Victory over Satan is certain

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
First Reading: Dn 12:1-3
Second Reading: Heb 10:11-14, 18
Gospel Reading: Mk 13:24-32

At the world’s end, “Michael, the great prince,” shall arise, and, after “a time of anguish,” God’s people “shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”

Michael is the archangel to whom many parishes now pray after Mass: “Defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.”

This prayer, written by Pope Leo XIII, is based on the Bible’s Book of Revelation: “Then war broke out in Heaven: Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. Although the dragon and his angels fought back, they were overpowered and lost their place in Heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world, was driven out; he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him.”

It also echoes what St. Peter says in Tuesday’s Night Prayer: “Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

Michael’s ultimate victory over Satan is certain. Christ, in authority at his Father’s right hand, waits only “until his enemies” are “made a footstool for his feet.” (Heb 10:13)

Jesus will come to earth again, and everyone will see him. However, we cannot possibly predict when, for everything will seem normal right up to the end. We cannot be “too keen for Him and spy out his approach,” warns preacher George Macdonald.

We must “be on guard,” therefore, lest he “come suddenly,” like a thief in the night, and find us asleep.

The world as we know it will end, but we will not. Our belief is not a vague feeling that our souls will outlive death, but a positive certainty—asserted in the Creeds—that God will “raise up” our bodies.

To the Sadducees, who denied it, Jesus said, “You fail to understand the Scriptures or the power of God.” To Martha, whose brother had died, he said, “I am the Resurrection and the life.” St. Paul argued that “he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also.”

When the risen Jesus visited his apostles, he identified himself by the wounds in his body. However, his body was different: it could disappear and appear many kilometres away; it could approach even through locked doors; and it was also, sometimes, difficult to recognize.

Like his, our risen bodies will be our own, but they will be transfigured. The “how” of all this “exceeds our imagination and understanding; it is accessible only to faith,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

However, the transubstantiation of bread into Christ’s body at Mass gives us a hint. So does Christ’s own transfiguration, when God filled “with the greatest splendour” the bodily form he shares with us, to show us how what first “shone forth” in the Church’s Head “is to be fulfilled” in the Church’s body.

Accordingly, we must treat human bodies with respect and love. The Church “earnestly recommends” burial, but she does not forbid cremation. However, she insists that the ashes be buried in blessed ground—not scattered, kept at home, preserved in mementos, or shared among friends and family.

After the resurrection of the dead will come the Last Judgement, exposing “the truth of each man’s relationship with God” and revealing “even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life.”

As Christ pronounces “the final word on all history,” we will see “that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.”

Then “the universe itself will be renewed,” and God will live among us.