The End of the World

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 said, “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 World War One 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 is 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 enter 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 we are not living our primary mission to go and make disciples of all nations. At the end of every Mass, we are dismissed with the word, “Go!” We are supposed to be the missionaries who go back to our homes and out into the world to spread the Gospel. But we have created a Catholic Welfare State. We have become passive recipients of benefits. There are too few workers in the vineyard.

But I think there is a simple way of life to correct this: commit to daily meditation and a resolution through the Rosary. Then gather family and friends around Mary to pray the Rosary, and finally, personally invest in the people God has entrusted to you to know, understand, love and care for them. That’s our three step process! 

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. Luke 18:8 and Matthew 24:12, which is summed up by the Catechism (675) tell us, “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.” The Antichrist will unleash a supreme deception that 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 ultimate happiness and security in our achievements or relationships, our health or wealth, science and medicine, politics and economics rather than in God. Only in Jesus can we find the perfect and permanent happiness we long for. Everything else comes to an end!

So, we are called to a deep attachment to God and a proper detachment from everything else. 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. The first is that 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 our personal history, for we all must die, and a catastrophic end of world history because this present world too must die. (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 indicated 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 one hundred million people who were Baptized as Catholics in the U.S. Of those, less than 20% go to Mass regularly. It’s far less in Canada, Europe, and South America.

This minor apostasy is to be followed by a world-wide purification of which Our Lady warned us at Akita, Kibeho, San Nicolas, and Medjugorje. 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. It is Mary and the Rosary that lead us back to Christ, the Church, and the Eucharist. 

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, by gathering family and friends around Mary to pray, and by personally investing in those people one on one?