End times signs for catholics

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LEMAITRE

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I have been discussing end-times with my two Baptist friends the past year. Perhaps more correctly they have been discussing and I listen. It’s scary listening to them, not because I believe their conspiracy theories or endless list of end-times signs but because they actually believe their research which AFAIK is wholly based on YouTube presentations.

What I am interested in is what does the Church say is the Signs of the end-times? I know the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem is one.

Apologies in advance to Forum Admins if this has been posted in wrong section or a disallowed topic. 🙂
 
I’m not sure if there are specific Church documents on any of this. I do recall that Jesus Himself said that the knowledge of the time of the consummation of the earth is known ONLY to the Father, and for that I would extrapolate that, at least at the time the statement was made, Jesus Himself didn’t know! His whole point was that knowing when the end will occur is irrelevant if we hold ourselves in readiness for it.

Basically, that’s good enough for me. Don’t forget that Earth’s history has been punctuated by severe climate changes, earthquakes, other natural phenomena, times of war, times of famine, and times of persecution of the faithful. I can think of a few instances where people could easily have said, and in fact did say, that the end was near, based on these things. But despite bad weather, terrorist attacks, the undulating middle East unrest, and the Mayan calendar people, I wouldn’t go running up the credit cards this month in hopes that I will never have to pay them back!
 
There is good stuff on this in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

As for current theories that these are the end times, no one has been right yet!

God bless!
 
In the diary of St.Faustina Jesus says:
before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the king of mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort:

All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the saviour were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.

Let all mankind recognise my unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times.

JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU
 
Ah, thanks for this. It reminds me of why I chose Catholicism to explore Christian spirituality despite my politics. It’s one of those things were Catholics are clearly the rational ones on the topic and kinda brush it off. I also like that the Rapture is considered heresy- because well, the story behind that concept makes it baffling as to how it became widespread in Protestantism.

Anyway, as I understand it, the Church’s position on anything to do with the End Times is 🤷 and the events in Revelation were fulfilled during the Julio-Claudian dynasty (the Beast)
 
Our Priest gave a good homily last Saturday on this. Basically we should not worry. God will be with us while we wait, during and for internity after. God bless:thumbsup:👍👍
 
Lost_Sheep said:
The key word being “yet”.
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Considering that some Sumerians thought they were living in the End Times 5000 years ago, I’d say it’s a safe bet that we don’t have to worry about the “yet” either.
 
It is always worth remembering that we pray in the Eucharistic prayer, that we look forward to the coming of Christ. For Christians, the end times are more a promise that evil in the end cannot triumph, because the victory has already been won! It is not a threat of a disaster in store but a promise of a glorious future!
 
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
It is always worth remembering that we pray in the Eucharistic prayer, that we look forward to the coming of Christ. For Christians, the end times are more a promise that evil in the end cannot triumph, because the victory has already been won! It is not a threat of a disaster in store but a promise of a glorious future!
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This is so true! End times prophesies are a dime a dozen. each one of us has a built in “end time”. That is the focus of our lives and should remain so." We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the LIFE of the world to come."
 
Back in the day, I had diverged into Protestant beliefs. I found their interpretation and comments on the End Times very intriguing. In particular, that almost every event in the Book of Revelation could be readily explained by some modern man-made technology and action. Interpretations in the past had to rely more on a coincidence of natural events.
 
ValPal said:
Back in the day, I had diverged into Protestant beliefs. I found their interpretation and comments on the End Times very intriguing. In particular, that almost every event in the Book of Revelation could be readily explained by some modern man-made technology and action. Interpretations in the past had to rely more on a coincidence of natural events.
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That’s perceiving something through a filter though. It’s the same with any prophecy. Since prophetic language tends to be poetic and highly metaphorical, you can make it apply to anything. That’s why Nostradamus is still known, and for some reason, taken seriously.
 
In this part of the world (Australia) the church gives almost no importance to the end times. The one thing which all Catholics should be yearning for–the second coming of Christ (as a king this time, not as a sacrifice) which will put an end to war, sickness, hatred, evil and death itself–is almost brushed aside.
Eschatological concerns tend to disappear in the sacramental haze.
The veneration of Mary is almost an obsession. Why else would the Assumption stand alongside Christmas day as the only two non-Sunday Holy Days of Obligation?
The second, glorious coming of Christ is a footnote to theology. It gets the briefest mention at Mass–something about “we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” No we don’t. We don’t wait in “joyful hope” at all. We keep going through the motions of the Mass and the other sacraments, and praying to Mary, as if they are the focus of our existence.

The attitude to the second coming is like, “Oh, it will happen one day, but it’s been a long time, don’t you know. It could be another 2000 years, so why worry?”

I’ll bet most Catholics have no idea of the prophecies of the Old Testament (Daniel, Ezekiel, etc) because Catholic teachings are so heavily focused on the New Testament. Jesus himself was a major prophet, but his prophecies become lost in a blancmange of sugary statements about forgiveness and love. Sure, those things are important, but they only present one aspect of Jesus. He preached those worthy ideals, but he also had a far more rigorous side, a part of him that had an eye to the future. He spoke of the end times and throwing the rubbish out and keeping the good stuff (okay, those are my words); cutting out your eye if it causes you to sin, giving everything away to the needy. His conditions for salvation were stern and unequivocal.

I’ve heard Catholic priests say things like:
“The kingdom of God is in your heart.”(What, so it’s just a good feeling I have? There’s no second coming?)
“Jesus conquered evil when he died on the cross.” (I mean–what?? Conquered evil? Gosh, there must be no more evil anywhere in the world.)
“Every Eucharist is the return of Christ among us” (So celebrating the Eucharist gives us an excuse to ignore the prophecies of the second coming?)

Honestly, I am sick to death of these meaningless platitudes and feel-good statements. I call it a blancmange because it looks good but has no substance. It’s as if (to me) the church has lost much of its purpose. Nobody wants to confront difficult ideas any more because the dwindling parishioners might be frightened.
 
hansard said:
In this part of the world (Australia) the church gives almost no importance to the end times. The one thing which all Catholics should be yearning for–the second coming of Christ (as a king this time, not as a sacrifice) which will put an end to war, sickness, hatred, evil and death itself–is almost brushed aside.
Eschatological concerns tend to disappear in the sacramental haze.
The veneration of Mary is almost an obsession. Why else would the Assumption stand alongside Christmas day as the only two non-Sunday Holy Days of Obligation?
The second, glorious coming of Christ is a footnote to theology. It gets the briefest mention at Mass–something about “we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” No we don’t. We don’t wait in “joyful hope” at all. We keep going through the motions of the Mass and the other sacraments, and praying to Mary, as if they are the focus of our existence.

The attitude to the second coming is like, “Oh, it will happen one day, but it’s been a long time, don’t you know. It could be another 2000 years, so why worry?”

I’ll bet most Catholics have no idea of the prophecies of the Old Testament (Daniel, Ezekiel, etc) because Catholic teachings are so heavily focused on the New Testament. Jesus himself was a major prophet, but his prophecies become lost in a blancmange of sugary statements about forgiveness and love. Sure, those things are important, but they only present one aspect of Jesus. He preached those worthy ideals, but he also had a far more rigorous side, a part of him that had an eye to the future. He spoke of the end times and throwing the rubbish out and keeping the good stuff (okay, those are my words); cutting out your eye if it causes you to sin, giving everything away to the needy. His conditions for salvation were stern and unequivocal.

I’ve heard Catholic priests say things like:
“The kingdom of God is in your heart.”(What, so it’s just a good feeling I have? There’s no second coming?)
“Jesus conquered evil when he died on the cross.” (I mean–what?? Conquered evil? Gosh, there must be no more evil anywhere in the world.)
“Every Eucharist is the return of Christ among us” (So celebrating the Eucharist gives us an excuse to ignore the prophecies of the second coming?)

Honestly, I am sick to death of these meaningless platitudes and feel-good statements. I call it a blancmange because it looks good but has no substance. It’s as if (to me) the church has lost much of its purpose. Nobody wants to confront difficult ideas any more because the dwindling parishioners might be frightened.
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Hmm.

An interesting position. I think part of the problem though is that the End Times haven’t come. Jesus has not returned, even after two millennia. So what is to be made of this without dismissing Christianity completely?

It’s my understanding that the early Christians believed the End was imminent- Jesus himself said so, that his contemporary generation would see the coming of the Kingdom. So, how did that happen? That generation is long dead. The world still turns, and as you say, evil still exists. And Jesus is still nowhere to be seen. This, of course, lead to the idea of individual judgment after death. Otherwise you have to accept that grandma is not with Jesus but is dust in the ground waiting for resurrection.
 
SeekerDude said:
Ah, thanks for this. It reminds me of why I chose Catholicism to explore Christian spirituality despite my politics. It’s one of those things were Catholics are clearly the rational ones on the topic and kinda brush it off. I also like that the Rapture is considered heresy- because well, the story behind that concept makes it baffling as to how it became widespread in Protestantism.

Anyway, as I understand it, the Church’s position on anything to do with the End Times is 🤷 and the events in Revelation were fulfilled during the Julio-Claudian dynasty (the Beast)
Click to expand...
This is one area where Catholics can lose their way when listening or watching Protestant preachers and presenters. When times are going well, not many pay attention to End Times prophesy, but when we feel pressed upon, we look for explanations, and I hear many people talking about the end times, even Catholics who should know better. That Rapture stuff turns up over and over in these preacher’s sermons. And if people don’t know the history, it sounds Scriptural. “One will be taken, the other left.” etc.
 
I do accept the idea that all my grandparents and my father are dust in the ground, awaiting resurrection (and not currently in heaven or anywhere else).

That’s yet another point of difference between myself and the church in which I was raised.
 
The words of Jesus are pretty clear on this subject. When you see nation turning against nation, earthquakes around the world, famines and pestilences, signs from the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, the oceans, and seas, and persecution of the church, all on an unprecedented scale, then that’s it.
 
The Rapture doctrine is promoted so fervently because it calms the fears of those who are terrified of actually having to stand up for their faith. It is the universal “get out of Hell on Earth free” card. They are sure that the apocalypse is right around the corner, and they DO NOT want to have to deal with it, it’s “bye bye suckers, see ya later, I’m Raptured!”.

Is the Tribulation coming? Yes it is.
Will it be soon? Define soon. St. Mary has been hinting at it for centuries.
Will there be a Rapture? No. It is bad, empty doctrine, always has been.

On an individual scale, when ANY PERSON DIES it is the “end of the world” for them.:eek:
 
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