"The Church's ultimate trial"
(point 675- in the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
"The Church's ultimate trial"
(point 675- in the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
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 judgement. 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 Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.
WE ARE ALLOWED TO DEFEND OURSELF.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE
Art. 5:1, point 2263-2265 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly states:
"Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life.
... those holding legitimate authority have the right to repel
by armed force aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their charge"
"Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality ...to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow."
"Because in choosing to legitimately defend oneself one is respecting the right to life (either one’s own right to life or that of another) and not choosing to kill. Indeed, for someone responsible for the life of another, legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty, provided only that disproportionate force is not used."
(467 in Compendium Catholic Catechism).
THE FALL ... AND A HARD BATTLE
"By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man,
even though man remains free.
Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil".
Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.
(407 in Catholic Catechesis).
Copyright 2024 ©CommanderCrossRosary. All Rights Reserved.