The End of the World

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One

The End of The World 

We know from Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium what will occur before the end of time. These things are explained in the Catechism in paragraphs 673-682. 

The first thing that must take place before the end of the world is that the Good News of Jesus Christ must be proclaimed to the whole world to all the Gentiles (non-Jews) who are going to be converted so that the full number of Gentiles, become Christian. (CCC 674)

In Matthew 24:14 Jesus said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations (Gentiles); and then the end will come.”

What will be the sign that we are getting close to the completion of step one? Jesus gives a clue when he says, “Jerusalem will be trodden down (under the control) of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are finished.” Luke 21:24

Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were removed from Palestine in the year 70 and again in 132 AD. In 638, Palestine was conquered by and fell under the control of the Muslims until the end of WWI when it fell under the control of the British. Finally, in 1948 the State of Israel was established. And now the Jews have control of both Israel and the West Bank territories.

So, for the first time since 66 AD, Jerusalem is no longer under the control of the Gentiles, which Jesus said is the sign that the times of step one are drawing to a completion. We don’t know how long this will take but it should give us something to think about…

Two

The second thing that will occur before the end of the world is that in the wake of the full number of Gentiles entering the covenant with God, the Jews will recognize Jesus as the Messiah and become Christian. 

CCC 674 The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles", will enable the People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which "God may be all in all".

In Romans 11: 25-26 Paul writes, “One section of Israel has become blind, but this will last only until the whole Gentile world has entered, and then after this the rest of Israel will be saved as well.”

However, the conversion of Israel is delayed because the full number of Gentiles are not entering the covenant. And why not? Because of bad Catholics. We are giving a terrible example to the world by not living lives of holiness and love and so we are giving a very bad witness. And because we are not living our primary mission to go and make disciples of all nations.  

We have created a Catholic welfare state, passive recipients of benefits at best. There are very few workers in the vineyard, all the baptized are to be disciple-makers. People come to God through other people, so we are all called to be apostles of friendship and help people to Jesus by living a simple way of life. We call it friendship, good conversation, and the Rosary.  

Three

Jesus tells us the third thing that will happen before the end of the world.

In Luke 18:8 and Matthew 24:12, and which is summed up by the Catechism (675), we are told that, “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.”

There will come a supreme deception brought on by the Antichrist who will offer people an apparent solution to all their problems at the price of rejecting Christ and the Church. The Catechism says the Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made that we can find happiness, justice, and peace in this world apart from Christ. Cf. 676

We give in to this deception every time we seek our hope for happiness and security in our achievements or relationships, our health or wealth, science and medicine, politics and economics. 

Only in Jesus can we find the perfect and permanent happiness we long for. Everything else comes to an end! We are called to a deep attachment to God and a proper detachment from everything down here.

St Teresa of Avila writes, “Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes. God never changes. Patience obtains all. Whoever has God, wants for nothing. God alone is enough.”

Four

Then comes the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world (CCC 677).

In his second letter, Peter writes, “The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.” 2 Peter 3:12

That is why I don’t do lawn care!

Peter continues, “Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat.”

“What we are waiting for is what he promised: the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace.”

There must be four ingredients to our hope.

First, the one thing truly hoped for is union with God and not the temporary happiness found in the world. The second is that we give our unconditional and active “Yes” to God just like Mary, to play our part, take up and fulfill our responsibility. The third element is the acceptance of a catastrophic end to the world of history. (Pieper, Josef. An Anthology p. 26). Finally, as Peter said, God will create a New Heavens and a New Earth where we will live forever in peace, justice, and perfect delight.

Five

We do not know when the world will end, but based on the saints, mystics, and the messages of the approved apparitions of Mary, this world will NOT end soon. However, they have said there will be a great falling away from the faith before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary prophesied at Fatima. We are experiencing that now throughout Europe, and North and South America. 

There are 100 million people that were Baptized as Catholics in the U.S. Of those, only 10-15% go to Mass regularly. It’s far less in Canada, Europe, and South America.

This minor apostasy is to be followed by a worldwide purification of which Our Lady warned us at Akita, Kibeho, San Nicolas, and others…Then comes the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Era of Peace promised at Fatima.

St. John Paul II foresaw the "New Evangelization" and a "Civilization of Love" in the Third Millennium of Christianity, the time that began with the coming of the year 2000.

This would place us in the period just before the worldwide purification and Re-evangelization of the entire world, not the end of the world.

Since 1968 when Our Lady appeared to more than one million people in Zeitun, Egypt, she has come with a greater frequency and urgency to beg us to turn back to God and to help save souls and save the world from self-destruction. She has repeatedly said that only she is the remedy because she will lead us to Jesus. Our salvation will not be found in politics or economics, in military might, or science or medicine. It will only be found in Jesus. 

We often look back at history and think of our own times as boring by comparison, but I promise you, this is a very exciting time to be a Christian!

The question for you is this: are you doing everything you can to seek transforming union with Jesus and are you doing what Our Lady has asked to help save the world, primarily praying the Rosary every day and offering sacrifice and penance to save souls?