{"id":5307,"date":"2011-03-11T05:14:23","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T11:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/like-a-thief\/"},"modified":"2017-11-15T15:08:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T21:08:20","slug":"like-a-thief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/like-a-thief\/","title":{"rendered":"Like a Thief","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE<\/strong> past 24 hours since writing After the Illumination<\/em><\/a>, the words have been\u00a0echoing in my heart:\u00a0Like a thief in the night…<\/em><\/p>\n

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Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,and they will not escape. (1 Thess 5:2-3) <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Many have applied these words to the Second Coming of Jesus. Indeed, the Lord will come at an hour that no one but the Father knows. But if we read the above text carefully, St. Paul is speaking about the coming of the “day of the Lord,” and what comes suddenly are like “labor pains.” In my last writing, I explained how the “day of the Lord” is not a single day or event, but a period of time, according to Sacred Tradition. Thus, that which leads up to and ushers in the Day of the Lord are precisely those labor pains that Jesus spoke of [1]<\/sup><\/a>Matt 24: 6-8; Luke 21:9-11<\/span><\/span>