{"id":31515,"date":"2017-10-17T17:10:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T23:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=31515"},"modified":"2017-10-17T19:43:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T01:43:42","slug":"how-to-know-when-judgment-is-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/how-to-know-when-judgment-is-near\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Know When Judgment is Near","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
\n for October 17th, 2017
\n Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
\n Opt. Memorial St. Ignatius of Antioch<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts\u00a0here<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

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AFTER\u00a0<\/b>a warm cordial greeting to the Romans, St. Paul turns on a cold shower to awaken his readers:<\/p>\n

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The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (First reading)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And then, in what can rightly be described as a prophetic “map”, St. Paul describes a progression of rebellion<\/em> that would ultimately unleash the judgment of the nations. In fact, what he describes is remarkably parallel to the period of time beginning 400 years ago, until our current day. It’s as if St. Paul was, unknowingly, writing for this precise time.<\/p>\n

Of those who “suppress the truth”, he continues:<\/p>\n

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For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the beginning of the so-called Enlightenment period four centuries ago, science was beginning to emerge with new powers and discoveries. But rather than attribute the marvels of creation to God, men\u2014falling into the temptation and error of Adam and Eve\u2014believed that they too could become like God.<\/p>\n

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\u2026 those who followed in the intellectual current of modernity that [Francis Bacon] inspired were wrong to believe that man would be redeemed through science. Such an expectation asks too much of science; this kind of hope is deceptive. Science can contribute greatly to making the world and mankind more human. Yet it can also destroy mankind and the world unless it is steered by forces that lie outside it.\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter,\u00a0Spe Salvi<\/em>, n. 25<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Indeed, the \u201cgreat dragon\u2026 that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan\u201d<\/em> [1]<\/sup><\/a>Rev 12:9<\/span><\/span>