Are We in The End Times?

Short answer – “Yes.”   We have been living in the End Times since Christ ascended into Heaven and we will continue to live in the End Times until he returns in glory.  

 
This question is timely. As we approach the conclusion of this Liturgical Year, the Gospel and the Readings are directing us to consider the return of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of human history.  During yesterday’s Sunday Mass, we heard from the prophet Daniel and from Our Savior himself talking about the conclusion of human history and the triumph of God over the forces of evil.  

 
As recorded in St. Mark’s Gospel (13:24-32)…

Jesus said to his disciples:

"In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.   Learn a lesson from the fig tree.  When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.  Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  

 
We are living in the End Times.  This is a key tenet of Catholic teaching.  According to Church teaching, the End Times began with the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven and the End Times will end with the return of Jesus in glory, the vanquishing of Satan and the Last Judgment.  In his First Letter, St. John wrote, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour”  (1 John 2:18).

 
“Since the Ascension God’s plan has entered into its fulfillment.  We are already at ‘the last hour,’” states paragraph 670 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, referring to the 1st Letter of John 2:18 and the 1st Letter of Peter 4:7.   

 
Referencing St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium states “Already the final age of the world has come upon us”  (see paragraph 48).     

 
The End Times can be a source of major anxiety and even dread as the events prophesied will be the most calamitous ever experienced in human history.  Prior to Christ’s return, the world will experience unprecedented natural disasters, wars, plagues, persecution of the Church and the faithful, widespread apostasy, and the unleashing of the Anti-Christ and evil in a magnitude never seen before.  

Rest assured, however, that the ultimate outcome has already been determined.  Christ will return in triumph and evil will be vanquished forever.  

 
 Jesus tells us near the conclusion of the Book of Revelation, “Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (22:12-13).

 
Are we living in the End Times?  The answer is “yes.”  The more significant question is “Are we nearing the End of the End Times?”