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The widespread reluctance on the part of many Catholic thinkers <\/p>\n I TURNED<\/strong> off my computer and every device that could possibly stalk my peace. I spent much of the last week floating on a lake, my ears submerged under the water, staring up into the infinite with only a few passing clouds glancing back with their morphing faces. There, in those pristine Canadian waters, I listened to the Silence. I tried not to think about anything except the present moment and what God was carving in the heavens, His little love messages to us in Creation. And I loved Him back.<\/p>\n It was nothing profound… but a crucial break from my ministry that tripled in readership overnight after the closure of churches this past winter. The Lockdown of civilization came “like a thief in the night,” and millions of people have awoken to sense something profoundly wrong unfolding right now… and are looking for answers. There has been a literal landslide in emails, messages, phone calls, texts, etc. and, for the first time, I can no longer keep up. I remember years ago, the late Stan Rutherford, a Catholic mystic from Florida, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Someday, people are going to come streaming to you and you won’t be able to keep up.<\/em>” Well, I’m doing what I can and deeply apologize to anyone whose messages I have not responded to.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n OFFENDING CATHOLIC SENSIBILITIES<\/p>\n When I returned from my retreat, I learned of another landslide\u2014one that does not surprise me, though, it continues to baffle. It is those who, despite the clear “signs of the times”<\/a>, despite the unequivocal words of the popes<\/a>, and despite the messages of Our Lord and Lady<\/a> that form a clear “prophetic consensus” from the around the world… are still looking for rocks to stone the prophets. Don’t get me wrong\u2014discernment <\/em>of prophecy is critical (1 Thess 5:20-21). But the sudden emergence of articles in the Catholic <\/em>sphere eager to pronounce condemnations on those who do not fit their bill of what a seer should be… or against those who would dare utter the words “end times”… or those who would speak of future events that don’t bode well for a comfortable retirement plan… is actually disheartening. At a time when churches are being restricted or closed, when some are being attacked and burned, when persecution against Christians in the Western hemisphere is so close to bursting upon us… Catholics are nitpicking?? Suddenly, the words of Jesus bear remarkable resemblance to our times:<\/p>\n In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matt 24:38-39)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In other words, some people remain in complete denial. They are seeking comfort instead of conversion. They continually find excuses to suggest that things are not nearly as bad as they actually are. They only see the glass as half full when it’s practically empty. Some are, in fact, even mocking the Noah’s of our time.<\/p>\n In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. (Jude 1:18)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Fifteen years ago, I finally said “yes” to St. John Paul II’s call to us youth at World Youth Day:<\/p>\n Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen<\/em> of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ!<\/strong> \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World<\/em>, XVII World Youth Day, n. 3; (cf. Is 21:11-12)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Oh, how lovely\u2014Jesus is coming<\/a>. But do Catholics seriously believe that He is coming without everything else that would precede it<\/em> as outlined in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, 2 Thess 2, etc.? And when we say “He is coming”, we are referring to a process <\/em>called the “end times” that culminates in the fulfillment of the words of the “Our Father” before the end of the world\u2014when His Kingdom will come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven<\/em>\u2014as a fulfillment of Scripture and final preparation of the Church.<\/p>\n \u2026the 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.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church <\/em>(CCC), n. 2816<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That’s why we named our new website “Countdown to the Kingdom<\/a>” instead of “Countdown to Doom and Gloom”: we are spiralling toward victory, not defeat. But the teaching of the Magisterium is clear:<\/p>\n Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.<\/span>.. The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.<\/strong><\/span> \u2014CCC, n. 675, 677<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This “glory” (ie. eternity) is preceded by the sanctification <\/em>of the Church so that the Bride will become spotless and without blemish (Eph 5:27), so that she will be clothed in a white linen of purity (Rev 19:8). This purification must <\/em>precede the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Hence, the vast majority of the Book of Revelation is not about the end of the world but the end of this age<\/em>, leading to a “new and divine holiness<\/a>” as St. John Paul II put it.[1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. The Coming New and Divine Holiness<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nto enter into a profound examination of the apocalyptic elements of contemporary life is,
\nI believe, part of the very problem which they seek to avoid.
\nIf apocalyptic thinking is left largely to those who have been subjectivized
\nor who have fallen prey to the vertigo of cosmic terror,
\nthen the Christian community, indeed the whole human community,
\nis radically impoverished.
\nAnd that can be measured in terms of lost human souls.<\/strong> <\/span>
\n\u2013Author, Michael D. O\u2019Brien, Are We Living In Apocalyptic Times?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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