An Era of Peace?

“And there’ll be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations and perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, Men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in the cloud, with power and great glory. When you see these things begin to take place, look up, raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” This is a very special time of the year as we begin advent of 2021. This time, we’ve just had, the feast, the liturgical year leading up to Christ, the King, and now the beginning of the Advent. And all of that leads us to look towards what is coming, to the coming of Jesus, and the events that will precede that. And so, a lot of you were with us last week, when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the little mission of Divine Mercy. And it’s been striking to us that I know very striking to me that not only that anniversary, but there’s been a number of significant events for our little community. And so many of them have happened right around this time, as if the Lord is wanting to draw our attention, especially to this time, and that the liturgical teaching, and message of this time of Christ, the King of the coming of the Lord. And so why is that important? Because as I’ve said, I think the Mission of Divine Mercy, it’s not just for us, it’s for you, and it’s for other people. So, I’m sharing this with you, because I think it’s for all of us. Because last week, as we are celebrating the 20th anniversary, that’s been an opportunity for me, I know to go back and think about the beginning.  And so, I like to say the Mission of Divine Mercy was born precisely 20 years ago, when we came to New Braunfels to be able to start. But it was conceived before that, about 10 months before that, it was on January 2001. And that’s what I remember. I remember that we were down at a ranch in South Texas, Catholic Solitudes. It was one afternoon in January as a gray, gray gloomy day, and I was walking by myself through the big fields, you know, it’s so flat and, and just finally coming to the realization of something I had been resisting for a long time, realizing that I felt it was going to be necessary. And the Lord was asking me to start a new community. And that didn’t come with any great like, I talked about receiving years early a message from the Lord. But this did not come with that, there was no voice from heaven saying, John Mary, go to Canyon Lake and start a funny community. You know, there’s nothing like that. It was just this kind of realization, growing realization that I was going to have to take this step. And I was thinking of all the obstacles and all the problems, and I was, as I said, I was resisting it. And it wasn’t till later, months later that I realized something very special about January 2001. And I’m not going to ask you to shout it out. But think what’s special about January 2001?  January 2001 was the beginning of the new millennium. And you have to plan very carefully to start a community at the beginning of a new millennium, because you only get a chance every 1000 years. If you miss it, you’re going to have to wait a long time, Right?  But it wasn’t careful planning. It wasn’t careful planning. It was realizing it was God’s providence. That seemed to me very, very significant. Because in January 2001, that same month, Saint John Paul published a document called “At the beginning of the new millennium.” And this was a very important moment for him, the new millennium. And so, you might be thinking so what, you know, so what’s the big deal, just another day. But if you read, the teaching of St. John Paul II obviously said something very special about this new millennium. St. John Paul was very important for my formation. And two of the things that stood out for me while reading his writings were: one was the sense of mystery, a very strong sense of mystery. In fact, I think that’s part of where I get such a sense because in his writings, a lot of times, there’s a lot that he doesn’t come out and say, but he’s almost inviting you to kind of be quiet and pray and sense. That’s kind of like, in between the lines, some what he’s talking about, without actually coming and saying it. And the other thing that really stands out to me is the sense of hope. In fact, it’s almost like a nutritional supplement of hope. If you read the writings of St. John Paul II, it’s like it’s so full of hope. He is the man who has seen so much suffering, and was aware of all the evil in the world, and yet had a great hope. And I was realizing, as I was thinking back on two words, last week that I focused on.  Words for our community were mystery and hope and then I just realized as I was preparing this homily, that’s the same words, mystery and hope, mystery and hope. St. John Paul was very sensitive to words. And this word millennium was very important to him. In fact, so I just mentioned this document in 2001 word that was called at entry at the beginning of the third millennium. But before that, one of his great documents in the 90’s was he wrote a document called “The Advent of the Third Millennium”, the advent of the third millennium in which he was given a program, a multi year program to prepare to celebrate the new millennium and the great Jubilee. And, in fact, he even said that preparing for the new millennium was like the key to understanding his whole pontificate. And this whole teaching is something that is very important to him. And it’s not just a calendar year, but obviously, he sees a deeper significance in it. And one point, he says that this new millennium, this preparation for the new millennium should be lived as a new Advent, a new Advent, that we’re beginning this Advent 2021. But he’s saying the whole Church is called to live in this time in history, a new Advent. And I think of these words of St. Bernard, that are quoted in in the Liturgy of the Hours. Speaking of Advent, Bernard says, “We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two. It is invisible, while the other two are visible, so that there’s the first coming of our Lord in our flesh, and in our weakness.”  As Bernard says, “in the first coming, our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness, in the middle coming, He comes in spirit and in power, and the final coming, He will be seen in glory and majesty.” So, between our Lord’s first coming, visible, coming in his final visible coming, which will be in glory, there’s this intermediate coming, in which Bernard says, “He comes in spirit, and in power, not in the flesh, but in spirit. And not yet in glory, but still in power.” And one example that would be Pentecost, when He comes in Spirit, in the power of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Another example is the life of Saul of Tarsus was when the Lord appears to who becomes St. Paul and appears to him and that knocks him to the ground.  And that’s what will lead to his conversion. Another example is, for instance, when right now there’s in many countries like in Muslim countries, of the Lord just appearing to persons and countries where it’s prohibited to preach the gospel.  The Lord’s just appearing to people and leading to conversion. So, this third coming, this middle coming, is I think what we’re talking about here, what St. John Paul is talking about when he talks about this new Advent.  He says it involves an increased sensitivity to all that the Spirit is saying to the Church and to the Churches.  He’s quoting revelations here, as well as to individuals to charisms meant to serve the whole community. So, he’s talking about the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit, who’s also speaking through charisms, and like the prophetic charism, above all, we’ve talked a lot about that, I was talking about that last week. And he quotes St. Paul and says, “despite appearances of all the evil in our time, humanity continues to await the revelation of the children of God, and lives by this hope, like a mother in labor.”  So, he’s saying that right now, despite the appearances of so much evil, that this is a time of great hope, like a mother in labor.  Waiting, as St. Paul says, “For the revelation of the children of God, and Cardinal Ratzinger becomes Pope Benedict later on, says, he wrote in a book, “and we’re here today, the groaning,” this groaning that St. Paul talked about, “as no one has ever heard it before.” St. John Paul does indeed cherish a great expectation that the millennium, the millennium, the 1000 years of divisions, because the past 1000 years have been great divisions among Christians. A separation of the Orthodox, and then the protestant reformation, so many divisions among Christians. So, he says, Pope John Paul does indeed cherish a great expectation that the millennium of divisions will be followed by millennium of unifications, of unity.  So, sensing that there’ll be a millennium of unity. And St. John Paul says, “the preparations,” in the same document, “the preparations of that new springtime of Christian life.”  So many people can feel like the Church is, Christianity in the Church is just kind of falling apart. But he’s saying that actually, we’re preparing for a new spring time of Christian life. So, this is very hopeful, “which will be revealed by the great Jubilee if we Christians are docile to the action of the Holy Spirit.” So, I want to take with you a little bit time today to try to understand what is this millennium? I don’t imagine you’ve heard many homilies on the millennium. Right? Can you think of any homily we’ve ever heard on a millennium? It’s not too common. It’s actually a subject that’s avoided. And I’m going to talk about why it’s often avoided. So, these two great documents were both focused on the millennium, leaving the Advent, the Advent, but what does Advent mean? It means that coming for us, we think of the coming of Jesus. So, he’s saying the advent of the third millennium. And then in January 2001, the beginning of the new millennium. So, he’s focusing us again, if you’re attentive to the kind of reading between the lines, he’s focusing us on the millennium. So where does this idea, the millennium, the 1000 years, where does that come from?  So, the chief place in Scripture is from the apocalypse, the Book of Revelations, chapter 19.  It’s talking about the great battle of Armageddon. And then what happens after that battle, and this is the mysterious part, it says, so what happens first of all, to the enemies, it says, “The beast was captured, the beast that the Antichrist, and with it, the false prophet, and these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, that burns with brimstone. And the rest were slain by the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issues from his mouth. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand, the keys of the bottomless pit in a great chain. And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him.”  And this is the mysterious part, well, there’s a lot of mysterious parts in this, but this is striking, “and bound him for 1000 years.” It doesn’t say bound him forever, it says bound him for 1000 years.  So, there’s an expiration date on this, “and bound for 1000 years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more.” Until the 1000 years, right. So again, that 1000 years, deceive the nations no more, until the 1000 years were ended. “And after that, he must be let out for a little while. Then I saw,” says John, “thrones and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus, and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reign with Christ,1000 years.” So again, 1000 years, there’s something special, this 1000 year that these, the martyrs are coming to life. And it says, “the rest of the dead did not come to life, until the 1000 years were ended.” So, so many mentions of this, this special 1000-year period. He says, “This is the first resurrection, blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priest of God and of Christ.” And just a few weeks ago, we were talking about this world priesthood of the faithful, “they shall be priest of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with Him,” you might think it’s going to say forever and ever, but it says on the contrary, “for 1000 years.”  And then it says,”so this is the sixth time. And it says, “and when the 1000 years are ended,” what will happen, “Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth together.”   So, there’s this great final battle, “but fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them and was thrown in the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were and they were tormented day and night, for forever and ever.”  So that’s the definitive victory. And then comes the book Revelation chose the Last Judgement, the New Jerusalem, the wedding feast of the Lamb. So just to review, what happened about this millennium, this 1000 years, it talked about the devil, the after the battle, the devil is bound, the martyrs are resurrected, and reigning with Christ as priests. So, this is a mysterious passage, there’s been a lot of controversy about this passage, and actually even a lot of heresies. And so oftentimes, people think it’s better just to ignore it. But it’s given to us for a reason. If He wanted us to ignore it, He wouldn’t have put it there, right, and scripture, in fact, the Book of Revelations, says, “Blessed are those who read the words of this prophecy,” we’re supposed to read it. But I think our attitude should be like the attitude of our Blessed Mother.  St. Luke says that there were certain moments in which she did not understand Jesus words, like we don’t understand these words. But it says she didn’t reject them. She pondered them in her heart. And so, I think we need to recognize that there’s a lot in the future that God has left shrouded in mystery. But that doesn’t mean we should reject it. That just means we have to humbly recognize that He wants us to ponder it, but at the same time, realizing that much of it will not be clear, until He reveals it. But what can we understand in this passage, this mysterious passage?  And so, I don’t have time to enter into all the controversy, but we will put on a website, a link to a passage from a guy called Mark Mallett, who gives a lot of references where you can look at much more, references on this topic. Because I mentioned there’s been a lot of heresies about the millennium. The Catechism talks about this and one of the problems is people saw this 1000 years as a time of like, carnal central excesses.  And others saw this as a time in which Christ came visibly to reign in glory, reining in the flesh, in His resurrected body. But that doesn’t happen until the very end of time. So rather, what the Fathers of the Church understood this as a spiritual reign, reigning, not in glory, but reining through grace and reining especially through the sacraments, in the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist. And so that’s already partially begun, Christ is already giving His graces and people respond to Him and in the Church, He should be reining. But of course, there’s still a lot more to go. So, the post apostolic fathers, that is these Fathers of the Church who were right after the apostles, and some of them, especially the ones who had had direct contact with St. John the Evangelist, the one who received this revelation. So that’s like St. Papyrus and St. Justin Martyr and Saint Irenaeus. And then others also saw these 1000 years for that there’s debate over is it a literal 1000 years or does that mean a long-extended time, symbolically?   And also, an interesting thing is that they often cited that passage in scripture which says that for the Lord, one day is as 1000 years and 1000 years as one day. And the meaning of this, you know, whether it’s symbolic or not, is debated. But that, according to Scripture, Adam and Eve and the creation was approximately 4,000 years before Jesus. And so, they looked at that, and they said, Well, if each day is like 1000 years, then 7000 years, the seventh Millennium would be like the great Sabbath day, like the great seventh day of rest. And so, they said that there could be a great millennium, which would be this great Sabbath rest, and which would be like an era of peace and holiness, an era of peace and holiness. And so, there’s a lot of passages in Scripture, in the Old Testament, or especially in Isaiah, but also in others, speaking also of an era of peace and holiness. And also, in the New Testament, and if you think about Jesus words, that we pray, we’ll pray today, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.” What would it be like for thy kingdom come, if he tells us to pray that, doesn’t that mean that He must be going to realize that thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, His divine rule being done?  There was a mystic Luisa Piccarreta who received a lot of revelations about the accomplishment of the Divine Will, and this coming time. And when Jesus prays at the Last Supper, “Father, that they may all be one. So, the world may believe that You have sent me that they may be one as you and I are one.” And so, He’s prayed that the unity of Christians be a witness, but a unity of Christians as He is united with the Father, be so strong that it manifests itself to the whole world and draws the whole world that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And that sounds like this millennium of unity that St. John Paul was expecting. In fact, there’s been many declarations. Mark Mallett says, nearly all the Pope’s of the past century foresaw an hour when Christ and His Church would become the heart of the world. And one example, just take one of many, this is from Pius the 12th. He says, In writing this in 57, “but even this night in the world shows clear signs of a dawn that will come of a new day, receiving the kiss of a new and more resplendent sun, a new resurrection of Jesus is necessary, a true resurrection, which admits no more lordship of death, an individual’s Christ must destroy the night of mortal sin. With the dawn of grace regained, and families the night of indifference and coolness must give way to the son of love, in factories, in cities and nations and land.” So, he’s not talking about heaven, he says, in factories, and I don’t think there’s factories and heaven, “and factories and cities and nations and lands of misunderstanding and hatred. The night must go bright as the day and strife will cease and there will be peace, there will be peace.”  So many Papal words, also many Catholic prophetic words.   Like one, I won’t cite all these for lack of time, but one is from St. Louis de Montford and many other Saints and also mystics and this is from Elizabeth Kindelman of Hungary, and her messages were approved. And in a book, which the imprimatur was given by Archbishop Sahaguin. She, our lady, says to her, “the soft light of my flame of love will light up spreading fire over the entire surface of the earth, humiliating satan, rendering him powerless, completely disabled.”  And that Jesus speaks to her about a new Pentecost saying, “the spirit of Pentecost,” because that’s what this would be like a great new Pentecost, “will flood the earth with his power and a miracle will gain the attention of all humanity. This will be the effect of the grace of the flame of love, which is Jesus Christ Himself.” And so many signs again in Scripture and Papal documents, in the saints and Catholic prophetic messages about an era of peace and holiness, a renewal of holiness in the Church and the world, before the final coming of Jesus, which would be a Eucharistic reign. Again, it’s not Jesus reigning visibly in glory, but as Jesus reigning through the Holy Eucharist and with love and reverence and adoration for Jesus, the Holy Eucharist, will grow and bring about a renewal of the Church in the world. The springtime of the Church that the Popes have spoken of this new Pentecost, that this as our Blessed Mother said at Fatima, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the outpouring of Divine Mercy that Jesus spoke to St. Faustina about. And so, I think this is our little Mission of Divine Mercy. So, the fact that the Mission of Divine Mercy began, right at the beginning of the new millennium, right as the Pope was publishing this document, I think it’s a sign that the Mission Divine Mercy is a little community for this new millennium. And millennium is not just a calendar time, but it’s this new stage of God’s grace. And even if it begins, we know the millennium is beginning with very difficult, dark struggles. But just like that, it was that darkness of Jesus passion, which prepared the triumph of His resurrection. So here are a few words from St. John Paul, and see if you can sense the hope. And in his words, he says, “To him, who is the goal of history, and the one Savior of the world, the Church and the spirit cry out, Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus. So let us go forward and hope. A new millennium is opening before the Church, like a vast ocean, upon which we shall venture, relying on the help of Christ, the Son of God who became incarnate 2000 years ago, out of love for humanity is at work, even today, we need the surrounding eyes to see this way, because it is not always appear apparent. But we need discerning eyes to see this, and above all, a generous heart to become the instruments of His work.”  And there’s a lot more passages left. I won’t go into that, because a lack of time, but there’s so much hope. And as he says, “as the Jubilee now comes to a close,” so this is in January, 2001, “it points us to a future of hope, a future of hope.” And so just to conclude, this is mysterious, this mysterious sense of God’s design, and the meaning of millennium. But it’s a hopeful message, as we continue to hope for heaven, and be realistic about the evil in our world today. And this is a hope to work, to spread His kingdom in our world, that God is calling us to hope and the triumph of His mercy. And the very fact that the Divine Mercy message was not publicized until our times, until just very recently, just in this millennium, at the Jubilee that St. Faustina was declared a saint. So, these are Grace’s for our times. And so, with Mary, who is the mother of the new Advent, with the Holy Spirit, as the book of Revelation says, “The Spirit and the bride,” that is the bride is the Church that is the bride is each one of us, say, Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.  Amen.