On the Ending of the World

Morning fog settles on Crab Orchard Lake

A nice chap left a few comments over on Galaxy Forum, which I encourage you to check out if you have not already. Eugene wrote about when the world would end, and I commend him for thinking on such things, because it is a holy practice. We must consider our end and the world’s, because it is in contemplating our death that we draw closer to holiness. At the same time, though, there must be a healthy balance between living and preparing for the future, even if it never comes. All life is filled with uncertainty, and we who keep the faith oftentimes find it easy to dwell upon the end a little too much, because we so desire the Second Coming of Christ to set things right that are so terribly wrong in world.

I know for me and my family, this was a spiritual habit of mind which, thankfully did not prevent us from planing for a future. We are still planning, and even more now that I have decided to work again–or, as I joke with Laura, for the first time. Still, as the above photograph indicates, it isn’t really work to go out into beautiful places in the world and take poetic pictures of lake fog, or sit down and talk with interesting people, and write stories on what I recall. That is just fun.

I come to you today, not with any planned idea on what to write about, which I apologize for. I want to produce great content for you all, but I lack certain inspiration to determine what that content might be. Perhaps there is a problem which faces you, a nagging question which unsettles your sleep, which you cannot seem to resolve. Maybe if you shared your questions, I could offer my services to help you come up with answers.

I suppose I am a little dry because, like many of you, I am fairly settled in my convictions about what Catholicism is–and what it is not! I know there are those out there who think there must always be shepherds until the end of the world, because, as the argument goes, God so wills it. I have already written on this idea before, but, needless to say, I do not begin my inquiring into the truth of reality from theory but rather from fact, and from fact deduce a theory. But whether there are bishops hiding in plain sight or in the bushes somewhere, this much is clear: the Novus Ordo headed by Francis is not the Catholic Church, and any supposition to the contrary is confounding bald fact with erroneous theory.

Like many of you, I am looking up into the sky, awaiting the consummation and the Son of Man on the clouds of Heaven. When that is, no one knows save the Father. Every day, at least for me and my family, is an attempt to live a normal life while struggling with the elephantine reality that we live during the ending of the world, the final act of creation, the Apocalypse. That is heavy. If you are having a hard time adjusting to the the reality and living a quasi-normal existence, don’t feel alone. You are not. Though we do not frequent messaging forums with any regularity and numbers, we Home Alone Catholics are numerous and struggle with the same heavy burden of the spirit.

Well, I feel like I have rambled enough during this post. I will try to produce some content in the coming weeks, once I get adjusted to my new hobby–journalism and photography–which I actually get paid for. It is crazy. And if you have any nagging questions or concerns, please, share them in the comments. I look forward to your emails and comments. They encourage and inspire me!