At the end of the world, there will be a general resurrection of our bodies. The characteristics of the bodies of the glorified will be different, and the characteristics of the bodies of the damned will be different. And behold, I will open your graves and bring you out of your coffins, says God through the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel. When the almighty voice shall sound, which shall be heard from east to west from north to south, the lying bodies, dried bones, and ashes shall be moved on the earth where they were deposited. All nature will begin to move. The sea, the land of the abyss, will be ready to give up the dead whom they thought they had swallowed up as their prey. They only cherished them so that one day, they could return them on demand.
Let us not marvel at the significant effect of the divine power that sustains the whole universe. The entire universe is like a speck in the eyes of God. God is omnipotent. It will be no problem for him to resurrect our bodies. Soul and body together form but one being. Man can achieve his goal only by preserving his natural constitution. But how can he preserve this natural constitution if he needs something that constitutes it? If they do not compose themselves in the order they were before. The nature of man necessarily requires the resurrection of the body. The whole creation passes from death to life. All you see has already been that nothing has been so lost that it will not reappear one day. Everything that once ceased, begins again. Everything ceases, only to be reborn. The soul has sinned using the body, therefore it is just that it should be justly punished. However, the soul also uses the body to do good works; thus, it must share in typical glorification. Also, the completeness of Christ’s victory over sin requires the resurrection, and his victory may be destroyed, even the power and kingdom of death. It must be remembered that as long as sin remains in the world, death will not cease to lie and exercise its cruel dominion over the human race. At the end of the ages, if the kingdom of sin is destroyed, the last enemy, death, will also be defeated. God will deliver His children from the power of death

The end of the world and one day the end of each of us is the theme presented to us by this week’s liturgy. Today’s reading from the book In the Revelation of St. John, the fall of Babylon symbolizes the downfall of worldliness, prosperity, and self-sufficiency. This apocalyptic scene is mirrored in today’s Gospel reading from Luke, where Jesus foretells the desolation of Jerusalem and his eventual return. Babylon, compared to “the great harlot,” is a city of deceit, where corruption and unclean spirits lie beneath its façade of magnificence and festivities. Ultimately, its destruction will be swift and total, leaving no trace..

“The sound of harpists, singers, pipers, and trumpeters will no longer be heard in you” – there will be no more beautiful celebrations. »No master of any craft will appear in you again« – because you are not a city of work, but of corruption. »The knocking of the mill will no longer be heard in you. The light of the lamp will no longer shine in you.« – it may be a city illuminated, but it will not shine. This is a corrupt civilization, »the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will no longer be heard in you«. There were many couples, many people, but no love. Desolation starts from within and ends when the Lord says “enough”. There will come a day when the Lord will say: »Enough of the pretense of this world«. This is the crisis of a civilization that considers itself proud and self-sufficient but is dictatorial and will end up like this.

Jerusalem will see another kind of destruction, namely the destruction of unfaithful love. It failed to recognize the love of God in His Son. Gentiles will trample the Holy City, the Lord will punish it because it has opened the gates of its heart to the Gentiles. Life – in our case the Christian life – becomes pagan. Are we living as Christians? It seems so, but in reality our life is pagan when these things happen and are subject to the seduction of Babylon. And Jerusalem lives like Babylon. He wants to make a synthesis that cannot be made. And both will disappear. Are you a Christian? Are you a Christian? Live like a Christian. You cannot mix water with oil. They will always remain separate. This is the end of a civilization that is self-contradictory, calling itself Christian and living like a heathen.

After the fall of both cities, the cry of the Lord will be heard. After destruction comes salvation. The angel will say, »Blessed are those who are invited to the Lamb’s wedding feast!«. It will be a grand, real celebration. Tragedies also exist in our lives, but if we find ourselves in front of them, let us look to the horizon because we are redeemed and the Lord will come to save us. We thus learn to undergo the trials of this world not in agreement with worldliness or paganism, which leads us to destruction, but in hope, detaching ourselves from these worldly and pagan temptations, looking to the horizon, hoping in Christ the Lord. Hope is our strength: we go forward. But we must plead with the Holy Spirit.

Think of the Babylons of our time. Consider, for example, the powerful empires of the last century that collapsed. And so will the great cities of today also end, and so will our life and if we follow the path of paganism. Only those who put their hope in the Lord will remain. With hope, therefore, let us open our hearts and turn away from the heathen life.

St. Catherine is a very popular saint, martyred at the beginning of the 4th century in Egypt, she is one of the three holy virgins (along with St. Barbara and St. Margaret) and the 14th saint of helpers in need. She is the patroness of theologians and philosophers.

Although the legends of her martyrdom contain many symbolic images, there is no doubt that behind them lies the life of a rare woman and an actual historical event. According to the Greek text Pasiio (narrative of the martyrdom) from the 6th century and Conversion (8th century), the young and beautiful Katerina came from an educated and noble family. In 307, the emperor Maxentius ordered grand pagan celebrations and sacrifices to the gods. Catherine refused to participate in them and even reproached the emperor for his folly: “Why do you want to bring this crowd into misery because of the cult of pagan gods? Learn to know God, the Creator of Jesus Christ, who freed humanity from hell with his cross.”

The monarch was not only surprised by this boldness, but also very touched and touched in the heart. He had orators and philosophers called to convince Catherine with their explanations. However, with her wisdom, the young Christian woman convicted them of the error, so many were even converted. She could not be persuaded to abandon her faith, even by generous marriage offers. That’s when the emperor had her beaten and put in prison. There, she was visited not only by the emperor’s wife, who also converted to the Christian faith, Jesus Christ appeared to her in a vision; Catherine’s soul since then belonged entirely to Him.

Because of the many conversions caused by Catherine’s wisdom, the emperor had her tortured on a wheel studded with nails, which, according to legend, broke during the torture, and therefore she was finally beheaded with a sword. The legend further states that the body of St. Catherine was transferred to Sinai, where a famous monastery dedicated to her name was founded. It still exists today and is visited by many pilgrims. St. Catherine is often depicted with her wheel pierced with nails or discussing with surprised philosophers. In the Franciscan monastery church in Jindřich Hradec, which is dedicated to St. Catherine, she is again depicted in a “mystical betrothal” to Jesus on the painting of the main altar, and her attribute – the executioner’s wheel – is not missing here either.

Her testimony and example make us realize a very important thing: we should strive for actual knowledge. However, the truth does not submit to the wishes of the powerful, nor do we have to arrive at it through mutual discussion, even if that is also necessary for a better understanding of it – see the conversion of the philosophers. Even education or professional studies, which we cannot underestimate, do not guarantee that we will understand things correctly. Wise is the man who can truthfully reveal the laws of this world, but he becomes a fool if he does not know the Creator of this world. And so far wiser is the one to whom the truth about God – and thus also about everything else – was revealed through the Holy Spirit. That is why St. Katerina is a shining example of Jesus’ words: “They will persecute you, deliver you to the synagogues for trial and prison, they will present you before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So take this to heart: Don’t prepare in advance how to defend yourself. For I will give you eloquence and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to resist or oppose.” (Lk 21, 12-15)

This time in November has led many of you to thoughts or discussions about whether there is life after death. Perhaps you have read the book Life After Life by the American doctor Moody, who deals with Lazarus’ symptoms. The stories he describes happened to those who survived clinical death and were awakened to life. This may not yet convince anyone of the existence of life after death. Still, many are troubled by many ambiguities when reading it, such as understanding depersonalization, the great light, the tunnel, the wonderful feeling of joy, and so on. In this soulful time, Jesus wants to bring light to our doubts with today’s Gospel, which describes the meeting of the Lord Jesus with the Sadducees, who deny the resurrection. The Sadducees asked the Lord Jesus about the resurrection of those who have died physically, and we also often meet the Sadducees.

A group of Sadducees sought conflict to oppose Jesus. The Sadducee class came from the strict priestly class and became more of a political than a religious group. We may take them as a second Jewish sect, smaller than the class of Pharisees, with whom they disagree because they teach more strictly and have confined the revelation of God to the Five Books of Moses. They deny the resurrection and the immortality of the soul; they do not believe in life after death and in angels. Therefore, they tell Jesus about a fictional event that is directed against him. They refer to the Law of Moses, which orders: “… if someone’s brother dies who had a wife but was childless, his brother should marry her and beget offspring for his brother” (Lk 20:28). They also tell of a woman who, after the death of her husband, was married to his seven brothers. That is why they ask the Lord Jesus: “Well, which of them will be the wife of the woman at the resurrection?” After all, seven of them had her as a wife” (Lk 20:33). The Sadducees say there can be no life after death because then comic scenes would follow. The previous question formulated in this way is ridiculous. However, it is not because there are many similar questions even today. Today, when people talk about life after death, many people do not believe in life after death, ridicule and misinterpret it. For one group, this life is compatible with our life here. That’s why they try to live fully here on earth, and that’s all they expect from life. The second group speaks of the second life as a mystery that beckons man. However, it is vague and, therefore, similar to dreaming of an earthly paradise where one will not lack material things, goods, and joy. So, they see the second life after death as a worldly life of a higher quality.

When a small child goes “to the cross” during Holy Communion, he usually goes with his parents or grandparents. When I give communion to their guides, I often realize the mutual similarity and think, this is how parents looked 30 years ago, grandparents 60 years ago. Or this is what the child will look like after the mentioned years. We don’t just inherit the outward appearance. Many times also character traits. And maybe even more. The transmission of physical resemblance is automatic, based on genes, without the parents’ knowledge. It seems that the transmission of character traits is not so automatic anymore. Why? Because the parent, by shaping his nature, passes on an already guided (or unguided) child. By shaping himself, he helps his children and the environment.

Perhaps that is why we celebrate the Feast of the Sacrifice of the Virgin Mary today, even though it was slowly gaining ground in the West and was abolished after the Council of Trent. It was canceled because it is based on a New Testament apocryphal writing called Jacob’s First Gospel (lat. Protoevangelium Jacobi). Although the Second Vatican Council violated the feasts without a historical and biblical basis, today’s was retained, despite its creation at the instigation of the Apocrypha, because the Virgin Mary ultimately sacrificed herself to God and the role he assigned to her in the history of salvation. With this, she incentivizes all Christians to follow her in this sacrifice.

And to the Virgin Mary, the devotion was handed down from her parents, who brought her to the temple as a child and thus coded the devotion for her. This is what Mary wants to pass on to us. So what should we do so that Mary’s son can also say about us: “Behold, my mother and my brothers.” For everyone who does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  For help, let’s take the ancient mystical author Pseudo-Marius, who compares the soul to a great city. In the middle is a beautiful castle, and next to it is the market and all the institutions that belong to the town. The enemy, i.e., original sin, has occupied the surroundings of the castle; this is what our senses symbolize. And that is why we are so often worried. From the market, the sound also reaches the castle. And there, in the depths of our soul, we can accept or reject these temptations.

In the castle of our inner soul, we should not let sin go. St. Teresa from Avila perhaps inspired by this author, wrote “The Castle Inside.” He says that we can dialogue with our Lord without being disturbed by the market. However, and you may be right, we are often internally divided. That market, figuratively speaking, reaches too far into the castle of our soul. And that is often unpleasant and tiring for us. A person following Mary avoids sin and purifies his heart to return to inner peace. The goal of asceticism – spiritual exercise is to purify one’s thoughts in the depths of one’s heart.

Because we must not stay only with moral teachings. It is necessary to learn a relationship with God, which should occur more precisely in the depths of the heart and not through external actions. That is why Jesus is so critical of the Pharisees. This may have the consequence that many people outwardly observe the commandments, but as if they still consider belonging to the Church, faith, and keeping the commandments a burden. It’s like when the Israelites left Egypt. They kept looking behind the greasy pots. Moses taught them something else. That is why a person is doing wrong when he wants to treat restlessness with drugs, medicines, and false mysticism.

Christian spirituality offers us opportunities to gain peace. It is precisely from the point of view of heredity mentioned in the introduction that we realize that the drama of the martyrdom and death of the Son of God reflects the drama of a person who is entangled in hereditary and personal sin. The situation of all humanity, including each of us, is serious when the God-Man “had” to accept such a cruel fate: he had to suffer a lot, be rejected, despised, and crucified (cf. Lk 9, 22). Therefore, let us realize that we were sacrificed to God at baptism. The great preacher and saint St. In his sermon to the newly baptized, John Chrysostom describes what baptism makes of us with these words: “The baptized are not only free, but also holy, not only holy, but also righteous, not only righteous, but also sons, not only sons but also heirs, not only heirs but also brothers of Christ and not only brothers of Christ but also co-heirs, not only co-heirs but also members, not only members but also a temple, not only a temple but an instrument of the Spirit.”

In the book Restlessness of God, the Dutch painter Jean Verkade (representative of Nabism) tells how he became a Christian. Among other things, he writes: Intellectually, I got closer and closer to the Church. I was only afraid of the obligations I had to take on, and I could not yet genuinely believe. I told the priest. He was unsurprised and told me: “Unless you are baptized, you cannot believe as we do because the supernatural virtue of faith is the grace we receive at baptism. When you are baptized, all difficulties and doubts will likely disappear. And so it happened.” So we inherited a lot of goodness. We can follow the Virgin Mary.