ISIS, A SIGN OF THE END TIMES ?

Is ISIS a sign of the end times?"

 Many Christians wonder if the rise of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), also known as ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and IS (Islamic State), is a sign of the end times. ISIS has attracted a lot of attention due to its brutal tactics in gaining and maintaining control over territory in Iraq and Syria and its terrorism in other parts of the world (most notably the November 13, 2015, Paris attacks).

ISIS’s murder of Middle Eastern Christians has been particularly heinous. The way ISIS has been beheading Christians (and other victims) reminds many of Revelation 20:4, which predicts the manner of execution the Antichrist will use during the tribulation; “Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.” And, of course, the fact that ISIS is attempting to establish its Islamic caliphate so close to the borders of Israel is a definite matter of concern.

There is no biblical prophecy that explicitly predicts the rise of ISIS. The Bible prophesies an increase in wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6), and Jesus declared that persecution will be the experience of anyone who seeks to follow Him (John 15:18–20). Further, Second Timothy 3:1–4 could be seen as a fitting description of ISIS in many ways: “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

But these passages do not specifically predict ISIS. Rather, they inform us what the end times will be like. As a result, we should not be surprised by the rise of ISIS. The world is going to get worse before the end times, and then the world will get exponentially worse during the end times (see Revelation 6–18).

Is ISIS a definite sign of the end times? No. Is ISIS a possible sign of the end times? Yes. Could the actions of ISIS lead to a greater conflict that fulfills one of the end-times warsprophesied in the Bible? Yes. But, presently, the world is united against ISIS. Does that unity set the stage for a global government, as predicted in Scripture? Could the world’s being united against a great evil like ISIS eventually lead to the rise of the greatest evil the world will ever see, theAntichrist? Could the leader of ISIS, presently Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, be the Antichrist? Again, it is possible.

Ultimately, we will have to wait and see what role, if any, ISIS plays in the end times. At this time, ISIS is simply proof of what the Bible says about how evil humanity can become without Christ (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10–18).

ADVENT

ADVENT

Advent and Christmastide have a warmth and beauty all of their own. The drama set before us in the liturgy is the greatest story ever told: the virginal conception, the speechlessness of Zechariah, the birth of John the Baptist, the shepherds in the field, the three wise men, the escape to Egypt, the slaughter of the innocents, the prophets Simeon and Anna, and the profound proclamations of the Benedictus and Magnificat. The whole story is ever new and fresh – as fresh as the Babe on whom it is centred.

What made our earliest childhood Christmases so special was the sense of expectation and anticipation that began when the calendar switched to the 12^th month and built up slowly and surely over the coming weeks until the festal day itself. There were many signs that drew us on this time-journey: the Christmas trees piled up on in the markets, even overflowing the pavements, the fairy lights in shop windows, the toy shops displays, tiny tin pot kiosks touting “Xmas Cakes”, the coming of the school holidays, the sending and receiving of cards, the smells and baking of cakes, puddings, and roasts, the ever imaginative designing of cribs, the Christmas-eve confession and so much more. And now-a-days the festive season sales of “up to 50% discount (‘conditions apply’)!” Every sense was stimulated in some way and we all carry with us sights, smells and sounds that remind us of those hearty Christmases.

The season of Advent parallels this anticipation in liturgical terms. The beauty and holiness of the season is captured eloquently by Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes, wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, the bird of dawning singeth all night long; and then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad: the nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, no fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm; so hallowed and so gracious is the time.”

Once again, we have entered a hallowed and sacred time. Has the season become so secularised that we have lost sight of what the Catechism of the Catholic tells us? “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Saviour’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming” (no. 524). The Sundays of Advent, together with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, are designed to help us reflect on the coming of Christ into our world, on his continuous coming into our lives every day and on his final coming when we look forward to sharing his life in glory.  We will prefer to let the accidental trash of life be consumed by suffering in order that his glory may come out clean in everything we do.

It makes great sense to stay watchful and alert, not allowing ourselves to feel that we live in a settled situation, but, rather, to read the signs of the times, make use of the opportunities, and place our talents for the building of the “new earth and new heaven.” For sure, life has a frenetic pace about it, and Christmas seems to highlight this more than any other time of the year.

We are either preparing to meet Jesus Christ or we are not – there is no middle path.  Our faith enables us to believe that his day is this day, this very hour, for the Lord keeps coming – in the sacraments, surely, but also in people, in our daily tasks, in the challenges of today’s world. In his 1^st. letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul emphasises the point – “stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to…stand with confidence before the Son of Man.” It is a confidence that comes from following Christ’s example of prayer and active good living.

BAPTISM, IMPORTANCE OF

 Importance of Christian Baptism

 Christian baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for the church. Just before His ascension, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20). These instructions specify that the church is responsible to teach Jesus’ word, make disciples, and baptize those disciples. These things are to be done everywhere (“all nations”) until “the very end of the age.” So, if for no other reason, baptism has importance because Jesus commanded it.

Baptism was practiced before the founding of the church. The Jews of ancient times would baptize proselytes to signify the converts’ “cleansed” nature. John the Baptist used baptism to prepare the way of the Lord, requiring everyone, not just Gentiles, to be baptized because everyone needs repentance. However, John’s baptism, signifying repentance, is not the same as Christian baptism, as seen in Acts 18:24–26 and 19:1–7. Christian baptism has a deeper significance.

Baptism is to be done in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit—this is what makes it “Christian” baptism. It is through this ordinance that a person is admitted into the fellowship of the church. When we are saved, we are “baptized” by the Spirit into the Body of Christ, which is the church. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Baptism by water is a “reenactment” of the baptism by the Spirit.

Christian baptism is the means by which a person makes a public profession of faith and discipleship. In the waters of baptism, a person says, wordlessly, “I confess faith in Christ; Jesus has cleansed my soul from sin, and I now have a new life of sanctification.”

Christian baptism illustrates, in dramatic style, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. At the same time, it also illustrates our death to sin and new life in Christ. As the sinner confesses the Lord Jesus, he dies to sin (Romans 6:11) and is raised to a brand-new life (Colossians 2:12). Being submerged in the water represents death to sin, and emerging from the water represents the cleansed, holy life that follows salvation. Romans 6:4 puts it this way: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Very simply, baptism is an outward testimony of the inward change in a believer’s life. Christian baptism is an act of obedience to the Lord after salvation; although baptism is closely associated with salvation, it is not a requirement to be saved. The Bible shows in many places that the order of events is 1) a person believes in the Lord Jesus and 2) he is baptized. This sequence is seen in Acts 2:41, “Those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized” (see also Acts 16:14–15).

A new believer in Jesus Christ should desire to be baptized as soon as possible. In Acts 8 Philip speaks “the good news about Jesus” to the Ethiopian eunuch, and, “as they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?’” (verses 35–36). Right away, they stopped the chariot, and Philip baptized the man.

Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Everywhere the gospel is preached, people are to be baptized.

"...NOR THE SON" (Mt. 24, 36)

                                                   “…..nor the Son” (Mt. 24, 36)

“As to the end of the world, do not enquire when it will come, for it is not a question fit to be asked, for of that day, and that hour, knoweth no man; it is a thing at a great distance; the exact time is fixed in the counsel of God, but is not revealed by any word of God, either to men on earth, or to angels in heaven; the angels shall have timely notice to prepare to attend in that day, and it shall be published, when it comes to the children of men, with sound of trumpet; but, at present, men and angels are kept in the dark concerning the precise time of it, that they may both attend to their proper services in the present day.” But it follows, neither the Son; but is there anything which the Son is ignorant of? We read indeed of a book which was sealed, till the Lamb opened the seals; but did not he know what was in it, before the seals were opened? Was not he privy to the writing of it? There were those in the primitive times, who taught from this text, that there were some things that Christ, as man, was ignorant of; and from these were called Agnoetae; they said, “It was no more absurd to say so, than to say that his human soul suffered grief and fear;” and many of the orthodox fathers approved of this. Some would evade it, by saying that Christ spoke this in a way of prudential economy, to divert the disciples from further enquiry: but to this one of the ancients answers, It is not fit to speak too nicely in this matter—ou dei pany akribologein, so Leontius in Dr. Hammond, “It is certain (says Archbishop Tillotson) that Christ, as God, could not be ignorant of anything; but the divine wisdom which dwelt in our Saviour, did communicate itself to his human soul, according to the divine pleasure, so that his human nature might sometimes not know some things; therefore Christ is said to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52), which he could not be said to do, if the human nature of Christ did necessarily know all things by virtue of its union with the divinity.” Dr. Lightfoot explains it thus; Christ calls himself the Son, as Messiah. Now the Messiah, as such, was the father’s servant (Isa. 42:1), sent and deputed by him, and as such a one he refers himself often to his Father’s will and command, and owns he did nothing of himself(John 5:19); in like manner he might be said to know nothing of himself. The revelation of Jesus Christ was what God gave unto him, Rev. 1:1. He thinks, therefore, that we are to distinguish between those excellencies and perfections of his, which resulted from the personal union between the divine and human nature, and those which flowed from the anointing of the Spirit; from the former flowed the infinite dignity of his perfect freedom from all sin; but from the latter flowed his power of working miracles, and his foreknowledge of things to come. What therefore (saith he) was to be revealed by him to his church, he was pleased to take, not from the union of the human nature with the divine, but from the revelation of the Spirit, by which he yet knew not this, but the Father only knows it; that is, God only, the Deity; for (as Archbishop Tillotson explains it) it is not used here personally, in distinction from the Son and the Holy Ghost, but as the Father is, Fons et Principium Deitatis—The Fountain of Deity.

SAINTS AND SOULS

SAINTS AND SOULS

             One day, during a catechism class on All Saints’ Day, the teacher asked, “Who or what are the saints?”  One youngster stood up and happened to look at the stained glass window that had a saint portrayed, with the sunlight streaming through. The little fellow got a bright idea and answered, “The saints are those who let in the sunlight.” Splendid answer, the teacher thought. The saints let the light of Christ into our life by their prayer and example. But what happens when there is no sunlight, when the outside is dark and we are seated in a well lit church? That is when we send our light and prayer to our friends in the semi-darkness as they walk towards the pearly gates. They are grateful for our prayers and sacrifices that serve as so many points of light on their way to the perpetual light of the Heavenly Jerusalem. And as they march in they hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah, Chapter 31: “I have loved you. I will guard you as a shepherd guards his flock. They will come and sing for joy on Mt. Sion. I will turn their mourning into joy.”

During the Second World War, six million Jews, including many Catholics of Jewish descent, perished in the Nazi death camps. That number would have been greater, but happily, at least 500,000 were rescued or protected by ordinary people. They were quite ordinary people, in fact, for the most part, individualists  -  they did not usually do what society demanded, for example, to share in the almost universal hatred of the Jews. They just got into the habit of doing good, finding themselves responding first to a need and only second to the danger, and believing that the gift of goodness could be passed on.

That is the stuff of saints. “The Saints go marching in!”

GIRL CHILD, INTERNATIONAL DAY OF

GIRL CHILD, International Day of

Introduction to the Eucharist

With affectionate concern and hopefulness we today would like to focus on the GIRL CHILD. Not only would we invoke God’s blessing on his girl children but, by his grace, we commit ourselves to protect them at every stage of their life, contribute our share to their educational, cultural and physical development. The scenario today is a dismal one. In circumstances of utter poverty, girl children are pushed into the flesh trade by heartless adults, pressed into bonded labour by creditors and landowners, even forced-trained to be girl soldiers by terrorist groups. How many girl children are marked out for dowry deaths and the horror of bride burning is a heart rending tale, oft repeated in our country. And the entertainment industry manoeuvres many little girls into certain roles that leave them devastated and bereft of their childhood. This was not the way the Creator wanted it. This was not the way our Saviour Jesus Christ, whose ministry was characterised by the affirmation of life, the imparting of health, and the gift of joy and harmony. And this is also what we want to happen in our time and will make happen. So with hopefulness for the future of the world’s girl children, we ask our Heavenly Father to allow us and our concerns into the mysteries of Jesus, that we are now about to celebrate as a church community with sincere contrition for our sins and failures.

“I confess.....”

IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN

IT’S CHRISTMAS AGAIN   !

 Christmas Day is here, and once again we kneel near the manger crib of our Infant Saviour. No angels have we heard on high carolling his praises, no brightness has paled the starts of night to herald the birth of the Child of eternal years. Only the steady light of faith has dispelled the night of our hearts. And it’s Christmas again ! Last Christmas is long ago; and perhaps the slow-going year had brought an unexpected load of sorrow into our lives. We may have had days and weeks of anxiety that none could share with us. Perhaps it was on us the others leaned, and we had to hide the gnawing care of our own hearts. It may be the bright days have been few and the dark days many. It may be the shadow of the Cross was hard against our path, even as it falls across the crib of Bethlehem.

But all that is hidden now as we join the silent, wonder-struck adorers of the first Christmas night. Mary, our Mother is here; and good St. Joseph. And yet, because we are slow in virtue we may feel out of place with them. Mary’s untold love and Joseph’s unfailing devotion seem so far beyond the reach of our faint efforts. Somehow it is best to take our place among the lowly shepherds, content just to be there and happy just to find comfort in the presence of our King and Maker, baby as he is. We shall join the wide-eyed hillside herdsmen and say our simple prayers with them, wondering at “that which has come to pass, which the Lord has shown to us.” In childlike broken speech with them we shall tell our God that we too have come to welcome him, the days of austere anticipation now over. With them we shall offer the gifts of the poor of the earth: the weakness of our bodies, the darkness of our ignorance, the poverty of our people. Then with deep trust we shall lay the future at the manger’s edge; the future hidden with its unknown freight that only time will bring to light. And we ask the Infant to strengthen our hearts and make them more like his as the days slip by into eternity. And as the gift of prayer makes us more receptive, we can listen to him. Nothing great he puts before us to achieve except to love him, to be faithful to him, to love one another for him, to believe in his love for us, and witness to him faithfully.

For many people at Christmas there is great emphasis on what they are going to get. So it’s good to remind ourselves on that gift that was wrapped up in circumstances of deepest poverty: a hayrack for a bed, an ox and ass for nurses, the cobwebs for canopy.

There were quite a few donkeys involved in the life of Jesus: his birth, flight in to Egypt, and triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps the Gospels wish to give us an idea of the type of people Jesus Christ had to deal with! And even though each Christmas I find myself between the doctrine and the donkey, I trust I know enough to realise that life consists may be in gifts, but certainly not in gots. And the best and noblest gift is that of the self. So it’s a good idea, especially at a time when we are expecting things from people, to check on what we can do without, to detach ourselves from all created things, and help bring about that day when words like pleasure, power and possession will not mean more to us than ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. The challenging meaning of the Christmas story reveals this.

It tells us that even though God is infinitely different, he remains the God of the Christmas night, coming close to us on his own initiative and saving us the need to rend the heavens to access him. “The Word became flesh.” God has entered human history in Jesus Christ as Mary’s Child and his own Son. He carries the history of all peoples now. And yet God remains very unobtrusively present in the world, nowhere forcing himself on people but standing at the door and politely addressing himself to man as he did at the Annunciation. He is as defenceless as a child, his steps as hesitant as a stranger’s finding his way in this world. For God is so great that he can allow himself to become a child. He is so strong that he can appear weak. He is overwhelmingly attractive that he draws everyone without force or compulsion. He is that almighty he can bind people to himself without limiting their freedom.

I was struck by Mary’s response to all the excitement she witnessed around the birth of the baby Jesus. The Angel of the Lord brought “good news of great joy for all people” to the shepherds, and they “went with haste” to find Jesus. They told everyone around them about the good news – including Mary. But she didn’t jump up and down like she’d won the lottery, she didn’t high-five everyone who crowded into the stable, she didn’t burst into song or do a victory dance. She “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”

So let us look at the Babe again. He comes into this world, dispossessed Infinity, naked and cold that we may restore him everything: the universe for his stable, and for his manger our hearts and their warmth.

“May the little hand of Christ bless our year,

And the great heart of Jesus hold us dear.

And all blest and happy things

Which the love of Immanuel brings

Be ours until another Christmas is here.”