How Will It All End?

 

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Your divine commandments are broken,
your Gospel is thrown aside,
torrents of iniquity flood the whole earth
carrying away even your servants.
The whole land is desolate,
ungodliness reigns supreme,
your sanctuary is desecrated
and the abomination of desolation
has even contaminated the holy place.

God of Justice, God of Vengeance,
will you let everything, then, go the same way?
Will everything come to the same end
as Sodom and Gomorrah?
Will you never break your silence?
Will you tolerate all this for ever?
Is it not true that your will must be done
on earth as it is in heaven?
Is it not true that your kingdom must come?
Did you not give to some souls, dear to you,
a vision of the future renewal
of the Church? 
—St. Louis de Montfort,
Prayer for Missionaries, n. 5

 

So how does the world end? How do the final things play out before time and history come to their dramatic conclusion?

From the Early Church Fathers to numerous popes and other magisterial works, the best understanding of how the “end times” unfolds is encapsulated in the words of Fr. Charles Arminjon:

…if we study but a moment the signs of the present time, the menacing symptoms of our political situation and revolutions, as well as the progress of civilization and the increasing advance of evil, corresponding to the progress of civiliation and the discoveries in the material order, we cannot fail to foresee the proximity of the coming of the man of sin, and of the days of desolation foretold by Christ.  —The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, Fr. Charles Arminjon (1824-1885), p. 58; Sophia Institute Press

 

A New Era, Not the End

However, the Antichrist is not the last word.^[1]cf. Rethinking the End Times The wicked who presently hold power are not the final word. The architects of this culture of death are not the final word. The persecutors who are driving Christianity into the ground are not the final word. No, Jesus Christ and His Word are the final word.  The fulfillment of the Our Father is the final word. The unity of all under one Shepherd is the final word.^[2]cf. John 17:21 Fr. Charles dismisses the idea that the triumph of Christ coincides with the sudden end of everything. 

Is it really credible that the day when all people will be united in this long-sought harmony will be the one when the heavens shall pass away with great violence — that the period when the Church Militant enters her fullness will coincide with that of the final catastrophe? Would Christ cause the Church to be born again, in all her glory and all the splendor of her beauty, only to dry up forthwith the springs of her youth and her inexhaustible fecundity?… The most authoritative view, and the one that appears to be most in harmony with Holy Scripture, is that, after the fall of the Antichrist, the Catholic Church will once again enter upon a period of prosperity and triumph. —Fr. Charles Arminjon, Ibid., p. 58, 57

Yes, a miracle was promised at Fatima, the greatest miracle in the history of the world, second only to the Resurrection. And that miracle will be an era of peace, which has never really been granted before to the world. —Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, papal theologian for Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II, October 9th, 1994, The Apostolate’s Family Catechism, p. 35

The Early Church Fathers, passing on what was handed to them by the Apostles, foresaw after the death of Antichrist — not the end of all things — but the beginning of a renewed creation. They called this period a “Sabbath Rest” for the Church and the “Day of the Lord,” which they equated to the “thousand years” in St. John’s apocalypse.^[3]Rev. 20:1-6 That is the straightforward chronology of both the Old and New Testament prophets, particularly St. John:

• The “beast” or Antichrist arises but is defeated by Christ and thrown into hell. ^[4]Rev 19:20
• Satan is chained for a “thousand years,” while the saints reign after a “first resurrection.” ^[5]Rev 20:12
• After that period of peace, Satan is released, who then makes one last assault upon the Church, the “camp of the saints.” ^[6]Rev 20:7
• But fire falls from heaven and consumes the devil who is thrown “into the pool of fire” where “the beast and the false prophet were.” ^[7]Rev 20:9-10
• Jesus returns in glory to receive His Church, the dead are raised and judged according to their deeds, fire falls and a New Heavens and a New Earth are made, inaugurating eternity. ^[8]Rev 20:11-21:2

The Triumph

So, one of my readers asked recently:

Adam and Eve erred by disobeying God, being willful, and eating of the fruit. God gave them, as He gives us, free will. So what’s to say one of us won’t screw it up again when we are made whole in His Divine Will — where it reigns “on earth as it does in Heaven”? I’m sure God has it planned out, but I’d love to know that we won’t be able to mess everything up again.

It is true that both Scripture, saints, and several popes have written about this future period of peace when, as St. Louis de Montfort puts it:

Almighty God and His Holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs. —St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, Art. 47

In fact, Pope Pius XII foresaw a time, before Heaven, when mortal sin would seem to disappear. 

But even this night in the world shows clear signs of a dawn that will come, of a new day receiving the kiss of a new and more resplendent sun… A new resurrection of Jesus is necessary: a true resurrection, which admits no more lordship of death… In individuals, Christ must destroy the night of mortal sin with the dawn of grace regained. In families, the night of indifference and coolness must give way to the sun of love. In factories, in cities, in nations, in lands of misunderstanding and hatred the night must grow bright as the day, nox sicut dies illuminabitur, and strife will cease and there will be peace. —POPE PIUS XII, Urbi et Orbi address,March 2nd, 1957; vatican.va

But doesn’t that make sense? How can we speak of a “triumph” of Christ and His Church if the original harmony of man and God, God and creation, is not restored within the bounds of time? Were it not, then the triumph would be Satan’s; then the victory would belong to the darkness that overcame the Light. No, this “restoration of all things in Christ”^[9]E Supremi, Pope St. Piux X or “restoration of the Kingdom of Christ” ^[10]Ubi Arcani dei Consilioi, Pope Pius XI is exactly what the threefold testimony of Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the Magisterium have harmoniously taught:

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid… There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

All the animals who use the products of the soil will be at peace and in harmony with one another, completely at man’s beck and call. — St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Church Father (140–202 A.D.); Adversus Haereses

Thus is the full action of the original plan of the Creator delineated: a creation in which God and man, man and woman, humanity and nature are in harmony, in dialogue, in communion. This plan, upset by sin, was taken up in a more wondrous way by Christ, Who is carrying it out mysteriously but effectively in the present reality, in the expectation of bringing it to fulfillment…  —POPE JOHN PAUL II, General Audience, February 14, 2001

Ultimately, it is the fulfillment of the “Our Father” when the Divine Will reigns “on earth as it is in heaven”…

…a hope in some mighty triumph of Christ here on earth before the final consummation of all things. Such an occurrence is not excluded, is not impossible, it is not all certain that there will not be a prolonged period of triumphant Christianity before the end. —The Teaching of the Catholic Church: A Summary of Catholic Doctrine, London Burns Oates & Washbourne, p. 1140 

The more noteworthy of the prophecies bearing upon “latter times” seem to have one common end, to announce great calamities impending over mankind, the triumph of the Church, and the renovation of the world. —Catholic Encyclopedia, Prophecy, www.newadvent.org

 

The Final Mess Up

While this is a great hope, indeed, we also have to avoid believing the Era of Peace is Heaven. It is not. Pope Benedict XVI gave a nice little exegesis on this:

…every day in the prayer of the Our Father we ask the Lord: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”(Matt 6:10)…. we recognize that “heaven” is where the will of God is done, and that “earth” becomes “heaven”—i.e., the place of the presence of love, of goodness, of truth and of divine beauty — only if on earth the will of God is done. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, February 1st, 2012, Vatican City

So when Revelation 20:6 says that, after the fall of Antichrist, the Church “shall reign with Him a thousand years,” it does not mean that Jesus will reign on earth in the flesh. Again, that’s a heresy (see Millenarianism – What it is, and is Not). Rather, it is the coming of Christ’s Kingdom as a “new and divine holiness” upon the Church;^[11]“God himself had provided to bring about that “new and divine” holiness with which the Holy Spirit wishes to enrich Christians at the dawn of the third millennium, in order to “make Christ the heart of the world.” —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Address to the Rogationist Fathers, n. 6, www.vatican.va it is Christ reigning in His Church in a whole new manner.^[12]cf. The Coming of the Kingdom 

It may even be… that the Kingdom of God means Christ himself, whom we daily desire to come, and whose coming we wish to be manifested quickly to us. For as He is our resurrection, since in Him we rise, so He can also be understood as the Kingdom of God, for in Him we shall reign. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2816

So, my reader says, “I’d love to know that we won’t be able to mess everything up again.” But the simple answer is that yes, we will apparently mess up again. St. John sees in his vision that…

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. They invaded the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The Devil who had led them astray was thrown into the pool of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10)

How is this possible? Well, one could ask the question how it was possible that, after the Flood and Noah’s ark, God’s People fell into sin again; how after the Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea, they fell into idolatry again; how after the coming of Christ incarnate, the Resurrection, and the glorious spread of Christendom, that we are, once again, falling into apostasy? John Paul II, while anticipating a “new dawn” in human history was also careful to note that even this new springtime would not suspend human free will. 

… with the temptation to predict substantial changes in it in the life of society as a whole and of every individual. Human life will continue, people will continue to learn about successes and failures, moments of glory and stages of decay, and Christ our Lord always will, until the end of time, be the only source of salvation. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, National Conference of Bishops, January 29th, 1996; www.vatican.va

But there are two things of note here. One is that St. John specifically saw that the devil and those he deceived surround the “camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.” One can easily surmise that these are they who, during the Era of Peace, remain “living in the Divine Will.” But as John Paul II noted, not “every individual” will experience “substantial changes,” because our fallen human nature and temptation will remain until the end of time. Even if “mortal sin” seems to disappear for a time, as Pope Pius XII prophesied, venial sin will remain. This last satanic assault upon the Church, then, reveals the truth that mankind can never achieve salvation apart from Christ. That, until the definitive New Heavens and New Earth, there can never be eternal peace.

Hence, the Era of Peace is not the definitive fulfillment of Scripture but its vindication; it is not the consummation of the Bride but her preparation. And when she is ready, when she is “without spot or wrinkle or… blemish,”^[13]Ephesians 5:27 Jesus will come in the Final Judgment to clothe His Bride in not only holiness but in her resurrected flesh. 

At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness…. The Church… will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ… When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise… according to the command of the Lord and in his Spirit, we will find them once again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illuminated and transfigured, when Christ presents to his Father an eternal and universal kingdom.” God will then be “all in all” in eternal life. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1060, 1042, 1050

 

Related Reading

Dear Holy Father… He is Coming!

Rethinking the End Times

How the Era was Lost

 

 

 

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