Ding-Ding-Ding (sound of a bell ringing). Did anyone watch the (Mike)Tyson fight? My childhood hero got defeated by this YouTube star. I was watching the the fights and there was a rule I’d never heard before. And the rule was the no saved by the bell rule. I want to talk about that and explain what that means and what it doesn’t mean.
In a number of the matches, they had this rule that there is a no saved by the bell rule. So, what is this saved by the bell rule? The saved by the bell rule in boxing is this: Normally if somebody gets knocked down, they have a 10-count to get back up. The referee will count to 10 and if they’re not back up by 10-count, they are considered knocked out. Saved by the bell happens when they begin to do the countdown, and they might get to 3,4,5,6 and then the bell rings, Ding-Ding-Ding. If the bell rings, they’re saved by the bell. They don’t have to get up by the end of the 10-count. They have until the next round starts. So, they are saved by the bell.
What I want to talk about today is at the end of our lives there’s a rule and it’s a no saved by the bell rule. So, what that means is when we die: that’s it. We come before the moment of judgment. In the catechism, it talks about two kinds of judgment. The first judgment is called particular judgment. Particular judgment is when each and every one of us goes before Jesus at the moment of our death and our fate is sealed at that moment. We will either go towards heaven or we will go to hell. There’s no saved by the bell. That’s the moment of truth. The catechism also talks about the judgment at the end of time, where Jesus will come at the end of time and judge everyone.
In today’s reading, both Daniel and Mark speak about the times of great tribulation that we will face, periods where it will seem like darkness is winning. When we have our backs against the ropes. Daniel talks about it as a time of unsurpassed distress and Mark depicts this apocalyptic image of the darkened sun and the falling stars. Jesus says, learn a lesson from the fig tree. You know in the spring when it begins to sprout shoots, summer is coming. He says we should learn a lesson from that for eternal life, when we see these tribulations happening the end is near.
For Catholics we have this phrase, the apocalyptic. That means the end of time. All of these readings are going to be more apocalyptic as we come to the end of this liturgical year, and we enter into this season of Advent. Daniel talks about this moment of truth, the no saved by the bell. He says that many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some shall live forever. Others shall be in everlasting horror and disgrace. There is a finality to the end of our lives. Unlike boxing where you may go to fight another match, when we come to the end of our lives that is it. That’s the moment of truth.
In the churches understanding, since the Second Vatican Council, has been already the final age of the world is with us. And the renewal of the world is already underway. What that’s saying is we are in the end times. But of the day or the hour no one but the father knows. We don’t know when our own personal end will happen, when we will die personally. Or when the second coming will happen, but the truth is we have to be prepared for both.
I just want us to imagine right now if we were to die at this moment and we went before the judge, where would we lie? Is there anything in our lives that we know we would want to change? There’s a temptation to believe that we will be saved by the bell. We’re always going to have a chance before we die. We might not. It could happen at any moment. If there is anything that we are holding on to, any sin that is keeping us from eternal life, don’t wait till the end. This is a time where we are able to go to confession and to be renewed and be reconciled.
So, is there any good news? Well, here’s the good news. We hear in Daniel that at that time shall arise Michael the great Prince, Guardian of the People. Michael will be there to defend, Saint Michael the Archangel. It’s important that we pray for his intercession in our lives. In the gospel, we also hear this assuring message from Jesus, that he and the father will also be there for us. The whole reason Jesus came into the world to suffer, to die, to rise, was so that we have a chance. The only way that we have a chance of eternal life is if we suffer with him and we die with him, we will rise with him.
The good news is, we don’t have to wait for that final bell. The good news is that we can begin to amend our lives now. We can begin to live the lives that God calls us to live because there is this rule at the end of life and the rule is there’s no saved by the bell.
