediately confronted by a frightening man who emerges from the cave-like tombs among the rocks. A version of this story appears in all three synoptic Gospels, but Mark’s version, which runs to 20 verses, is powerful, simple and direct.

My imagination lets me take in the heat of the day, the oppressive dust, the strangled cries of the tortured man who cannot be restrained, even by chains. As I sink into my imagination, I note my reactions to what is before me. Am I afraid? Instead of standing back, terrified, today I feel great empathy for this tortured man. I feel confident that Jesus has things in hand. I look up in amazement as the man descends the rocky incline towards me.

In Jesuit Father James Martin’s book “Jesus: A Pilgrimage,” he recounts his own journey to Israel and his attempt to find the real sites of many Scripture stories. He devotes an entire chapter to this confrontation with the man besieged by evil spirits, and he shares expert opinions on the story and its possible true-life location. With him, you confront an unwelcoming vista where empty tombs sheltered a besieged man. And you are led into prayer.

Jesus knows who the demons are and does not fear them. Instead, they fear him and ask to be sent into the pigs grazing on the hillside.

In my imagination the pigs feature strongly because I grew up on an old-fashioned family farm with pigs: chickens, milk cows, feral cats – we had them all. Let me tell you that 2,000 pigs, which is Mark’s report, is an enormous number of pigs. Can you imagine what that many dead pig carcasses would do to the ecosystem of the Sea of Galilee? Who was counting pigs, anyway?

So in my imagination, there’s a herd of pigs, a realistic number. Praying with my imagination allows me to be creative with the environment. I watch in amazement as Jesus sends the demons into the pigs and into the water.

I feel great compassion for the man possessed. Who of us has not been overtaken by our own failures and sinfulness? Who has not felt alone, rejected? Who has not withdrawn in anger or torn at chains we feel binding us? Demonic possession may be a rare thing, but everyone has suffered from the results of evil in this world.

Tomorrow I’m going back to the hillside to spend more time with the man freed by Jesus. I will ask Jesus to help me with the chains that bind me.