The following is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs
675-677.
The Church’s Ultimate
Trial
Before Christ’s second
coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of
many believers.[i] The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth[ii]
will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception
offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy
from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a
pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his
Messiah come in the flesh.[iii]
The Antichrist’s
deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is
made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized
beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even
modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of
millenarianism,[iv] especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a
secular messianism.[v]
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.[vi] The kingdom will be fulfilled,
then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy,
but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause
his Bride to come down from heaven.[vii] God’s triumph over the revolt of evil
will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this
passing world.[viii]
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Footnotes
[i]
Luke 18:8. “When the Son
of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Matthew 24:12. “Because
wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold.”
[ii]
Luke 21:12. “But before
all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up
to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and
governors for my name’s sake.”
John 15:19-20. “If you
were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his
master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word,
they will keep yours also.”
[iii]
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.
[The man of lawlessness, the son of perdition] opposes and exalts
himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his
seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember
that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is
restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of
lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until
he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord
Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his
appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of
Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all
wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the
truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make
them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe
the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3.
For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in
the night. When people say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden
destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and
there will be no escape.
2 John 1:7. For many
deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming
of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
1 John 2:18,22.
Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming,
so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour.
…. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the
antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
[iv]
The Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, in its Decree of 19 July 1944 (DS 3839), says: “In
recent times on several occasions this Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy
Office has been asked what must be thought of a system of mitigated millenarianism,
which teaches, for example, that Christ the Lord before the final judgment,
whether or not preceded by the resurrection of the many just, will come visibly
to rule over this world. The answer is: The system of mitigated millenarianism
cannot be taught safely.”
[v]
Pius XI, Divini
Redemptoris, condemning the “false mysticism” of this “counterfeit of the
redemption of the lowly”.
Gaudium et spes, 20-21. In her loyal devotion to
God and men, the Church has already repudiated and cannot cease repudiating,
sorrowfully but as firmly as possible, those poisonous doctrines and actions
which contradict reason and the common experience of humanity, and dethrone man
from his native excellence. Still, she strives to detect in the atheistic mind
the hidden causes for the denial of God; conscious of how weighty are the
questions which atheism raises, and motivated by love for all men, she believes
these questions ought to be examined seriously and more profoundly. The Church
holds that the recognition of God is in no way hostile to man’s dignity, since
this dignity is rooted and perfected in God. For man was made an intelligent
and free member of society by God Who created him, but even more important, he
is called as a son to commune with God and share in His happiness. She further
teaches that a hope related to the end of time does not diminish the importance
of intervening duties but rather undergirds the acquittal of them with fresh
incentives. By contrast, when a divine instruction and the hope of life eternal
are wanting, man’s dignity is most grievously lacerated, as current events
often attest; riddles of life and death, of guilt and of grief go unsolved with
the frequent result that men succumb to despair. Meanwhile every man remains to
himself an unsolved puzzle, however obscurely he may perceive it. For on
certain occasions no one can entirely escape the kind of self-questioning
mentioned earlier, especially when life’s major events take place. To this
questioning only God fully and most certainly provides an answer as He summons
man to higher knowledge and humbler probing. The remedy which must be applied
to atheism, however, is to be sought in a proper presentation of the Church’s
teaching as well as in the integral life of the Church and her members. For it
is the function of the Church, led by the Holy Spirit Who renews and purifies
her ceaselessly, to make God the Father and His Incarnate Son present and in a
sense visible. This result is achieved chiefly by the witness of a living and
mature faith, namely, one trained to see difficulties clearly and to master
them. Many martyrs have given luminous witness to this faith and continue to do
so. This faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer’s
entire life, including its worldly dimensions, and by activating him toward
justice and love, especially regarding the needy. What does the most reveal
God’s presence, however, is the brotherly charity of the faithful who are
united in spirit as they work together for the faith of the Gospel and who
prove themselves a sign of unity. While rejecting atheism, root and branch, the
Church sincerely professes that all men, believers and unbelievers alike, ought
to work for the rightful betterment of this world in which all alike live; such
an ideal cannot be realized, however, apart from sincere and prudent dialogue.
Hence the Church protests against the distinction which some state authorities
make between believers and unbelievers, with prejudice to the fundamental
rights of the human person. The Church calls for the active liberty of
believers to build up in this world God’s temple too. She courteously invites
atheists to examine the Gospel of Christ with an open mind. Above all the
Church known that her message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the
human heart when she champions the dignity of the human vocation, restoring
hope to those who have already despaired of anything higher than their present
lot. Far from diminishing man, her message brings to his development light,
life and freedom. Apart from this message nothing will avail to fill up the
heart of man: “Thou hast made us for Thyself,” O Lord, “and our hearts are
restless till they rest in Thee.”
[vi]
Revelation 19:1-9. After
this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven,
crying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his
judgments are true and just; he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the
earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his
servants.” Once more they cried, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for
ever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell
down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”
And from the throne came a voice crying, “Praise our God, all you his servants,
you who fear him, small and great.” Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of
a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty
thunderpeals, crying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb
has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be
clothed with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous
deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those
who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These
are true words of God.”
[vii]
Revelation 13:8. All who
dwell on earth will worship [the beast], every one whose name has not
been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb
that was slain.
Revelation 20:7-10. And
when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and
will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the
earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like
the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded
the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and
consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of
fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Revelation 21:2-4. And I
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away
every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
[viii]
Revelation 20:12. And I
saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead
were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done.
2 Peter 3:12-13. The
heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire!
But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells.
