the general judgment, as if He said to them: why should you desire to know what is hidden from the angels and even from the Son of man Himself?
Not even the Son of God has a communicable knowledge of it. But, dearest Lord, how is it that Thou dost not know this? Art Thou not the Judge of the living and the dead, to whom the Father has committed the supreme power of deciding the fate of mortals at the last day, and therefore is it not for Thee to fix the date, to determine when the judgment shall be held? And art Thou not to know anything about it, although according to the testimony of the Apostle all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God are hidden in Thee? These words of Our Lord, my dear brethren, are interpreted in different ways by commentators, amongst whom are SS. Gregory, Ambrose, Hilary, and Augustine. They say that the Son of man knows nothing about the last day, not that He is absolutely ignorant of it, but that He does not wish to reveal it to any creature; that is, He has not of it a knowledge that He can communicate to others. In the same way a priest if asked what such or such a one has said to him in confession, can with truth answer: I do not know. For in such circumstances the words mean simply: I do not know it by a knowledge that I can communicate to others; or else: I am as little at liberty to speak of it as if I were absolutely ignorant of it. Thus the knowledge of the time of the last day is kept most strictly from men, and therefore that day will come quite unexpectedly, and will fall upon men when they are least thinking of it.
Christ has foretold that He will come unexpectedly. Again the same truth is evidently proved by the words of Our Lord in the Gospel of St. Matthew: “For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”[1] Lightning, as we know, appears suddenly and before one is aware of it, it shoots out of the clouds and flashes before our eyes; “so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” He will appear to men before they have time to cast a thought on His coming. St. Paul says: “But of the times and moments, brethren, you need not that we should write to you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night.”[2] Almost identical are the words we read in the Epistle of St. Peter: “But
