{"id":23930,"date":"2016-05-04T17:01:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T23:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=23930"},"modified":"2022-11-11T15:58:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T21:58:45","slug":"the-coming-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-coming-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Judgment","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
\nfor May 4th, 2016
\nLiturgical texts here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"judgment\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, I want to tell you, my dear family of readers, that my wife and I are grateful for the hundreds of notes and letters we’ve received in support of this ministry. I made a brief appeal a few weeks ago that our ministry was in dire need of support to continue (as this is my full-time work), and your response has moved us to tears many times. Many of those “widow’s mites” have come our way; many sacrifices have been made to communicate your support, gratitude, and love. In a word, you have given me a resounding “yes” to continue on this path. It is a leap of faith for us. We have no savings, no retirement funds, no certainty (as do any of us) about tomorrow. But we accept that this is where Jesus wants us. In fact, He wants all of us to be in a place of utter and total abandonment. We are in the process still of writing emails and thank you’s to all of you. But let me say now… thank you for your filial love and support, which has strengthened and moved me deeply. And I am grateful for this encouragement, because I have many serious things to write you in the days ahead, beginning now….<\/em><\/p>\n

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IN<\/strong> one of the more mysterious passages of Scripture, we hear Jesus say to the Apostles:<\/p>\n

\n

I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. (Today’s Gospel)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

With the death of the last Apostle, the Public Revelation of Jesus was completed, leaving the Church the “deposit of faith” from which she would withdraw wisdom in order to fulfill the Great Commission. However, this is not to say that our\u00a0understanding<\/em> is complete. Rather…<\/p>\n

\n

\u2026even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.<\/span><\/strong> \u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em>, n. 66<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Some things, Jesus said, would be too hard to bear. For instance, it wasn’t until toward the end of Peter’s life that the early Church began to grasp\u00a0that the return of Jesus in glory was not imminent, as first thought. In what is one of the most significant eschatological insights in the New Testament, Peter\u00a0wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

One day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. (2 Pet 3:8-5)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was this statement, as well as the teachings of St. John in the Apocalypse, that set the stage for the early Church Fathers to develop and “gradually to grasp” the prophetic texts of the Old Testament in light of the new. Suddenly, the\u00a0“day of the Lord” was no longer to be understood as a 24 hour solar day, but signified a period of judgment that would come upon the earth. Said Church Father Lactantius,<\/p>\n

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\u2026this day of ours, which is bounded by the rising and the setting of the sun, is a representation of that great day to which the circuit of a thousand years affixes its limits. <\/strong>\u2014Lactantius, Fathers of the Church: The Divine Institutes<\/em>, Book VII, Chapter 14, Catholic Encyclopedia; www.newadvent.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And another Father wrote,<\/p>\n

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Behold, the Day of the Lord shall be a thousand years. <\/strong>\u2014Letter of Barnabas, <\/em>The Fathers of the Church, Ch. 15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Turning their sights on Revelation Chapter 20, the Church Fathers then interpreted the “thousand year” reign of Jesus and the saints as the “day of the Lord” in which the “sun of justice” would rise, putting to death the Antichrist or “beast”, chaining Satan’s powers, and ushering in a spiritual “Sabbath” or rest for the Church. While firmly rejecting the heresy of millenarianism<\/a>, [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Millenarianism \u2014 What it is, and is Not<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/span>