Friends, today’s Gospel reminds us of the final judgment when the wicked will be separated from the righteous. When good and evil are confused or intermingled, divine judgment separates them, clarifying the issue. 

Bob Dylan said, “The enemy I see wears the cloak of decency.” One of the favorite ruses of evil is to cover itself in the mantle of justice and piety, at the same time aping and hiding behind that which it opposes. Christ’s judgment rips away these cloaking devices, these deceits, and shows things as they are. 

Authentic Christianity is a fighting religion, and it calls evil by its name. The Church knows what stands outside of itself, and it turns its back on it. The bearer of light and truth, it separates good from evil, sometimes painfully, like a “two-edged sword.”