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 be to  shroud  those  woeful  reunions  with  that  hour of densest  darkness  that  will  precede  the  dawn  of eternity.

Brethren, then,  in  a  burst  of  light,  shall  appear  the Son of  man  with  great  power  and  majesty. " They shall  go,"  says  Isaias,  "  into  the  holes  of  rocks  and into  the  caves  of  the  earth  from  the  face  of  the  fear of  the  Lord  and  from  the  glory  of  His  majesty,"  and St. John  in  the  Apocalypse  adds  that  the  very  "  earth and  heaven  shall  flee  from  His  face." And if  even the angels  and  the  blessed  shall  tremble  as  they  do who  witness  from  the  shore  a  storm  at  sea,  what  shall be the  terror  of  the  wicked! They shall  look  upon Him whom  they  crucified,  and  they  shall  wail  and lament as  do  they  who  have  lost  an  only-begotten son. They shall  realize  that  for  them  the  day  of mercy  has  passed  and  the  interminable  night  of  justice begun. They shall  feel  that  though  the  Old  Law of an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  has  been abolished in  this  world,  it  has  never  been  abrogated in the  next. But their  penitential  moans  shall  be  all too late,  for  He  shall  separate  them  as  the  shepherd separates the  sheep  from  the  goats;  the  just  He shall  station  on  His  right  hand  and  the  wicked  on His  left. Brethren, think  of  all  the  sad  partings  of friends  and  relatives  by  distance  and  by  death  that you have  ever  experienced  or  heard  of,  and  let  the bitterness of  them  be  a  salutary  warning  against  that final separation. " And,"  says  St. John (Apoc.  xx. 12),  "  I  saw  the  dead,  great  and  small,  standing  in  the presence  of  the  throne,  and  the  books  were  spread,