|
Dear Angela,
Thanks for the question.
Keep in mind that dreams emanate from a wide variety of impulses in the sub-conscious. It is true that God can speak to us in dreams, and I have had many dreams where I feel the Lord had spoken to me, but that is not true for all dreams.
Dreams can be directly related to our hopes, feelings, worries, and dread. Most often they directly reflect what is on our subconscious mind. Catholics wouldn't have rapture dreams because that is not the doctrine we hold, so it is not embedded in our subconscious—it doesn't make for likely subconscious ruminations.
When it comes to end times stuff, Catholics hold to perseverance through Divine Grace to get us through. The rapture theory provides an easy escape for those that don't want to face the coming tribulations of the darkness spreading across the Earth, but we know that God has a plan to save our souls despite whatever trials we must endure here.
Christianity is not a Get-Out-Of-Tribulation-Suffering-And-Trial pass, but that is often what Protestants, in effect, hold.
We don't know when Christ will return, but we do know the Man of Perdition will proceed him, and the whole world will be subjected to this misfortune, and Christians will suffer persecution. We are seeing dark days and persecution already, but it's proximity to the Antichrist and then the Second Coming of Christ cannot be determined with any certainty. So we could be close, or there could be many years or even generations before things get to the end. I'm sure in the first few centuries of Christianity, when Christians were being martyred in the Colosseum and other Roman venues, they imagined that the end was close. There was no rapture to whisk them away from the trials that beset them.
Today, Protestant preachers have set up the expectation that Christ is going to deliver all the Christians away from the End Time trials so they don't have to undergo any terrible suffering. If I had been convinced of this for years and years, like many Protestants, I would probably be dreaming about being raptured away too, given the times we live in.
The truth is that Christ said we must take up our cross and follow Him. That is the call of the Christian.
What is especially important now is that we take our Blessed Mother Mary's advice and pray the Rosary every day. She has warned us of coming trials, persecutions, and even chastisements because this whole world is full of sin. We should be praying like we are in the last days, because every day we get closer and we just don't know the timing.
Lastly, I know these are scary times and it is easy to become fearful. The Rosary helps with knowing we are really in God's care and our Blessed Mother's care, so we do not need to fear.
Think of the scary times Mary went through: having to flee a murderous Herod who wanted to kill her child, crowds in Nazareth that wanted to throw her son over the cliff, and ultimately the Crucifixion. Mary could have lived in fear, but she chose to live in trust that, despite whatever came her way, God would be there. That is enough for her, so we ought to pray it is enough for us.
Peace,
Bob Kirby
|
