Recently I had the occasion to chat with some friends of mine on the happenings of the day. One of the friends is a practicing Catholic and one is not much of anything. As different as these folks are, they had similar thoughts on the future. The near future. The Catholic friend told me that she feels that all the events of the last forty years are coming to a head. That the time is now. Tribulation. Triumph.
I appreciate her point of view and admit that I wonder sometimes myself. The next day I had a conversation with a slightly left leaning friend of mine. As is typical of us, we began chatting about the events of the past months. Initially hopeful about the election of Obama (although he won’t tell who he voted for. I think he is scared of me.) he has since soured. Remarkably, although not in the same terms or context, he also senses that the U.S. and the world are facing dramatic crises and changes in the not too distant future. He sees a poorer world, a simpler world. A new world having gone through the crucible of what is to come.
Two very different people and perspectives but with a common vision. Something is coming. Something soon. Something that will change everything.
In writing this post I have reflected on all that has transpired just since the new year. Stock market crashes, attacks on the Pope, attacks on the Church (from inside and outside), the funding of embryonic child destruction, and so much more.
For certain the Church and our country have been through worse crises. It is also certain that the Church, eventually, will triumph. But I can’t help but wonder. My friends feel it, I think I may feel it too. Something is coming, perhaps already begun. It is not pessimism, I don’t think, and it is not resignation either. I am still prepared for the fight however long it takes. But I realized when I decided to write about my friends sense of the future, I feel it too.
Is something coming? Do you feel it?
March 11, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Join the club!
Yes, we had better batten down our spiritual hatches. Chastisement? Likely. Persecuation? It is upon us with the rescinding of conscience clauses, the attacks on the church in CT and so on. The spending of tax dollars for the creating and destroying of embryos and for the killing of the unborn here and abroad. How long will this evil be allowed to reign with impunity?
March 11, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Speaking only about our nation’s future, I can’t help but think that many many people who voted for Obama based on those promises of Hope! and Change! are wondering where the hope is. We got the Change…no argument there.
It’s a fair thing to say that the era of good feelings has not materialized, and anyone who is honest with themselves has to see that in many ways, The Chosen One is making things much worse (on the financial front and on social issues) very quickly. He simply doesn’t seem to have a moral core for his decisionmaking, he’s motivated mainly by ideology, and he is deeply inexperienced (trying to do too much too soon). It’s all a recipe for disaster.
The Church has always been locked in a great battle here on earth. I think we’ve all taken for granted what a gift it is to be American and there’s a palpable sense that we’re losing what we’ve had here for so long.
Plus I don’t feel physically safe at all. I fear Obama is going to be such a screwup in the area of foreign policy/homeland security that something very bad is going to happen again, on American soil, before he is out of office.
March 11, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Tragically Unhip: It made me think of “West Side Story.” Awesome song.
But you did it again, Patrick. I was just working on a post on the feeling of doom and change in the air, and, in a moment of writer’s block, saw this post.
You know, there was a similar ennui back in the early 90’s when it was Hal Lindsey all the time.
I keep feeling the need to speak more German. Maybe that’s a sign.
Maybe the Mayans were right after all 🙂
Keep up the good work.
March 11, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Absolutely, Patrick, I am watching the live feed on AirMaria.com and have the surreal feeling that America has been overtaken overnight by atheists.
I know better, however,the sad truth is that we voted them in!!
Have mercy on us, Lord, and bring us to our senses for the sake of our children.
March 11, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Patrick–
As someone who grew up subjected to a Mom gleefully preparing for the chastisement and 3 days of darkness “promised” by Medjugorje, I’ll just say we live in interesting times and continue to trust in God’s unfailing mercy.
March 11, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I recall having the same feeling of foreboding during the Cold War under Ford & Carter. Now that feeling is back, I noticed it's resurgence over the past few years as more & more of the politically correct/secularist elite in this country seemed to gain clout.
Where are we going? HellifIknow, but as has already been stated, we live in interesting times.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Trust in God.
March 11, 2009 at 6:27 pm
COD
Rule #1 – Never mention the M-word in polite company!
Rule # – See Rule #1
P.S. As far as I know – the Three Days Darkness was never mentioned there.
March 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Not to add to your sense of doom but…don’t forget all the acts of God, forest fires, tsunamis, etc that have been occurring more frequently in the past few years.
And yes, the Three Days of Darkness have been prophetized by several saints/mystics but not by M-word…
March 11, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Cathy wrote:
Tribulation??? Dude, you need to stop listening to the Protestant Fundamentalists.
Well… to be fair, the Catholic Church teaches (and has always taught) that the Church will suffer one final and massive (and unparalleled) tribulation before the Second Coming of Our Lord. It’s the so-called “rapture” which is pure fiction; when the final trials come, the only way for anyone to “escape” that final trial is to die bodily (in a state of grace).
As for me, I’m mixed (or mixed up?). On the one hand, it’s fairly arrogant of us to assume that, just because the USA is now on the fast-track toward destruction, it means the end of the world; Jesus promised that the Church would remain until the end of time, but He never gave that promise to the United States. On the other hand, it seems that a large portion of the world is aligning itself with a “pleasingly erudite evil” in ways that are downright sobering; Europe certainly seems to have the Obama-esque disease (or did Obama catch the disease from Western Europe?), and China is… well… China. Africa has great hope for the Church, but it’s a horse-race between Radical Islam, secularism, and Christianity. God only knows…
At any rate, pray. Fast. Take up Matthew’s example, and go to Confession regularly. Get close to the Divine Mercy. Learn about the Sacred Heart. Purge evil from your life as you’ve never done before. All of the above are safe bets, no matter *what* Our Lord’s parousial timing is…
March 12, 2009 at 3:55 pm
When we look at our own socity, with its manifest evils, sometimes it’s difficult ot keep things in perspective. we can find ourselves stuck on a downward emotional spiral, thinking that ours must be the worst of all times. That lack of Hope is the work of the devil.
History shows us that the past is replete with examples of worse moments and disasters. In the Middle Ages, the Church faced severe problems: moral decadence, corruption (including simony, laxity, the peddling of indulgences, obsession with money, and the seeking of temporal gain), the poor example set by the so-called Renaissance popes (Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, Julius II, and Leo X), and the vice displayed by princely bishops. Among priests, celibacy was ignored and severe doctrinal irregularities were commonplace. Exacerbating the situation was the institutionalized nature of the corruption and the close identification of the Church in many countries with the crown, thus giving the hierarchy little incentive to promote reform or constructive change.
What assisted the Church in overcoming these difficulties was the same burst of hope that is so needed today – AN AUTHENTIC SPIRITUAL REFORM.
The reform of the medieval Church was already well under way before Luther began the Protestant Reformation. From the efforts of the Brethren of the Common Life, St. Catherine of Siena, Nicholas of Cusa, and Christian humanists such as Erasmus, the demand for change was considerable. When their calls were given direction and the full weight of the Holy See – starting with Pope Paul III (who convoked the Council of Trent), the way was set for the Catholic Reform. What followed was one of the greatest eras in Church history, marked by the genuine revitalization of the Church in virtually every sphere.
I remain optimistic that the darkness we are facing, which Satan is trying to take full advantage of, will be followed by a new springtime if we, the Church, put our hope and trust in God.
The elements of the new day are there for us to see: the global movements of Catholic societies and apostolates; the embrace of the Catholic faith by people all over the world, especially in Africa and Eastern Europe; the gradual reflowering of authentic Catholic theology and spirituality in many schools and theologates; and the continued direction provided by Pope Benedict XVI whose very sufferings stand as a model for all of us in embracing the Cross in our daily lives.
In essence, we have seen this all before – so it is in history that we find our comfort and optimism. For we should never forget that in history we can see the progress of the Gospel across the globe and in countless hearts.
An acknowledgement of this does not absolve us form the duty of trying to remedy the evils around us, but ti does hlep us maintain mental clarity.
March 12, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Fear is a powerful thing. I used to worry a huge amount. I would lie in bed at night and be unable to sleep for hours because I was turning over dozens of awful possibilities in my mind. It hit a climax after I had my first child. I was very afraid of the end of the world, tribulation, my child’s death and suffering, etc… Sometimes when I thought about it I would literally tremble. I couldn’t function. I was desperate. What ultimately saved me was the prayers of St. Michael the Archangel. Well, it was really God who saved me, but it was through the intercession of St. Michael that I managed to seek and find His peace.
It was miraculous. One day in a rough moment I was suddenly inspired to say the prayer to St. Michael, and I felt so peaceful afterward that I decided to start saying it every time I felt worried or scared. It worked wonderfully. Within a day or two I was feeling peaceful most of the time, and when fear did overtake me, the prayer was a powerful weapon against it. Previously I had always tried to fight anxiety by reasoning myself out of it, and it worked… to a point. But it wasn’t until I finally was able to submit to grace and learn the most effective way to fight fear.
We know that fear is not from God (2 Timothy 1:7). I think that the fact that our culture has so embraced fear as a tool has made it a particularly effective way for the Enemy to worm his way into our hearts. THIS IS TRULY SPIRITUAL WARFARE. I think that’s why the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, who is traditionally invoked against Satan, worked so well to help drive fear from my life. Satan doesn’t want us to have God’s peace, hope and consolation; we have to fight for it.
March 12, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Or maybe we’re all just getting old at the same time and realizing that yes, we have sixty years, tops.
Or you might be on to something.
March 12, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Revelation 12:12
… How terrible it is for the earth and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, filled with rage, knowing that HIS TIME IS SHORT!
Revelation 13:7
It was allowed to wage war against the saints AND TO CONQUER THEM….
March 12, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I think of the vision of Pope Leo and the conversation between Christ and the Devil, and how he gave el Diablo any century he wanted to do his worst, and he chose the 20th (an homage to the book of Job?).
Well, the 20th Century is over. We are in the 3rd Millenium. I am glad I’m living to see it, and I am hopeful that there is indeed something in the air; or something is no longer in the air.
March 13, 2009 at 12:21 am
As for something coming, something came a long time ago.
A few examples- I remember when the stores were closed on Sunday, and we- virtually the whole American society- did keep holy the sabbath day.
I remember when the Churches were packed every Sunday.
I remember the Legion of Decency- that held back the tide of filth for a long time.
I remember the years before television invaded our Catholic homes and secularized us.
Now it is okay to shop on Sunday. What’s the big deal? Also, it’s okay to do the week’s laundry on Sunday-in fact, in our apartment complex it is laundry day.
Now it’s okay for Catholic fathers to allow things into their homes via TV that their grandfathers would not have permitted in a million years. Now it’s okay for Catholic high school girls to come and go from home looking trashy-in their school uniforms, to go to the pool wearing bikinis.
In my brief lifespan of 66 yrs, I have gone from living in a Church where the fight against sin was a ferocious knockdown drag-out battle to a Church where nothing is a sin, except perhaps abortion, and that, conveniently, is a sin that other people commit.
Honestly, I never understood the lightning and thunderbolts that flashed from our pulpits in the fifties. What was the big deal? But now I see that our priests then knew that they were salt and light. They were holding back the corruption in which we swim.
Oh yeah, when $50 Trillion goes to money heaven-as it has- you can bet that “something is coming.” See the Cinderella Man for clues. We are all going to live it.
Our shopping centers, factories and offices are going to have, at long last, a sabbath rest.
And we are going to learn all the other commandments, too, from the top. Yes, something is coming alright, known to former generations as the wrath of God.
March 13, 2009 at 1:05 am
Reminds me of Thomas More’s premonitions in Walker Percy’s “Love In The Ruins” or was it “The Thanatos Syndrome”.