{"id":44659,"date":"2021-04-15T12:16:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T18:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=44659"},"modified":"2022-11-22T14:45:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T20:45:47","slug":"the-coming-sabbath-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-coming-sabbath-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Sabbath Rest","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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FOR\u00a0<\/b>2000 years, the Church has laboured to draw souls into her bosom. She has endured persecutions and betrayals, heretics and schismatics. She has gone through seasons of glory and growth, decline and division, power and poverty whilst tirelessly proclaiming the Gospel \u2014 if only at times through a remnant. But someday, said the Church Fathers, she will enjoy a “Sabbath Rest” \u2014 an Era of Peace on earth before<\/em> the end of the world. But what exactly is this rest, and what brings it about?<\/p>\n

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THE SEVENTH DAY<\/p>\n

St. Paul was actually the first to speak of this coming “sabbath rest”:<\/p>\n

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And God rested on the seventh day from all his works\u2026 So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. (Heb 4:4, 9-10)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"In order to enter God’s rest, we have to understand what was accomplished on the seventh day. Essentially, the “word” or “Fiat that God spoke set creation into motion in perfect harmony \u2014 from the movement of the stars to the very breath of Adam. All was in perfect balance and yet, not complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae<\/i>) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it.<\/strong><\/span> \u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church,\u00a0<\/em>n. 302<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What, then, was to complete and perfect creation? In a word: Adam. Created “in the image of God”, the Holy Trinity desired to expand the infinite borders of divine life, light, and love through the progeny of Adam and Eve in “endless generations.” St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened His hand.”[1]<\/sup><\/a>Sent. <\/em>2, Prol.<\/span><\/span>