June 2019- The Great Apathy

"Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, Who opposeth, and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God." (II Thessalonians 2:3-4) The Douay-Rhiems has a footnote on the revolt:

"A revolt": This revolt, or falling off, is generally understood, by the ancient fathers, of a revolt from the Roman empire, which was first to be destroyed, before the coming of Antichrist. It may, perhaps, be understood also of a revolt of many nations from the Catholic Church; which has, in part, happened already, by means of Mahomet, Luther, &c., and it may be supposed, will be more general in the days of the Antichrist."

Some call the revolt the Great Apostasy from the Greek word, which is translated as revolt. Islam is a form of apostasy. Mohammed was inspired by a Nestorian (heretical) monk in part, when he merged Judaism, Christianity and his own ideas to found his own religion, much as Joseph Smith was to do centuries later in forming the Mormon heresy. Apostasy means a falling away from the Faith.

From 1962 to 1965 a council was held, which Angelo Roncalli, the second Antipope John XXIII in history, which he called the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. (More commonly known as Vatican II) However it defined the doctrines of a new sect, called the Conciliar Church, which Roncalli governed from 1958 until 1963 and was followed by John the Baptist Montini, Paul VI. Some consider that Vatican II and its perfidious spirit, which led to a revision of the essential rights of the Sacraments as well as the spreading of many heresies was the Great Apostasy. The spirit of Vatican II is that truth is not unchangeable, but changeable. Thus what was condemned as false in the nineteenth century, a hundred years later became truth, as Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) would call Vatican II a counter-syllabus, meaning it over turned the Syllabus of Errors.

The question arises, has the son of perdition, the Antichrist, arisen?

Some considered John the Baptist Montini as the Antichrist, but considering his name, he was more like a forerunner to Antichrist, preparing a church to receive Antichrist, as John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

Since the Antichrist hasn't come, but things appear to be coming into place for his advent, where are we now?

In the 1960's until the late 1970's, people began to see through the Conciliar Church and to leave it. Some left Catholicism entirely, while others formed what eventually would be called the Traditionalist movement. The Great Apostasy mutated into what a priest friend calls the Great Apathy. Everyone found a comfortable pew by the end of the 1970's to sit in and attend Mass. We have become complacent with the status quo and the Conciliar Church and the Traditionalist Movement has become acceptable to the world. Instead of the Church Militant on fire with the love of God, we have become the Church Comfortable and become the religious equivalent of a couch potato, a pew potato.

Jesus warned of these times: "And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold." (Matthew 24:12) Charity is the love of God and the love of our neighbor for the love of God. Do we have charity? We need to reread the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians on the virtue of charity. Do we have all of those marks?

The prophet Amos (8:11) tells us of these times: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord." Are we here out of curiosity or are we here to hear the Word of God? Are we ready to take what is preached here to heart and change our lives from a sensual life to a spiritual one? Or will we remain apathetic?

June 2019- The Great Apathy
cancel
Close
Search