#6—Why the End Times Will be Missed by Many
Matthias Grünewald, The Little Crucifixion (c. 1511/1520)
Our Lord constantly speaks to those who have “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.” This phrase appears several times in the Old Testament, and always in reference to those who are discerning and wise amidst an otherwise perverse generation. “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and those great wonders” said Moses to the Israelites. “[B]ut to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.” [Deut. 29:2-4] Or as God said to the prophet Ezekiel, “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not; for they are a rebellious house.” [Ez. 12:2-3]
It is not a coincidence that each time Scripture speaks of the eyes to see and the ears to hear, it is in the midst of the stubbornness or rebellion of God’s people. In Christ’s case, it was prior to many of His own people calling for His execution: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”; [Matt. 11:15] “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear”; [Mark 4:23] “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [Luke 14:35]
But mysteriously, Jesus also plainly states why He used parables to teach: “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” [Matt. 13:13] In other words, there is connection between Christ’s words—particularly His parallels—and their mysteries being obscured from the wicked and perverse, but available to the humble and the discerning.
The Lord exhorted His disciples to have the eyes to see and the ears to hear especially in the days leading up to the greatest mystery of His earthly life: His Passion. They will be no less important in the days of the Passion of the Church as She imitates Her Lord in His earthly pilgrimage. Indeed, when Jesus predicted His death to the disciples, St. Luke observed that “they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” [Luke 18:34] The same will be true of many in the lead up to, and during the Passion of the Church.
What is the discernment required to see the Passion of the Church? The same as required for the Passion of Our Lord: the mystical. What does this mean? It means seeing beneath the surface of things to the fulfillment of the types which prefigure future realities, and recognizing when what was previously declared as future is now present. As St. Paul says (1 Cor. 2:14):
14 The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. [Emphasis added]
And when it comes to the Passion of the Church, those with mystical eyes will have fallen in love with what St. Paul calls the “foolishness of God,” and the “weakness of God.” (1 Cor. 1:22-25):
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. [Emphasis added]
During such times, the eyes to see will have relinquished their attachment to the wisdom of men—to seeing things merely as they appear, but as they are. “[F]or the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” [1 Sam. 16:7] “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” [John 7:24]
Such are those who saw the signs of the time then, and will see the signs of the time now, for the Passion of Christ (and by extension His Body), according to St. Paul, is the great mystērion of God (1 Cor. 2:6-8):
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret [mystērion] and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [Emphasis added]
Only the spiritual man may fully perceive, receive, and participate in this great mystērion, which is none other than God’s salvific action, epitomized in His Passion.
Note that this is not Gnosticism, which is only for an “elect” few, who are initiated into a set of mysteries other than those of the Catholic Church. On the contrary, this is truly spiritual knowledge, derived from humility, penance, and the gifts of the Spirit. “Surely the Lord does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” [Amos 3:7] “And there was a prophetess, Anna…She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” [Luke 2:36, 37-38]
The two figures who best convey the reality of “eyes to see” during Our Lord’s Passion are Our Blessed Mother, and St. John, the beloved disciple. Our Lady knew Our Lord best, and with Her fiat pronounced Her full submission to the Great Mystery into which God had destined Her participation for the salvation of the world.
However, it is St. John who provides us with the apostolic example of mystical vision, of seeing with eyes to see. The words of Our Lord in the Gospel of Mark explaining His use of parables come to mind (Mark 4:10-12):
10 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; 12 so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” [Emphasis added]
These words from Our Lord are astounding, particularly in light of the Passion of the Church, for we see that these heavenly realities are obscured not to prevent those who love God from receiving them, but those who do not. They are a source of strength to those with eyes to see, a source of confusion to those who see with just their eyes, and a stumbling block to those who are blind. One cannot help but recall St. Paul’s words to the Thessalonians on the days of the Passion of the Church (2 Thess. 2:9-11):
9 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, 12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. [Emphasis added]
We see an example of each of these three types of persons among the apostolic college at the time of the Lord’s Passion.
The first—those who are blinded by their own wickedness and lack of wisdom—are epitomized by Judas, and those members of the Jewish leadership (the Anti-Church) and the Romans (the world) who conspired with him to kill Christ. They are the blind who lead the blind, the alliance of the Anti-Church and the world, that lead many into the pit. [Matt. 15:14]
The second—those who possess the truth, but do not have the virtue or the wisdom to fully understand it—are epitomized by Peter, who knew Jesus was the Christ, but at the time of the Passion sought to prevent the taking of Jesus’ life, despite Christ calling him “Satan” for such an intention. When the time came to stand boldly for Christ, he, along with almost all the other disciples, fled. In Peter we see perhaps the majority of Catholics and others who believe themselves to possess a true faith in Christ. He knew who Christ was, as did the other disciples. But in the face of the profound mystery of His Passion, and not understanding that “this is your [Christ’s murderers] hour, and the power of darkness,” [Luke 22:53] they could not find the fortitude to stand by Him whose salvific work through death they simply did not understand. They were scandalized by the “foolishness of God.” [1 Cor. 1:25]
The third and final group of people—those who have eyes to see, and thus their bodies are full of light [Matt. 6:22]—are epitomized by St. John and Our Lady, who knew who Our Lord was, and stayed with Him to the end. They saw the invisible God behind the brutal visible realities before their eyes. They understood that the life He would impart to the world required His death. They were not scandalized by the foolishness of God. They remained with Him at the Cross.
When it comes to how Catholics may perceive the crisis in the Church, and indeed the end times (if in fact we are in them), we focus on the apostolic exemplars of the second and third group: St. Peter and St. John.
Peter was he who first confessed Christ was the Son of God. We know that “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” [Matt. 16:17] And yet, despite these eyes to see what no one else yet saw, a few verses later, Peter denied that Christ must die. [Matt. 16:22] Thus, Peter lacked the “eyes to see.” He saw Christ, but only in a qualified sense. He was not blind, but he did not perceive the hidden beneath the visible.
St. John, on the other hand, was the first to recognize numerous realities about Our Lord and His ministry, each of which we will discuss in future posts. But they included Our Lord’s Presence in the Eucharist, the necessity of embracing Christ’s death in order to obtain eternal life, and the identity of Judas, along with everything he is connected with: the mystery of iniquity, the spirit of wickedness in high places, [Eph. 6:12] the Abomination of Desolation, and the Anti-Church.
The disciple whom Jesus loved, though he appeared to lack the passion of Peter when it came to fighting evil, was actually discerning the presence and reality of that evil far more than Peter did, and in so doing, confronted it far more effectively. He knew the hour, and that the time for the sword of defense had passed. Now was the hour when the sword of the enemy would be let loose on the spotless Lamb for the salvation of the world. Understanding the mystērion, he persevered to the end, while Peter abandoned Our Lord in His greatest hour of need.
Such will also be the case during the Passion of the Church. Those whose eyes see only visible realities will be scandalized and fall. Those with the eyes to see the invisible realities hidden beneath the scandalizing reality before their eyes will stay with Christ at His cross and live. They, like St. John, will run faster to greet the Lord upon His return—upon the resurrection of His Bride, the Church. [John 20:4] They will not fall away. They will see the Bridegroom in the face and not hide in shame. For they were not ashamed by the foolishness of God.
