Life Advice

 

Jesus said to his disciples: "In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. "And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. 

"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. 

Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13:24-32)

Let us have no fear.  This confusing reading from Mark has been used by those wishing to profit from their apocalyptic view of what is to come – their fictious “Rapture” embraced by very many people.  

According to John Switzer in his U.S. Catholic 2014 article, (begin) “The second coming of Christ will be much different than folklore and pop culture say:” The question of what happens to us upon Christ’s return is one that has puzzled Christians since the beginning of Christianity. If you want to see how popular it is today, just do a search for “Rapture” in the catalog of any major bookseller. There are thousands of sources available on the topic of saved Christians who will suddenly be yanked into eternity while leaving the rest of the world baffled and confused. From a Catholic viewpoint, the doctrine is often misunderstood. 

To clarify the puzzle we must ask this question: On the day of the Rapture, will Christians be coming or going? The popular answer among many evangelicals is that we’ll be leaving on the day of the Rapture. But that’s not what St. Paul thought. Like many Jews of the first century, Paul used the expression “falling asleep” to describe death. Sheol, the underworld abode of the dead, was believed to be a place without physical or mental activity, an extreme form of suspended animation where even deceased kings were consigned motionless to their thrones (Isa. 14). In this state Christians who died were understood to await Christ’s return in victory and their own resurrection in glory.

According to Paul, at the appointed time and as quickly as “a blink of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52), the dead would rise. Then the living would be snatched up or carried off immediately afterward in order to meet Christ in the clouds (1 Thess. 4:16-17). In the Vulgate, the early Latin Bible, the word used for God’s plucking us up into the sky was rapiemur, from which we derive the word “rapture.” 

To understand what would happen next, we must grasp the ancient idea of parousia. In the Greco-Roman world, a parousia was a celebration of the arrival of someone of distinction. It could be a person of political or military status or a god represented by an idol and accompanied by priests. The church’s liturgical calendar celebrates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday—a Christian adaptation of a pre-existent practice. It is important to note that such celebrated arrivals were planned in advance. At the appointed time, those being visited by the arriving dignity or deity would go out of the city gate as a sign of welcome and respect. The townsfolk would then process back into the city with the honored visitor, along with devotions or merriment.

When most Christians think of the Rapture today, they imagine the redeemed being snatched up to heaven by Christ as if they have a one-way ticket. But when Paul spoke of being carried off to meet Christ in the clouds, it was not for the purpose of flying away to heaven but to welcome the Lord and return with him in glory. This moment represents the culmination of God’s plan, the great Eschaton, for which all Christians pray when they cry out, “Thy kingdom come.” Our very baptism reminded us of this day: “When the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints of the heavenly kingdom.” (end)

Let’s not fail to understand our Gospel reading in the way Switzer explains.  If we fail to do so, we will be taken in by those wishing to rapture us out of our Catholic beliefs into their strange and bizarre way of thinking that many of us will be left behind to suffer a great tribulation. 

Deacon David Pierce