The Anti-Christ in the Catechism

When I did those two posts about politics and the anti-Christ a few months ago (here and here), I kept asking myself if I was being overly pessimistic and paranoid. There is certainly a good deal of fear and hysteria among Christians in our time, and I didn't want to be drawn into it, or encourage it in others. Yet one can be aware of the signs of the times, and realistic about what's going on, without losing one's balance. And I felt somewhat vindicated when Janet Cupo sent me the following passages from the Catechism. Note paragraph 676 in particular.

The Church's ultimate trial

675     Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

676     The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.

677     The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.

That secular messianism is a powerful force in our society can't reasonably be denied. That doesn't mean these are the end times, but it is certainly something that bears identifying and watching; there's nothing to be gained by refusing to face the reality. In any case our duty doesn't change very much, and we must remain hopeful and confident.

Comments

[Paul]

These obviously are the end times. We just have no idea how long they still have to run.

[Marianne]

If I had any doubts about these being the end times, they were pretty much put to rest when I viewed that Happy 40th Anniversary, Baby video put out by the Center for Reproductive Rights celebrating the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade a few days ago.

If you're up for viewing what one of the commenters at First Things says "seems to exude evil," here's the link to the article there discussing it.

[Mac]

I resolutely refuse to form an opinion on whether the actual end of the end times (can't argue with Paul's observation) is nigh. However, I do often find myself thinking "Surely God is not going to let this go on indefinitely." I don't know if I want to watch that video.

[Robert Gotcher]

It is a stomach-turner.

[Janet]

I am definitely not going to watch it. I don't think it would serve any purpose than to plant images in my head that I wouldn't be able to get rid of. I was reading something in St. Ignatius this morning about how curiosity like this gets us into trouble.

AMDG

[Janet]

Anyway, I meant to say that I will say something about this post when I am conscious again.

AMDG

[Intrepid Grumpy]

It looks pretty endish to me, but then I recall that Thomas Aquinas wrote shortly before his death in 1274 that schism in the Church is a sign of the anti-Christ.

I suppose if one goes with Paul and says, it is the end we just don't know how long it will be, it could have started in c. 1274 and reach its culmination in 4721.

[Mac]

The one thing that makes me think we might not just be like everyone else for the past 2000 years, lamenting the decline of the times, is our technology, and the potential damage we can do with it. I'm pretty sure I had a Sunday night journal on this topic some time ago. How far will God let us take technologies like genetic engineering? Of course, it wouldn't take the end of the world, just a calamity reducing us to a pre-industrial way of life.

[Intrepid Grumpy]

Yes, I know it's facile to say there have always been declinists

[Mac]

I didn't really mean to be saying that, although it certainly can be. It's equally facile to say "but this time it's different" and work oneself into a state. Aside from the question of the *real* end times, there are real declines, so both attitudes are right sometimes and wrong sometimes.

[Paul]

I think there are sound scriptural reasons to think that the end times started with Nero's persecution (well before 1274), and that there won't be any new revelation or divine intervention in the course of history until Christ comes again.

There are always people who want to take some particular schism, massacre, war or disaster as a sign that the Second Coming is imminent. I think there are also sound scriptural grounds not to do that.

I write this under correction.

[Paul]

One of the consequences is that types of Anti-Christ will have abounded at any time since Nero, and perhaps even since Herod. The fact that one (or several) can be identified currently does not mean that there won't be time for many more to arise.

When I think about these things, the words "O Christ, Christ, come quickly" spring to mind.

[Intrepid Grumpy]

Paul, I agree. Or I would say: the whole of human history since the Resurrection is the 'end times.' When Thomas said that schism in the Church is a mark of the anti-Christ, he didn't necessarily mean the end was round the corner. He just meant it was a 'type' of the a-C.

[Mac]

"O Christ, Christ, come quickly"

Yes, that's really all one can say about it that isn't completely speculative. And remember that it's always the end time for oneself.