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The End Times – First Sunday of Advent Page 1 of 3

Today is the beginning of something important. This 1st Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the new Liturgical Year, and at this beginning, the Church has us focus on… the end – the end of the world. Why are the readings here at the beginning of the new Liturgical Year about the end of the world? St explains that anyone who wants to progress to a destination, has to have the goal (or the end) in mind first. Knowing that the end of the world is in God’s plan and that He already knows the details of it, should motivate us this Advent and this year to calmly prepare for whenever the end of the world will come for us, when we die, and give us hope if we are living as though Our Lord is coming again, not just at Christmas, but at the end of time. A note about today’s subject matter – the end of the world. Last year we spoke about the error out there regarding the belief in a so-called , and we briefly mentioned the error that says that there will be a 1,000 year reign of Christ physically present after He has returned but before the end of the world, and we spoke about the errors that the Left Behind books and movies have about the end times. Today we will focus on the signs which will precede the Resurrection and the coming of Christ. We also want to note that we are going to be citing from a number of . Now, keep in mind that in the early days of the Church, one could not even write a commentary on Sacred Scripture until he had read the Scriptures 40 times, so the ancient Fathers we are going to cite knew Scripture very well, not to mention that the consensus of interpretation of the Church Fathers has the sanction of the Church. Also, the 5th Lateran Council forbids us to hold as though certain when the end will come, lest we be deceived. We are going to look at some passages in Sacred Scripture which do point to the end of the world, but as we do so let’s keep in mind a warning given to us in Sacred Scripture. The Bible itself warns us that there are hard-to-understand passages in it that without the right guidance we would not only get wrong, but that would prove to our own destruction. 2 Peter 3:16 says, “in [the epistles of Paul] are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.” We have to be careful about making private interpretations of the Bible. So those are some errors to avoid. Now, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church give Six Signs of the approach of the end of the world, which St. Bellarmine assembled in his work on the Roman Pontiff, to prove to non-Catholics that he is not the Anti-Christ (Opera Omnia, Tomus 1, Lib III, De Summo Pontifice). These are the six signs preceding the end of the world.

The 1st Sign preceding the end of the world given by the Fathers of the Church is the preaching of the throughout the whole earth. In Matt 24:14 we read, “this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations: and then shall the consummation come.” St. Robert Bellarmine points out that this preaching of the Gospel must be done before the end so that when Our Lord comes to judge mankind, all will have heard the gospel, and no one will have an excuse of ignorance.

The 2nd Sign preceding the end of the world is the fall of the Roman Empire. (Caput V) St. Robert cites St. , drawing from passages in Apocalypse 17, and Dan 2 & 7, in which sees a vision of the future kingdoms which would come after the Assyrians who ruled in Daniel’s time. A mysterious passage in 2 Thess 2:3-8 describes how the Anti-Christ is not revealed because of something that is holding power, and once this power is taken out of the way, the Anti-Christ will be revealed. “Now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh: only that he who now holdeth do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed.” (2 Thes 2:6-8) That thing that is withholding the Anti-Christ from power is the

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remnant of the Roman Empire. St. Cyril, St. , St. , St. , and Lactantius all agree that St. Paul is referring here to the Roman Empire having to fall before the man of sin, the anti-Christ, is revealed. St. Robert points out that the Roman Empire here refers to the people and the places that were ruled by the Roman Empire, that these will be ruled by 10 kingdoms, (10 democracies) in the West and it is these that must fall before the Anti-Christ can take power in the East. It is interesting that he says 10 democracies, writing in a time when there were few democracies. St. Anselm points out that this fall of the Roman rule refers also to the great apostasy from the faith and the rejection of obedience to the , which St. Leo and St. Thomas state as well; that there will come a great apostasy and a rejection of obedience to the rule of the Pope, who rules the Church from . In fact in 2 Thess 2:3 we read that the day of the Lord (judgment day) shall not occur “unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

The 3rd Sign preceding the end of the world is the preaching of Enoch and Elias. (Caput VI) Elias will preach largely to the Jews for their conversion, as we learn from Ecclesiasticus 48:10 and 4:5-6. Ecclesiasticus 48:10, speaking of Elias, says that he is “to restore the tribes of Israel.” Enoch will preach to the Gentiles for their conversion, as described by Ecclesiasticus 44:16: “Enoch pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he may give repentance to the nations.” Apocalypse 11:3 speaks of the 2 witnesses who will preach before the second coming of Christ, for 1260 days. These 2 witnesses are Enoch and Elias. After they have fulfilled their mission, they will be slain by the Anti-Christ and their bodies left unburied in Jerusalem for 3 and a half days, as Apocalypse 11:9 tells us. [“they of the tribes and peoples and tongues and nations shall see their bodies for three days and a half”] Recall that Enoch and Elias have not died yet; both were taken up into heaven, but when they have returned to fulfill their mission before the coming of Christ they will die, according to St. Irenaeus, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Tertullian and Epiphanius. The word of God in Hebrews 11:5 explicitly states that Enoch has not died. After their death they will be raised from the dead and then taken into heaven, as Apocalypse 11:11-12 predicts.

The 4th Sign preceding the end of the world is a cruel persecution and the ending of all public religious ceremonies and sacrifice – that is, the ending of the public offering of the Holy Mass (Caput VII). Hippolytus and St. Cyril state that the martyrs in the days of that persecution will be more glorious than those of previous centuries, for in the latter days the devil will be unchained, as indicated in Apocalypse 20, and be permitted to do more, for the sanctification of those who remain faithful by persevering through this trial. Due to the ferocity of his persecution of the Church, the public celebration of the Holy Mass will cease during the reign of the Anti-Christ, for 1290 days, i.e. for 3.5 years. This is foretold in Daniel 12:11: “from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination of desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days.” The “continual sacrifice” is to be taken away for 1290 days (or 3.5 years). Notice that ‘sacrifice’ is in the singular – one sacrifice and not sacrifices. Christ was offered once for all on the Cross, as Hebrews 9:28 tells us, but since Christ continues a priest forever as Hebrews 7:24 tells us, for Him to continue a priest, it is necessary that He have a sacrifice to offer: Hebrews 8:3 says this explicitly. Malachi 1:11 predicted that there would be a sacrifice offered continually with these words, “From the rising of the sun even unto the going down, my Name is great among the Gentiles: and in every place there is sacrifice and there is offered to my Name a clean oblation.” A clean sacrifice (one sacrifice) offered in every place, from the rising of the sun to its setting – the continual sacrifice – this is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That the suspension of the “continual sacrifice” that Daniel 12:11 refers to is actually the end of the Holy Mass during the 3.5-year reign of

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the Anti-Christ, is an interpretation taken up by such early Christians as St. Irenaeus (a of St. , who wrote the Book of Revelations), St. Jerome, Hippolytus, and Theodoret.

The 5th Sign preceding the end of the world is the end of the rule of the anti-Christ after 3-1/2 years (Caput VIII). The Anti-Christ will be a man in the power of the devil, who will reign for 3-1/2 years, as we learn from Daniel 7 & 12, and from Apocalypse 11, 12 & 13. After 1290 days (3.5 years), the Anti-Christ will be slain and according to St. Jerome and Theodoret, 45 days after his death will be when the Lord returns, basing this on Daniel 12:12-13, “blessed is he that waiteth and cometh unto a 1335 days,” that is, 45 days beyond the 1290 days of the Anti-Christ’s reign. Blessed is he that comes 45 days beyond the days of the Anti-Christ – a veiled reference to Christ’s coming.

The 6th Sign preceding the end of the world is the great disturbance of nature; stars falling from the sky, the darkening of the sun, the moon turning the color of blood, great earthquakes, and shaking of the heavens, as Our Lord foretells in today’s Gospel.

Let’s keep our heads on straight, stay in the state of grace, and grow daily in holiness. The continual sacrifice hasn’t been taken away – let’s be more grateful for it. Let’s this Advent prepare for heaven with joyful expectation because Our Lord already knows how the world will end, and in the state of grace we know we are on the winning side! What hope this should give us! Hope that banishes fear for those who are faithful – not faultless, but faithful! Let’s not be strangers to Our Lord in this life, so that whenever the end of the world comes for us all, that is, at our death, we may appear before Our Lord not ignorant of Him, but rather as a well-known friend to Him, finally arriving at the home we have prepared for in the kingdom of heaven.

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