Ground Rules

Greetings and Salutations!  My first post mentioned that I spend a lot of time answering question people have posed regarding the End Times.  In case you haven't guessed, that's going to be a major (but not sole) thrust of this blog. 

Just to be clear: I am a Roman Catholic Christian.  I am not "Catholic Lite" or "Cafeteria Catholic".  I've been down those roads and they have brought me nothing but heartache.  I am faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the deacons, priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope.  These are all humans, very imperfect and very fallible; yet I also believe G_D's Holy Spirit guides and directs them, and if errors are made they will be corrected in the time G_D knows is best.

(BTW, I use "G_D" to refer to "God", but that's the subject of another blog posting.)

So whatever I write about here regarding Eschatology, or the study of the End Times, is what (to the best of my knowledge) the Roman Catholic Church teaches on the subject.

So what does the Catholic Church teach about the End Times?

Not much, really.

Part of this is outlook.  Several different Protestant denominations make a big deal about "being ready for the Rapture."  When you get down to it, though, the entry requirements for that club aren't any different from those needed to enter Heaven when you die.  Since throughout most of human history you've been more likely to die than be Raptured, it makes more sense to focus your efforts more on one than the other. 

Not to mention that in the last 2,000 years there have been at least 200 heresies in the Catholic Church regarding the Second Coming of Jesus.  That's an average of one every 10 years; but they're not spread out evenly like that.  They come and go; some were small, affecting just one area of the Christian world; others were big enough to give the Great Disappointment of the Millerite movement a run for its money.  My point being that when you have such a track record, you tend to clamp down on things and not to emphasize the teachings (even if they are true) that lead people to such desperate actions.

More importantly, the Catholic Church doesn't teach specifics about the End Days because the truths about those times haven't (yet) been revealed to the Church.  What we do have instead are theories, based on  combinations of Scripture, Sacred Tradition (which are the oral teachings that were passed down through the ages from the Disciples), and the teachings of the Early Church Fathers (ECF).  The ECF were those men that were baptized, taught, and ordained by the first disciples of Jesus.  They learned the Catholic faith from the lips of John, and Andrew, and Peter, and the whole gang.  So while their writings don't rise to the level of Scripture, they certainly are worth reading and listening to.

What's more, the Catholic faith has access to a large body of prophetic works that the rest of the Christian world seems to have ignored.  Saints abound in the Catholic Church, and over the past two millenia more than a few have been granted visions of what is to come.  Because these visions, prophecies, and messages are extra-Scriptural, we are not obliged to believe them, yet like the ECF they may prove worth studying.

What I'll be writing about here, then, is a synthesis of official Church teachings, various theories, prophetic pronouncements, and manic mumblings that will hopefully make you go "Hmmm..."  I'll also be tossing in some of my observations of events in the Middle East, including some history.  Some of what I write may be inspirational; a lot of it will definitely be politically incorrect; a great deal of it may invoke rage in some people.  Many, many people will find it frightening, some terrifyingly so.  To this last group of people I have but one thing to say:

BE JOYFUL!

Be Joyful!  G_D is good, and good all the time!  He would not have created you in this time and in this place, only to abandon you.  If you are here, now, reading these words, then it means that G_D has either given you or is making available to you the graces, gifts, and strength you need for the coming days.  How you use them, whether you accept them, those are your choices.  And the greatest choice of all is this:  Will you follow Him?

So.  Let's get started.  Next up: Garabandal!