Recognising Christ returned

[Emeraldlady]

This is one of those things that is prominent in my faith life these days. The gospel accounts of Jesus calling the Apostles is intriguing.

Matt 4 18-22 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

When I contemplate on these verses, I imagine that the explanation for their immediate answer, is that they already were experiencing a deep longing for something already. Jesus was not at all what the expected Messiah was. He went on to do and say things that were a major departure from their long held religious traditions.

I wonder how it will be when Christ comes again? Will I recognise Him instantly or be called in a way that requires a great leap of faith first?

 

[stpurl]

Don’t worry; when He comes, we will ALL recognize Him. The Second coming isn’t for individuals, it is for all humanity–the great judgment.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Don’t worry; when He comes, we will ALL recognize Him. The Second coming isn’t for individuals, it is for all humanity–the great judgment.

I suppose my reading of St Faustina is mostly the reason that I feel that we need to have a disposition that will recognise the signs of Jesus coming again. And the urgency in her message is stirring.

“Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy.” ( Diary 1588)

“I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation.” ( Diary 1160)

“He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.” ( Diary 1146).

“You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy. ( Diary 635).”

She says “woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation” indicating that some aren’t going to recognise this important sign.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I have no doubt that the faithful who love Jesus will recognize him. God doesn’t play guessing games with his followers. It’s likely those people who do not believe and who reject the concept of Jesus or God or the Second Coming who will get the woe.

 

[stpurl]

But when He comes again–and this is pretty specific and Scriptural–the coming will be heralded with trumpets, will flash across the entire horizon, and He will return with His angels and at the head of a mighty army of same.

He has already ‘come into the world’ and as He told St. Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, but believed.”

He is NOT going to come back to earth and walk around doing miracles and saying, "I am the Christ, follow Me’ and then see how many people ‘recognize Him’.

 

[Dan_Defender]

His second coming is as a judge. The book of life will be opened and we will be judged on our love. It will be very different from the first coming.

 

[Emeraldlady]

But when He comes again–and this is pretty specific and Scriptural–the coming will be heralded with trumpets, will flash across the entire horizon, and He will return with His angels and at the head of a mighty army of same.

Revelation is not a literal account of what will happen though. From the USCCB on Revelation…

(It) contains an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language borrowed extensively from the Old Testament, especially Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel. Whether or not these visions were real experiences of the author or simply literary conventions employed by him is an open question.

This much, however, is certain: symbolic descriptions are not to be taken as literal descriptions, nor is the symbolism meant to be pictured realistically.

Because we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Cor5:7) we need to cultivate discernment.

He is NOT going to come back to earth and walk around doing miracles and saying, "I am the Christ, follow Me’ and then see how many people ‘recognize Him’.

No but as you know Christians have many different views these days on what is from the Holy Spirit and what is not. The Jews had expected a King as the Messiah hence the mocking sign on the cross. So when Christ comes again it isn’t literally going to be with trumpets and angels. Some discernment is likely going to be required.

 

[Emeraldlady]

His second coming is as a judge. The book of life will be opened and we will be judged on our love. It will be very different from the first coming.

I know it will be different for the second coming but what I’m saying is that what eschatology is concerned with for our sake is properly appreciating curious tenets such as Matt 20:16 “So the last will be first and the first will be last” and other second coming mysteries that Scripture references.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Why are you concerned with comprehending mysteries? “The last shall be first and the first shall be last” is not a big mystery, it’s pretty obvious. It means those who are poor in spirit and humble are going to be put ahead of those who are arrogant and powerful and lacking in charity. If something else is truly a mystery, then we don’t need to comprehend it now and God will enlighten us at the appropriate time.

I don’t find eschatology very interesting. Mostly I just wish Jesus would hurry up and get here because life on this planet can be tiring, but that’s just me complaining when I’m down. I don’t much care how he shows up and I have faith that he’ll make it quite clear to me when he arrives.

 

[stpurl]

I’m not sure why you don’t think that He will come with trumpets and angels. Christ is risen and glorified now; He is not the same as the “just one of us” that He was when He walked on earth 2000 years ago.

I guess I associate the whole “Will we recognize Jesus” idea as being kind of like that (to me) silly show Joan of Arcadia and the “what if God was one of us” songs. . . Too gnostic for me.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Why are you concerned with comprehending mysteries?

I’m not aiming to ‘comprehend’ mysteries. I suppose I’ve always been contemplative and having done the Ignatian spiritual exercises which is about contemplating the on the mysteries of Christ, it is a natural transition.

I don’t find eschatology very interesting. Mostly I just wish Jesus would hurry up and get here because life on this planet can be tiring, but that’s just me complaining when I’m down. I don’t much care how he shows up and I have faith that he’ll make it quite clear to me when he arrives.

Eschatology makes sense to me. I just believe that we as a Body need to be prepared to receive the Lord as a merciful, hopeful and unified ‘entity’. I’m really drawn to those goals in my faith journey.

 

[graciew]

“ Speak Lord, for your servant hears”
Here is some more.I think you will appreciate this one, Emeraldlady
It’s Pope Benedict’s.

http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/angelus/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20120115.html

You left me staring at the Sea of Galilee and with that scene I am going to sleep now peacefully
Thank you Emeraldlady…God bless you.

 

[Beryllos]

I just believe that we as a Body need to be prepared to receive the Lord as a merciful, hopeful and unified ‘entity’.

Wait a second… You just threw something new into the discussion, and you bring up an interesting point.

It seems (to me) that our faith is quite an individual and personal thing. We make moral choices as individuals, and we are judged as individuals.

And yet Jesus prayed that we may be one as he and the Father are one (John 17). Here on earth, only a few relationships come close to that unity. In the Eucharist we are joined to Christ and to each other, but I have a hard time grasping that. I still feel apart.

So I am curious how we as a Body prepare for Christ’s coming. Any ideas?

 

[Emeraldlady]

“ Speak Lord, for your servant hears”
Here is some more.I think you will appreciate this one, Emeraldlady
It’s Pope Benedict’s.

http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/angelus/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20120115.html

You left me staring at the Sea of Galilee and with that scene I am going to sleep now peacefully
Thank you Emeraldlady…God bless you.

Thank you so much for that link, graciew! How it spoke to me. As you know my own son and daughter recently literally stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and I have profited vicariously through their witness. It’s so strange how these things work. The teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher. Thankyou dear friend for your post.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Beryllos, I want to get back to you with my full attention but have commitments to tend to at the moment. I will return with a response asap.

 

[Beryllos]

Me too.

 

[Viki63]

I wonder how it will be when Christ comes again? Will I recognise Him instantly or be called in a way that requires a great leap of faith first?

I could be wrong, but am pretty sure I will be dead when he comes again, so my first suspicion that he’s here will be waking up and (maybe)- being drawn up into heaven. That does sound disorienting. However, I’m sure he’s got it worked out.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Emeraldlady:

I just believe that we as a Body need to be prepared to receive the Lord as a merciful, hopeful and unified ‘entity’.

Wait a second… You just threw something new into the discussion, and you bring up an interesting point.

It seems (to me) that our faith is quite an individual and personal thing. We make moral choices as individuals, and we are judged as individuals.

And yet Jesus prayed that we may be one as he and the Father are one (John 17). Here on earth, only a few relationships come close to that unity. In the Eucharist we are joined to Christ and to each other, but I have a hard time grasping that. I still feel apart.

So I am curious how we as a Body prepare for Christ’s coming. Any ideas?

Christian unity has been an overriding mission of Vatican II of course and that goal permeates every endeavour of the Church since then. From Unitatis redintegratio 1964

1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided.(1) Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.

But the Lord of Ages wisely and patiently follows out the plan of grace on our behalf, sinners that we are. In recent times more than ever before, He has been rousing divided Christians to remorse over their divisions and to a longing for unity. Everywhere large numbers have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren also there increases from day to day the movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, for the restoration of unity among all Christians. This movement toward unity is called “ecumenical.” Those belong to it who invoke the Triune God and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, doing this not merely as individuals but also as corporate bodies. For almost everyone regards the body in which he has heard the Gospel as his Church and indeed, God’s Church. All however, though in different ways, long for the one visible Church of God, a Church truly universal and set forth into the world that the world may be converted to the Gospel and so be saved, to the glory of God.

The Sacred Council gladly notes all this. It has already declared its teaching on the Church, and now, moved by a desire for the restoration of unity among all the followers of Christ, it wishes to set before all Catholics the ways and means by which they too can respond to this grace and to this divine call.

 

[Emeraldlady]

And then the document goes on to basically compel Catholics to always be seeking reunion without extinguishing the hearth of Truth. That desire for reunity must be a signature aspect in our faith as individuals because the Body of Christ is suffering by the division and is inhibited in its witness to the world by division. We are failing in faith in division.

How that desire for communion manifests to me was expressed by Ruth Graham in one of her books. (Wife of Billy Graham) Se said something like when she gets to the gates of heaven she will insist to St Peter that she won’t come in unless he allows her to bring her children with her. It was said tongue in cheek but that’s a very strong, physical desire for me as well. I want to march into eternity as a family.

As I see my children really loving God and striving admirably, my heart has increased to desire that I would wish everyone I know to march together towards that one goal as well. Then there is that increasing desire that the whole of humanity that God made and loves equally, how can we continue to march without all His children with us. This is how I expect that the Popes expansive identity of family has drawn the Church to set a plan in motion by Vatican II and beyond.

 

[Vico]

But when He comes again–and this is pretty specific and Scriptural–the coming will be heralded with trumpets, will flash across the entire horizon, and He will return with His angels and at the head of a mighty army of same.

He has already ‘come into the world’ and as He told St. Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, but believed.”

He is NOT going to come back to earth and walk around doing miracles and saying, "I am the Christ, follow Me’ and then see how many people ‘recognize Him’.

Is this going to be in the heavenly state or in the earthly state? Interestingly, angels are immaterial spiritual beings, so is this figurative language, or will temporary apparitional bodies of these angels appear on the earth?