Justice and Peace Shall Kiss

Gospel Reflection for December 10, 2023, the Second Sunday of Advent - Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee.

A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

John was in the desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins.

And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

And John was clothed with camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey.

And he preached, saying: There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.

I have baptized you with water; but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. (Mark 1:1-8 DRA)

The readings for this Sunday continue the eschatological focus of Advent, looking forward not only to Christmas, the climax of the first act of Christ’s saving mission which began at the Annunciation, but to the Parousia, the Second Coming and End Times, when He will return and “make all things new.” (Rev 21:5) The protagonist of this Gospel passage is one of the greatest saints in history, the last prophet and the precursor and herald of Christ, His cousin St. John the Baptist. He is a particularly fitting figure for Advent, as he illustrates two elements of eschatology that are key for all Christians: the hope of salvation and the possibility of damnation. Like life and death, these form the light and shadow of the Christian heart and the motivation for all that we do. They are also two of the most mysterious and debated topics in the history of Christianity; while the authority of the Catholic Church and the wisdom of the saints help to alleviate some of this confusion, many Catholics are not properly catechized to understand them, much less to live them out in daily life or teach them to others.

One of the most common objections posed to Christians pertains to Hell, extending from the perennial “problem of evil” which is the greatest philosophical question and spiritual dilemma all people face and which is also the most common cause of someone abandoning the Faith. How, they ask, can a good God send people to Hell? If He knows they will go to Hell when He creates them, through His omniscience, is it not cruelty to even create them at all? In response, many Christians will deny the existence of Hell, asserting a universalism by which all people eventually will be saved. Others say that Hell exists but it is so difficult to go there, due to mitigating factors of culpability for sin, that it is empty. Still others believe in annihilationism, the idea that souls will be in Hell until the end of the world but will then be utterly destroyed along with the devil and his demons.

While all of these options may seem to be more compassionate or easier ways to explain Hell and reconcile it with the omnibenevolence of God, none of them are true. The authority of the Church, rooted in Scripture and Tradition, has always taught that Hell is an eternal punishment – exactly what form the punishment takes is debated, but the biblical imagery of fire has always been maintained, both in spiritual and physical senses. However, the ultimate curse of Hell is separation from God, in fulfillment of the completely and totally free choice of all who go there.

The main reason that Hell is objected to by so many, and even denied by a large portion of Christians today, is the claim that it is “unfair.” Why should God allow someone to go to Hell, even by their free choice, simply for violating His arbitrary laws, believing differently than others or succumbing to the alluring temptations of this world, many of which do not even seem to hurt anyone? In this view, God is a tyrannical judge who condemns people to eternal prison simply for displeasing Him. As in Christ’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and like our first father Adam, many even blame God for their sins: if the world were not so hard, if God’s existence and Providence were more obvious, if sinful things were not so appealing, I would not have sinned! Nevertheless, this view betrays a misunderstanding of God, Hell and free will. Humans are not made for mere bodily pleasure; nor are we owed anything by God other than what He freely chooses to give us. Rather, God has made us in His image, endowing us with the freedom necessary for the most divine act possible: self-giving love.

Since God Himself is love, (1 Jn 4:8) by imitating His utterly selfless, holy and perfect charity, we participate in His divine life and are made into His likeness. Without freedom, this would be impossible, as forced love is not true love. Many of the worldly difficulties we face are due to the past free choices of our ancestors, particularly in the Fall and its incursion of original sin which darkened our minds and made us susceptible to death. Non-Christians are often closed to this explanation, even though it is revealed by God and perfectly answers that which cannot be known by reason alone, namely the problem of evil, but for Christians it is undeniable. Without the Fall, Christ’s saving mission would have been unnecessary, (Rom 5:12-15) yet He used our free choice of sin to make us into His perfect likeness through participation in His divine life. Through His mercy, the Fall is not only corrected but transformed into the pathway by which we are divinized into a far greater likeness of God than Adam and Eve. By His grace, we are enabled to act with His perfect charity and thus become sons and daughters of God.

St. John the Baptist fully understood the reality of Hell. For this reason, even before Christ’s institution of sacramental Baptism, John offered people the opportunity to repent of their sins and prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah, for His definitive salvation through the Holy Ghost: “Finally, with John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of ‘the divine likeness,’ prefiguring what he would achieve with and in Christ.” (Catechism, 720) He boldly and even harshly corrected the sins of the Jewish leaders of the time, including the Pharisees and King Herod himself, for which he would ultimately suffer martyrdom. And yet, for John as for Isaias and St. Peter, Christ’s coming is not truly about Hell. It is about the wondrous and unfathomable hope of salvation offered by God, the renewal of Creation in the New Heavens and New Earth, when all sin and death will be destroyed and “God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:28) Damnation and salvation are not arbitrary: they are the direct, fair result of man’s free choice to either love God or reject Him, to have His Truth, Goodness and Beauty or to live forever without them. As Christians, we should love these transcendentals with deepest intensity and be sensitive to their corruption. God created us, like angels, with immortal souls that will never be destroyed, regardless of their final condition, as God never reneges on His promises, but the choice of their final condition is up to us.

In truth, if Hell did not exist, there would be no ultimate justice. Hitler and St. Mother Teresa would be no different in the end, receiving the same reward or, as atheists believe, simply dissolving into nothingness. People would be able to live without any thought or love for God or their fellow men and never receive any punishment for their sins in this life and then simply escape into death. Would this truly be justice? Would anyone want this to be true? Hell is just, not unfair – we should not be afraid of God’s fairness. He will judge in truth and with mercy, and He creates those whom He foreknows someday will be damned because to exist is better than not to exist, because everyone deserves freedom and because of all the good that those people will do for others despite their final loss. Even those who may seem far from Him in this life can still be saved by God’s secret Providence, as the Church has always taught: “When we consider God’s omnipotence and mercy, we should despair of no one in this life.” (St. Thomas Aquinas) As St. Peter minded us in the Epistle, “The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance.” (2 Pt 3:9) God’s laws are given only for our own good, that we may be united with Him in perfect joy for all eternity: “God is not offended except by our acting contrary to our own good.” (St. Thomas Aquinas) However, it is up to each Christian to evangelize, to spread the Good News throughout the world and, like St. John the Baptist, to never sacrifice truth, since people’s eternal souls are at stake, as are our own, if we do so.

Our Lady of Loretto, whose feast is today, ora pro nobis!

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