Msgr. Beaulieu – Dies Domini

Dies Domini —The Day of the Lord

The Day of the Lord (Heb. Yom Adonai; Gk. hēmera Kyriou) has multiple meanings in the Bible, such as a day of judgment and destruction or a day of hope for those who have been forgiven. When the expression is understood as a prophesied time of divine judgment and intervention, it is often associated with the end of the world, where God will ultimately punish the wicked and establish a new creation. In that sense, the biblical term signifies the final culmination of history and the end of the current world order as it is now known.

That day is frequently depicted as a time of great upheaval and cosmic disturbances, with references to darkness, blood moons, and natural disasters. It is a day when the Lord’s disciples should stay ready and holy being prepared for that unknown future date.

In today’s Gospel, the Day of the Lord marks the day when God’s rule over the earth will be eternal and universal. In speaking about that fateful day, Jesus made use of apocalyptic writing that appeared in the Book of Daniel and certain chapters of Isaiah – usually chapters 24-27. However, the Lord’s version of that literary technique adhered more to the prophetic style, which is clearer in Saint Luke. Cosmic disorder is typical in that type of literature, even obligatory. The arrival or advent of the Son of Man without “the powers of heaven being shaken” would diminish the immensity of the Lord’s return in glory.

The earthly witnesses of those supernatural phenomena will be frightened at what they see. Nevertheless, either with animated courage or because of their not being aware of the potential danger, those spectacular signs in the heavens are the announcement that “redemption is at hand.” No one should ever ignore that the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly. Due to its suddenness, constant vigilance is necessary in order to be ready. Earthly distractions, especially lewd and lascivious behavior, must be avoided since those elements distract attention from the demand to be perennially ready for the unknown.

Literary Parallels

In one of his Christmas stories, Charles Dickens tells of a man who lost his emotional memory; that is, he lost the whole chain of feelings and thoughts he had acquired in the encounter with human suffering. This extinction of the memory of love is presented to him as liberation from the burden of the past, but it becomes immediately clear that his whole person has been changed: now, when he meets with suffering, no memories of kindness are stirred within him. Since his memory has dried up, the source of kindness within him has also disappeared. He has become cold and spreads coldness around him.

Goethe deals with the same idea as Dickens in his account of the first celebration of the feast of St. Roch in Bingen after the long interruption caused by the Napoleonic wars. He observes the people, as they press tightly packed through the church, past the image of the saint, and he watches their faces: the faces of the children and the adults are shining, mirroring the joy of the festal day. With the young people, Goethe reports, it was otherwise. They went past unmoved, indifferent, bored. And he gives an illuminating explanation: they were born in evil times, had nothing good to remember and consequently had nothing to hope for. In other words, it is only the person who has memories who can hope. The person who has never experienced goodness and kindness simply does not know what such things are.

Concluding Thought

Advent is the time to soberly and joyfully prepare once again to get ready to receive God’s gift of Christmas. It is a sacred time to remember the ancient promises to Abraham, David, and the prophets. Advent is the time to ready our hearts to celebrate once again the joy of God’s Incarnation.

Excerpted from www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear.12 01 2024