"The overwhelming force (of Jesus' message) consisted in the fact that Jesus announced with authority the coming end of the world, the coming of the Kingdom of God," said Joseph Ratzinger in his work 'Eschatology. Death and Eternal Life' (1977), that Enrique Cases he quotes in the introduction to his book.
"In the vigor of this hope would have consisted the explosive, the new, the great of Jesus, and all his words should be interpreted starting from this center. For Jesus, being a Christian would be summed up in this central petition of the Our Father: "Thy Kingdom come", a petition that would be set in the collapse of the world and the irruption of what only God can do", he added. Ratzinger.
The announcement of Christ's coming at the end of time
However, "the eschatologyas a 'doctrine of the last days,' has occupied the last place in theological treatises," and "for centuries it has been sleeping the sleep of the just. Only "recently, as a consequence of the historical crisis of our time, has it come to occupy the center of theological thought," he analyzed. the one who later would be Benedict XVI.
Enrique Cases, author prolific, who has already dealt with the theme of the Hereafter, reflects on the stages of salvation history, and advanced his book on 'The Eternal Gospel', he considers two things:
1) In the first place, "the proclamation of the coming of Christ at the end of time is contained in all the manifestations of the Church's faith, with the witness of the Fathers, the liturgy and the teaching of the Magisterium. And the absence of a theological reflection worthy of its transcendence constituted a lamentable void. Today the situation has changed (,,.). The interest in the parousia has been reactivated".
What is heaven like, and what is hell like?
In addition, as a further reflection, the author of 'The Eternal Gospel' (edited by ExLibric), he will also say: "What is Heaven like? It is of great interest to know something or everything about this question, for it is forever" (p. 140).
The same applies to the hellThe author takes it from St. John Bosco and St. Teresa of Jesus, mentioning also the vision in Fatima the three little shepherds, and some other people, several saints, who "have seen it and tell about it" (p.149).
However, the space dedicated to the Sky is far superior, the whole second part of the book, which relates a beautiful dialogue between a blessed woman from Heaven, from San Luis Potosi, to a layman in Mexico, entitled 'The Accidental Glory of Heaven', which includes 'The Delights of the Beyond'. The recommendation here is to read it in support of Christian faith and hope, without getting distracted by picturesque or scientific details.
The Eternal Gospel
After-effects of numbness
We said that the author considers two things. The second is this: 2) "The aftermath of this gradual numbing of eschatological awareness has given a negative bias to ecclesial conduct". A Church that no longer feels - even if it is theoretically known - as the community of those who await the coming of the Lord Jesus, "almost without perceiving it, will be inclined to settle in the world as comfortably as possible", Enrique Cases points out (pp. 132-133).
"Only the disquieting memory of the imminence of the Parousia can free the Church for a liberating function," he adds. In the key of "a Church convinced of the real proximity of the Lord, we must place the role of the signs of the Parousia".
Joachim of Fiore and the history of salvation
We will see what these signs are. But first, it seems appropriate to recall some contributions of the Cistercian abbot Joachim of Fiore (1130-1202), analyzed by the Catalan theologian.
Starting from faith in the triune God, Joachim of Fiore deduces a historical development in three stages: the age or epoch of the Father, the time between Adam and Christ (Old Testament); the age of the Son, which begins with Jesus, the Messiah, and continues with the Church, and concludes with his second coming or Parousia; and the age of the Holy Spirit, which ends with the final coming of Christ, the end of time.
The age of the Holy Spirit
The author devotes several skipped chapters to the Holy Spirit, particularly as the book progresses. At the Last Supper, Jesus announces to the Apostles that he will send them the Holy Spirit, "who will lead them to the truth". At Pentecost, "part of that action" is seen.
In the age of the Son, this action is "very intense in individual holiness, in contemplatives, in gifts, in foundations, apostolic initiatives, conversions, efficacy of the sacraments... "But in the next age it will be more intense".
Peter's Church-John's Church, the laity
In the age of Holy Spiritother gifts are attributed to him: inspirations, charisms (there is another chapter dedicated to them), divine impulses, lights, fervent conversions, forgiveness, regeneration ("the great gift of this age, following St. Paul: 'We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed'"), renewal and sanctification, "leading the Church, which can be called the Church of John, without ceasing to be the Church of Peter," the book points out.
In the first two thousand years of the Church, "the Papacy was the foundation of the faith," reflects the author, and "the prestige of the Church was above all in the monks and religious," with contemplative, civilizing, formative and apostolic activity. But in the millennium after the second coming, "in the age of the Holy Spirit, it will extend to the laity, as is already evident in the 20th century in a multitude of movements, foundations and new paths, uniting work and prayer, family and prayer, science and prayer, culture and prayer," writes the professor from Barcelona.
Parameters of the second coming of Christ
Before this age of the Holy Spirit, the millennium, the end of the age of the Son, the second coming of Jesus, announced by Himself, will take place., "intermediate between birth and the Last Judgment".
The author reflects in these pages on the 24th chapter of St. Matthew, "in which Christ announced many of the signs that precede the second coming, together with its parallel Mark 13 and Luke 21", and a call to be vigilant, "because you do not know on what day your Lord will come".
Many of the promises announced by the prophets "have not been fulfilled in the age of the Son, such as immortality, peace, the conversion of the Jews...," but "the Word of God is infallible, which means that they will be fulfilled in the future after the second coming of Christ". Enrique Cases enters here into the times of the second coming and the signs, although we leave for the reader his reflection on the thousand years, millenarianism. "Six times it (the Apocalypse) says that the Kingdom of Christ will last a thousand years" (Rev. 20).
Time of the second coming
When will this second coming of Jesus and the beginning of the millennium be? This question was already asked by the disciples to Jesus. We know neither the day nor the hour, but some signs are prophesied that precede it, as the star was for the magi with their astronomical science" (p. 87). And when Jesus rose to Heaven at the Ascension, two men dressed in white said: "Galileans (..), the same Jesus who has been taken from among you and taken to Heaven, will return as you have seen him go to Heaven".
Detailed signs
Necessarily synthesized, the author mentions these "detailed signs" that will precede the second coming (the signs cited and the commentaries are textual of the book):
– "Departure from Satan and his kind. (…). –Preaching the Gospel to the whole world. – Return of the twelve tribes to Jerusalem (completed in 1948). Great apostasy. We are in it. - Great tribulation. We are in it. -Wars. We are in them but according to the prophets more and more deadly ones will come. -Persecution of Christians (…). –Confusion. Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. -Increase in sins (The sins of this age are overwhelming, anti-God laws, abortions by the millions, blasphemies, satanisms. When you see the abomination of desolationannounced by the prophet Daniel (...). The sign before the coming of Christ can be suppression of the Eucharistthe perpetual sacrifice. There will be signs in the sun. and the moon and the stars.; (...)".
The apostle Paul added to these signs, in his first Letter to the Thessalonians, ".apostasy y the Antichrist".
The Eucharistic Reign
Another contribution of the book concerning "the coming of Christ in the interim between the birth of Jesus and the Last Judgment" is the concept that "the interim will be Eucharistic," says St. Irenaeus of Lyons. In fact, among the characteristics of the subsequent millennium, the author emphasizes in the first place the "Eucharistic Reign". "Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist to perpetuate its visibility before man. God wants to extend it in time. To this end, he makes man the living Eucharist".
