Going by some recent comments by Padraig, and I think by others here, it seems some of us at least believe we are in those times. But that is obviously of extraordinary importance and I just wondered what is the sensus fidei about this on here, do people really think that? Personally I have come to think that is possible, not that the physical end of the world is coming, but maybe the whole antichrist, mark of the beast etc. That said I put that bare question to a very knowlegeable friend of mine, who goes to the Latin mass etc, and he was quite adamant in saying no, and thought I was a bit mad. So what do people think?
I think we are in an ongoing chastisement and most likely will see the rise of anti christic figure but Our Lady has told us at Fatima and Quito and other approved appsritions that she will triumph in the end. So in answer to your question I dont think so. But I am watching the signs if the times closely.
I personally believe we are in the end times or a type/prefigurement of the end times. Many of the eschatological markers given to us by Jesus in the Gospels have been met. There is no room to debate on this fact. None, and anyone who does not concede on this fact is being disingenuous. In terms of personal revelation Our Lady of Fatima told us the final battle will be over the family. Something we are currently witnessing. Also, all the conditions for the battle of Armageddon have fallen into place. Something that was impossible years ago. The State of the Church is also another marker. As well many in these times are having a great deal of dreams about Jesus' coming. Given the above, what are the odds that so many predictions have reached a state of fulfillment or possible future fulfillment simultaneously? Simple mathematics begs the question alone, let alone simply observing the state of the world. I am not being rude or disingenuous either. And I am only scratching the surface in this post.
Yes, you could be right. Another way to look at it, is that such times would see massive evil on the part of our political overlords, way way above anything seen before. But it seems they have organised a massive campaign of systematically poisoning almost the whole planet, via their vaccination campaigns, so even on that front isn't that massively evil? You read up on MAID in Canada, where its absolutely the case they highly recommend to the seriously ill to kill themselves, maybe we are hitting, or getting close to, maximum evil?
I don't know what the limit is for evil is in this world, but I don't believe we've reached the limit as of yet. I know many live a life of hell accomplished by another's hand, and I don't want to diminish this fact, but I think it could be so much worse overall. That being said it is far more evil than now than at any other point in my life. Interestingly enough El Salvador seems to be on the exact opposite path and encourages prayer. Trump has created an initiative to promote an hour of prayer each week. Notice how most migrants aren't Christians and most of the west has lost its faith?
Every two thousand years God does a great reset. Not the end of the world, but reset. It’s time. Pray, repent, and Keep the Faith. Jesus is coming soon.
I go to Latin Mass too (that doesn’t mean I’m very holy, though), and I don’t think you are mad. Instead, I agree, we are in the end times. a) Specifically, I think we are in the “minor chastisement” (refer “Trial, Tribulation and Triumph” by Desmond Birch). This will be followed by the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin. I have my eyes on 2029 (refer 100-year period according to the locution by Pope Leo XIII and the fact that Our Lady requested the consecration of Russia to Sr. Lucia dos Santos of Fatima in 1929). After the Triumph, I expect a long era of peace, followed by another age of lukewarmness and complacency. Only then should come the major chastisement with the Antichrist, followed by the return of Our Lord, to judge the living and the dead. b) But I could be wrong - perhaps we are in fact already close to the Antichrist. The following facts seem to support that: 1. World War III appears to have started in Ukraine and the Middle East. The war between Israel and Iran appears to have some hallmarks of Armageddon. 2. The “prophecy of the Popes by St. Malachi” appears to indicate we are close to the very end. 3. As I understand it, the Antichrist will be ushered in by the biblical False Prophet, and Pope or Antipope Francis appears to have had some hallmarks of the False Prophet. 4. The ‘system’ itself appears to be speaking about Antichrist, refer recent talks by Peter Thiel, for example. In any case a) or b), I have no doubt we are in the end times already, in some form or shape. God bless
Yes. This is how I see it too. But every 500 years. Archbishop Sheen alluded to this in his talk on the ages of the Church. I believe he identified them as the Arian crisis, the Schism between East and West, the Protestant revolt and now Modernism. This particular period seems to be all heresies in one and therefore reaching critical mass in its evil. The infiltration of the Church by the masons seems to have wrought greater evil than ever before. What happens first in the Church is then played out in the world.( Fr Ripperger)
In a general sense sense the death and Resurrection of Jesus we are in the End Times. It is clear that the Early Christians believed in Christ's Imminent return. In fact so much so that some of them even stopped working. But in the sense that we just about to see the End of the World . No. Some Catholics have always been believing that the End of the World is about to heaven. Especially when bad things like wars or the Black Plague were happening. But the World rolled on. We are at a moment in history when many astonishing things are happening. So folks are bound to think we are at the end of the tale. But this is the Minor Tribulation. Not the same as the final Tribulation at the end of the World. It will seem more and more massive that pretty well everyone will think it is the end . But it isn't. Here is a Catholic Saint who thought it was the End of the World. He convinced everyone including the Pope. They were all wrong.
https://catholicstrength.com/tag/a-...way-of-heresy-and-schism-entering-the-church/ In his book, Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement Yves Dupont offers the following conclusion: “I regard it as certain that there will be two different stages. The first stage will only be the beginning of sorrows [see Matt. 24:8], and it will be shortened for the sake of the elect, and the Gospel will then be preached throughout the world. This will be the period of peace under the Great Monarch, the period of conversion and general prosperity which we and our children may enjoy – in short, the period of peace promised by Our Lady of Fatima” (p.91). Another great scholar of Catholic prophecy, Father Edward Conner, in his book Prophecy for Today, sees the general sequence of prophetic events unfolding in this manner: A. “Before the Gospel is preached and accepted in all the world, there shall come world wars and insidious doctrines accompanied by widespread persecution. B. This era shall be terminated by the the direct interference of God destroying the evil systems or persons responsible for the persecutions; and through the leadership of a great civil ruler and a great spiritual leader, a period of peace will come during which nations will hear and accept the true Faith [this period of peace coincides with the Fatima prophecy of a period of peace].” C. A great apostasy will follow [and Antichrist will come, leading to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the end of the world as set forth in Holy Scripture].” A seminal and very long book on Catholic prophecy published in 1996, Trial, Tribulation and Triumph, by Desmond A. Birch, generally agrees that there will be a minor chastisement (meaning not the final chastisement at the end of the world), a period of peace, a major chastisement (Antichrist), and then the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. As to the minor chastisement, which will be followed by a period of peace, these are the first three elements in Birch’s long chronology of how it will come about: (1) “At some point in the future, the corrupt faithless age we live in now will come to an end either through inner conversion of sufficient number of people who turn to prayer, sacrifice, and penance,—or there will be a chastisement. This would be a Minor Chastisement preceding the Age of Peace. St Louis de Montfort described this Age of Peace as the Age of Mary. (2) If this chastisement is not averted through conversion, the Latin Church will be afflicted by heresy and schism. (3) The chastising elements will come in two forms, (a) man made and (b) Heaven-sent” (page 553). Following his description of this minor chastisement, Birch goes on to describe the period of peace which will result, and then the rise of Antichrist and the end of the world. A key insight of Birch is that the minor chastisement prophesied at Fatima (if not averted by prayer and penance) will come by way of heresy and schism entering the Church. The second secret of Fatima, given to the seers on July 13, 1917, coincides with the general prophetic understanding of a chastisement and then a coming period of peace. It states (as verbatim from the Vatican website) the following: “You have seen hell [the children’s vision of hell is the first secret] where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” Saint John Paul II was known as the “Fatima Pope,” devoting himself profoundly to the Fatima message following his having been shot and almost killed in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981 (the anniversary of the first apparition of Mary at Fatima). Sister Lucia, the Fatima seer, confirmed that Pope John Paul II’s 1984 consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary had been “accepted by Heaven” (see Fatima for Today, p.260). On May 13, 1982, Pope John Paul II spoke the following words during a homily given in Fatima, Portugal: “In the light of a mother’s love we understand the whole message of the Lady of Fátima. The greatest obstacle to man’s journey towards God is sin, perseverance in sin, and, finally, denial of God. The deliberate blotting out of God from the world of human thought. The detachment from him of the whole of man’s earthly activity. The rejection of God by man…. [He] reads it again with trepidation in his heart, because he sees how many people and societies—how many Christians—have gone in the opposite direction to the one indicated in the message of Fátima. Sin has thus made itself firmly at home in the world, and denial of God has become widespread in the ideologies, ideas and plans of human beings.”
For me, the “end times” question has become much more personal than a cosmic /world wide event. At 67 years old and after an accident that could have ended my life instantly, I've come to see that the “end times” I’m most likely to face is the end of my life, not the end of the world. Even if someone isn’t “old,” that’s still the more realistic and likely outcome/ our personal end on this Earth. Not to be overly dramatic but most likely any of us can meet the Lord at any moment. So my answer to this question is not to get too caught up in trying to decipher all world events and timelines. Instead, I am trying to prepare for the one judgment that I know is coming for me. Needing the Grace to follow the Gospel and repent. Trying to live my baptismal promises as faithfully as I can. I believe this is the best approach to the spiritual and emotional readiness Christ asks for, no matter what time we’re living in.
Jesus' words to St. Faustina give me reason to believe the end might be nearer than we think: “Speak to the world about My mercy… it is a sign for the end times. After it will come the day of justice (Diary 848)…Souls perish in spite of My bitter passion…I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of Mercy. If they will not adore My Mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of My mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near” (Diary #965) He told St. Faustina, "You will prepare the world for My final coming." Mary told her: “Oh, how pleasing to God is the soul that follows faithfully, the inspirations of His grace! I gave the savior to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for His 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 there is still time for granting mercy, if you keep silent now, you will be answering for a great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing, be nothing, be faithful to the end. I sympathize with you.” (Diary # 635) Jesus also said: ‘I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My Will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.(Diary 1732) And of course it is widely believed that Pope St. John Paul II was that spark that prepared the world for Jesus' final coming. St. Faustina died in 1938. Pope John Paul II died in 2005, after instituting the Feast of Divine Mercy in 2000. Sr. Lucia of Fatima said that Pope John Paul II's consecration of Russia was accepted by Heaven. Shortly afterwards, the Soviet Regime began its collapse and the Iron Curtain fell. The Western world was certainly granted a time of peace. When you compare how people have lived during the last few decades, compared to the turbulent and fearful times of the world wars and relentless march of militant Communism, you can't deny we were granted some kind of reprieve, though clearly it has not been ideal. And that makes sense, because Mary even said we would take forever to follow her wishes and the result would not be as good as it would have been of we had listened much sooner. Sr. Lucia and Pope John Paul II both died in 2005, within 2 months of each other. Sr. Lucia died on February 13, and JPII died on April 2, the vigil of the feast of Divine Mercy. There's no denying that Fatima and Divine Mercy are linked, as Sr. Lucia and JPII's missions on earth wrapped up together. JPII did what Sr. Lucia was left on earth to get accomplished, ushering in the (lessened) era of peace and the fall of Communism in Russia. And JPII set up the Divine Mercy feast and made its devotion widespread, setting the stage for Jesus' final coming. So I don't think we're still waiting for an amazing era of perfect peace and flourishing religion. I think we're heading for the final throes. If Medjugorje is true (and I believe it is), I think the 10 secrets are going to be the unfolding of those throes and some very great acts of mercy that will cause mass conversions of the Muslims, Jews, and the reunification of the West and East Churches. I think that will be the Triumph of Mary. And then the Antichrist will arrive and the Church will undergo its final test before Christ's return. Those are my thoughts, anyway, for the very little that they're worth.
