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SOLD OUT!! Epiphany is running a trip to the SIGHT & SOUND THEATRE in LANCASTER, PA on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1ST. WE LEAVE ON A COMFORTABLE COACH BUS AT 2:00 SHARP! DINNER AT SHADY MAPLE FARM 10 pm RETURN TO EPIPHANY |
 Today’s Scripture
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| We all know and believe that Jesus will “come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” We affirm that belief each week when we pray the Creed. But it is possible that we have not thought deeply enough about the meaning of this final Judgment. For example, we know that God is infinitely merciful. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus welcomes some people into his eternal Kingdom, but others go off to eternal punishment. It is hard for us to understand fully how God’s mercy can go together with eternal punishment, but we can understand it partially. Today’s Gospel passage can help us. When Jesus addresses the first group of people, the ones entering heaven, he says to them: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father…” But when he addresses the second group, the ones entering eternal punishment, he says to them: “Depart from you, you accursed.” Notice how the blessing received by the first group came from God (“blessed by my Father”), but the curse received by the second group did not (“accursed”). The second group purposely and freely chose to live their earthly lives egocentrically. They didn’t enter into a friendship with God, because they didn’t want the lifestyle of love and self-giving that goes with it. For their entire lives they resisted and rejected God’s many invitations – the voice of conscience, the teachings of the Church, the example of believers, the lives of the saints, the beauties of creation. They freely chose to live separate from God. Now, after lives like that, would it be merciful for God to force them to spend eternity in his presence? No – it would be cruel. Hell is not God’s creation; it is the creation of those who feely and consistently choose to live without God.
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Please pray for our sick that they may receive God’s healing strength: Teresa Morone, Albert Ferranti, Marisa Della Pia, Dom Dinella, Sarah Wallace, Marie Devlin, James Curci, Susan and Frank Addis, Eileen McClain, Grace Jones, Brian Ligato, Danielle Peters, Marie and Hugh Quigley, Geraldine DiDonato, Pam Casey, Gerri Liberato-Abbott, Louie DiBruno, Michael Cornaglia, Sr., Karen Specht, Angel Scorza, Tom and Linda Sammaritano, Sister Peg, Stephanie Sinex, Shawn Keefe, Maria Dattilo, Ashleigh Leone, Tommy Van Horn Jr., Fr. Casey, Mary Young, Rose Campolongo, Landon Reid, Vickie Ann Owens, Annette Slattery, Anna Musolino, Joann Auld, Pat Kennedy, Sr. Francine OSF
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