Lesson at Matins – Isaias xiii. 1‒11
The burden of Babylon, which Isaias the son of Amos saw. Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates. I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory. The noise of the multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people: the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together. The Lord of hosts has given charge to the troops of war, to them that come from a country afar off, from the end of Heaven: the Lord and the instruments of His wrath, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near, it will come as a destruction from the Lord. Therefore will all hands be faint, and every heart of man will melt, and will be broken. Gripings and pains will take hold of them, they will be in pain as a woman in labour: every one will be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances will be as faces burnt. Behold, the day of the Lord will come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, and their brightness will not display their light: the sun will be darkened in his rising, and the moon will not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and bring down the arrogance of the mighty.
Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The Church puts before us again, in the office of today, the terrible spectacle of the last Coming of Jesus Christ. The sinful Babylon, of which Isaias speaks, is the world grown old in its crimes. The cruel day, full of indignation and wrath, is that on which the Messiah will return to judge the world with His Sign glittering in the clouds. The words used by the Prophet to describe the terror of the inhabitants of Babylon are so expressive that it is difficult to meditate on them seriously and not tremble. You, then, who, in this second week of preparation for the Birth of our Saviour are still wavering and undecided as to what you intend to do for the day of His Coming, reflect on the connection that there is between the two Comings. If you receive your Saviour in the first, you need be in no fear for the second. But if you despise the first, the second will be to your destruction, nor will the cries of your despair save you. The Judge will come on a sudden, at midnight, at the very time when you persuade yourself that He is far off from you. Say not, that the end of the world is not yet come, and that the destinies of the human race are not filled up — it is not the world that is here in question, it is you individually.
True, the
Day of the Lord will be terrible, when this world will be broken up
as a vessel of clay and the remnants of creation will be a prey to
devouring flames. But long before that day of universal terror your
own day of judgement will come. The inexorable Judge will come to
you, you will stand before His face, you will have none to defend
you, and the sentence He will pass will be eternal. And though the
nature of that sentence, whether for or against you, will not be
known to the rest of the world until the last and general judgement,
still is this His Coming to you, at your own judgement, terrible
above measure. Remember, therefore, that what will make the terror of
the Last Day so great is, that then will be solemnly and publicly
confirmed what was judged irrevocably, though secretly, between your
own soul and her Judge, just as the favourable sentence, which the
good receive at the happy moment of their death, will be repeated
before the immense assembly of men and Angels on the Last Day. Is it
wise, then, Christians, to put off your conversion, on the plea of
the Day of the Lord not having to come for ages, when it might be
“this night that your soul were required of you” (Luke xii. 20).
The Lord is coming: lose no time, prepare to meet Him. A humble and
contrite and converted heart is sure to find acceptance.
