I am seeing a lot of discussion on Facebook and on Catholic fora of the possibility that we are in the End Times. For a very short time, decades ago, I thought we were.
In 1973, I went to visit friends in Colorado Springs. They were a young couple and the husband was a USAF officer stationed at Peterson Air Force Base. They were also fundamentalist protestants, whilst I was an Eastern Orthodox at the time.
They had recently read The Late, Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey, published in 1970, in which he argued that the 'End Was Nigh'. Convinced that the world was about to end, they had decided to remain childless rather than bring children into the Great Tribulation and they were 'prepping', laying in survival gear and food to help them survive.
They encouraged me to read the book, loaning it to me the first evening of my visit. Being a fast reader, I finished the book before falling asleep.
I was convinced! Whilst I have forgotten the details, I remember that using the prophecies in the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse ('Revelations' to my friends) and the reference to the War of Gog and Magog in Ezechiel, 38, he proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that the next war Israel fought would be with the Soviet Union.
I fell asleep prepared to start emulating my friends, except in staying childless. It was too late for that since I was already a father! I was ready to start laying in survival equipment and shelf stable foods for the Time of Tribulation.
I arose the next morning and stumbled downstairs to get that first, vital coffee to begin the process of waking up. As I was pouring my coffee, I glanced at the kitchen table. On it lay the latest edition of The Gazette, the daily paper of Colorado Springs. Across the top of the fold ran a large headline, 'ARAB-ISRAELI WAR BREAKS OUT!!!' It was October 1973, and the Yom Kippur War had just erupted.
At that point and from then on I've chosen to simply believe Our Lord, Who said in the Gospel according to St Matthew, 24:36, 'But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone'.
My philosophy since that day in 1973 has been to stay in a state of grace and try to live each day as if it is my last. Whenever Our Lord comes in glory is no longer important to me. Whether I live to see it or not, I know that I will face judgement in His good time and I want to be ready.
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