The Lord is gracious and merciful. — Psalm 145:8

Mass readings: Isaiah 49:8-15 / John 5:17-30 

The Last Trumpet 

I like the smell and feel of my childhood’s “Saint Joseph’s Daily Missal.” The multi-colored, bookmark ribbons make me smile. I felt so pious, moving them from page to page — as I’d seen the nuns do. However, one of its pictures still unsettles me. It’s the simple sketch accompanying the last Sunday of the liturgical year. It shows angels blowing trumpets, calling the worthy dead from their graves at the Last Judgment. 

In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “The hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of God” and live. Those words are equally unsettling because, like the missal sketch, they imply the possibility of not hearing His voice, of being left for dead. 

I never want to be left for dead by failing to recognize Him. 

Prayer: Lord, grant that I know and recognize Your voice.