The End of the World As We Know It? Well, Not Yet –
A faithful reader mentioned that one or two of my columns have been a bit dire of late, but one must not wonder, for the times lend themselves to such reflections. The point, however, is not that the end of the world as we know it is around the corner, but, rather, that the world, whose form was already passing away when Saint Paul wrote in the first century, will come to an end at some point, and we must not place our hope in that world, in its pomp, promises and circumstances.
Christ’s warning in today’s Gospel – vigilate, stay awake, be watchful and ready – does not apply primarily to the end of time, but rather to the end of each of our individual times, when we ourselves will cross that threshold into eternity, whether at the end of the world or, far more likely, in some other way in God’s good providence.
Just yesterday was the anniversary of the tragic Air New Zealand flight 901 disaster, on a sightseeing tour across Antarctica, which crashed into Mount Erebus in 1979, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew. Due to an apparent mix-up in the flight path – about which there is still controversy – the pilots and everyone else on board thought they were cruising over McMurdo Sound, while in reality they were heading straight for the side of the mountain. In the white expanse, even the pilots couldn’t tell the difference until the last moment, with the cockpit recording the final words, ‘Pull up – pull…!’. The passengers likely never knew what hit them, and all 257 souls went in that one instant before their Maker, to that judgement we will all have to face, when our own Mount Erebus arrives.
Christ may indeed come like a ‘thief in the night’, but we need ‘fear’ only if we are not prepared, not in our wedding garment, not in a state of grace, immersed in the cares and troubles, or worse, of this world alone.
For those who do pray, who live a ‘liminal’ life, always poised on that threshold of eternity, any day will do, really. As Father George Rutler puts it in a recent column, we must be, like the Coast Guard and the Boy Scouts, semper paratus, always prepared. When Thomas More as he ascended the scaffold was asked by the headsman if he were certain he was going to paradise, the saint replied, ‘I don’t think Christ would refuse one so eager to meet Him’.
So fear not, dear reader, even though the mountains be cast into the sea. There may yet be much time, and much that must yet happen, before the end of the world as we know it. But whatever betide, if Christ is for us, and we for Christ, who or what can be against?
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→