Millenarianism, whether in the form of a bodily reign of Christ for a thousand years or a secular messianism, is most definitely a proscribed belief for faithful Catholics.
It is a theological error to associate temporal peace with the millennium of Revelation 20, which is “
immanentizing the eschaton” (Voegelin) - the attempt “
to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement” (
CCC 676).
However, I am of the opinion - on the the authority of St. Bonaventure among others - that one of the main scriptural bases for a coming temporal peace is to be found in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 -
"… When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!.."
St. Bonaventure argues in his Collations on the Hexaemeron (1273):
"…The seventh time or age, that of quiet, begins with the shout of the angel (Rev. 10:&-7)…It is necessary that One Ruler, a defender of the Church, arise…No one knows how long that time of great peace will last since ''when they said ‘Peace and security,’ then suddenly destruction came upon them" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)…"
The promised peace is not intended to serve as an end in itself: as if we could hope to find perfect happiness other than through the Beatific Vision in the afterlife. Rather, it is a means towards the real end: the Second Pentecost, the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth, the full incoming of the gentiles prior to the conversion of the Jewish people.
To properly understand what lies ahead of us, as we hope for a new Pentecost , I think that our best guide is to consider the state of things leading up to the first Pentecost: which is a kind of foreshadowing or prototype of what is yet to come.
For instance, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542 – 1621), a great Doctor of the Church, tells us in chapter 6 of his De Laicis:
(Chapters 16, and 19-22 translated from the Latin by Fr. James Goodwin, S.J.) Chapter 1 We have examined two branches of the Church — that is, the clergy and monks; it remains for us to discuss the…
catholicism.org
"Cyrus the Great had obtained a kingdom for himself through his desire for domination, and not for the sake of God’s service; and yet God aided him, and gave him the kingdom he was seeking, that He Himself might liberate the people of Israel from the Babylonian Captivity.
In like manner the Romans sought empire not for the sake of God, but through a desire for worldly glory, as St. Augustine shows at great length in the City of God. 75 Yet God gave them supreme rule, not only that He might reward them for their good works in the moral order, as St. Augustine likewise shows in the City of God, 76 but also that through the union of all the nations under one government the way might be prepared for the preaching of the Gospel, as St. Leo says in his first sermon for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul…"
Note how St. Bellarmime and Pope St. Leo say that the union of all nations in peace, is not an end in itself but rather the means through which “the way might be prepared for the preaching of the Gospel”.
If it was a necessary precondition prior to the first Pentecost…?
:georgia:
