This Antichrist thing…
This antichrist thing really has been picked up by many bloggers - myself included. Mainstream media pretty much ignored the reference by Cardinal Biffi. (That’s an unfortunate name isn’t it? In the States, biffie means going to the toilet, and if one pronounces it beefie - it references beef, or cow.)
Anyway - there are way too many blogs to link to with this story, no one has written that much about it however, they just posted the Cardinal’s remarks.
When I came back to the Church in 1972, I secretly believed we were living in the end times - I never expected to live beyond 30 years old. I was fascinated by private revelations concerning the coming chastisement, great persecutions, and the antichrist . Every war, every disaster, the escalating crime and immorality, convinced me we were living on the edge. I seemed to have lived in a continual state of excitement.
With age, the excitement has waned, but not the conviction - or rather, the suspicion we may be living in the end times. When I’m depressed, it seems to me it can’t come soon enough, yet when I’m more rational, the thought, far from depressing me, inspires me. Despite the cataclysm and suffering accompanying the emergence of the antichrist , the inestimable hope, touched with joy, of witnessing the Second Coming seems to me to be practically equal to the beatific vision, thereby mitigating the terror of the antichrist.
The mere thought is quite enough for me to endure whatever may come…I hope!
I’m simply reflecting here, so I won’t cite scripture passages and the catechism. Yet all the signs seem to be around us. If it is the antichrist’s time, how cool is it to be alive now? The prospect of martyrdom has rarely been more real - at least in the West. Growing up, the priests and nuns always told us, “You will never have to suffer martyrdom…” while proceeding to teach us about mortification, etc. They said this when innumerable souls were being put to death for the faith in Russia, China, and elsewhere.
Mother Annette, from the Lake Elmo Carmel in Minnesota, would discuss her longing for martyrdom with me at the turn when I visited. (These were some of my favorite visits.) Simply to hear her joy over the prospect, and her love of the martyrs who have gone before us, was enough to enflame one’s heart with greater love for Jesus Crucified. M. Annette would always reference St. Therese and John of the Cross in these conversations. Especially Holy Father’s statement:
”And by it” (His most sorrowful passion and death, at the moment of death on the cross.) “he accomplished the most marvelous work of his whole life, surpassing all the works and deeds and miracles that he had ever performed on earth or in heaven. The Lord achieved this, as I say, at the moment when he was most annihilated in all things…for he was forsaken by his Father at that moment so as to pay the debt fully and bring man to union with God.” - St. John of the Cross.
Shortly after my conversion, I had an intuition that the Church must pass through the exact same passion and dark night, as Her head, Our Lord Jesus Christ. This understanding gave me so much hope amidst the confusion resulting from Vatican II. In the ’70’s I personally knew priests who were abusers and homosexuals, in fact, one priest was convicted a few years ago and murdered in prison. I knew him! I lived in Boston at the time he was pastor of a parish a friend of mine worked at. (I’ve also endured just about every liturgical abuse you can imagine.) I knew what was going on way before the scandal broke, with the subsequent lawsuits - as did many of the Bishops and clergy.
Nevertheless, I had this wondrous gift of faith and piety, infused with an ardent love for Jesus in the Eucharist - experiencing Him in the most marvelous and intimate manner. This is what has carried me through all of the trials, tribulations, sufferings, as well as temptation and sin, throughout the years. I haven’t always understood the why and wherefore, “but I trusted, even when they said ‘Where is your God?’”
If indeed this is the time of the antichrist, or the persecutions and testing that will preceed his reign, let it be. The Lord said in the Gospel, “When you see these things happening, stand erect, hold your head high, awaiting Him.” Or something like that.
(I spoke with a priest today, one whom I esstem and respect, and he brought up Cardinal Biffi’s remarks - I couldn’t get it out of my mind…hence, this post - now I’ll go back in the closet with my apocalyptic thoughts. Yet not without saying, if you left the Church, come back quickly! It is absolutely the best time to be Catholic in the history of the world!)
