The End is Near
The end is near in more ways than one... most immediately I am referring to the end of the semester. I have a 7-9 page paper that is way overdue, 2 weeks to be precise, that I am still trying to get a handle on. The paper is for my epistemology class and my topic is Newman: The Grammar of Assent and the Illitive Sense. It's a pretty dense and broad topic which explains in part why the paper is moving slower than an average paper does. I also have to give a class presentation this coming Tuesday on the same topic so by then I'll obviously be an expert on the subject. ;-) I only have 12 more days till I am done with the semester and besides that epistemology paper I also have a 6 page paper due for my Philosophy of Love class. I need to write about a topic of my choice taken from Kirkegaard's "Works of Love". This is going to be a busy weekend.
I was pretty sick a couple of weeks back and my mom actually came and picked me up from school. Needless to say I took the green Maxima back to school, so I have it here with me now. I think I'm getting spoiled though. Now I can't imagine going back to not having the luxury of having the mobility the car affords me. Which means I'll have to buy a car this summer. Oh well... life could be worse. =) The place I go the most now to study is University of Michigan's North Campus Engineering Library. It is open 24/7 which is very nice. I was there till 3am tonight (I just got back a little bit ago) and I was there till 4:30am the other day writing my American Civilization paper on America, the World, and the League of Nations. It is so inspirational studying there. All of these Asian students are seriously up all night every night studying like crazy. No wonder China is going to take over the world.
The other end of the world that my post's title refers to is some interesting prophecy info I heard from my mom the last time I spoke with her. I usually am pretty dismissive of "end of the world" predictions and prophecies because 90% of them, if not more, are completely bogus. What my mom told me, however, was pretty interesting. She heard that St. Malachai had a vision of all the popes till the end of time and I guess he made a one line prophecy about each and every single one has come true thus far. For instance he said something to the effect that Pope John Paul I's papacy would last one lunar cycle, and of course it did. For JPII, he said that he would begin and end on a solar eclipse and apparently there was a solar eclipse the day he died that could only be seen in certain parts of the world. For our present pope Benedict XVI, he predicted something like he would be called benedict (you can tell this is a really 3-4th handish explanation). The thing is though is that after Pope Benedict there is only supposed to be one more pope, who is not supposed to be very good. After that is the end times.
I'm not saying any of this is true or you should believe in it, but it really got me thinking. If our present pope lasts about 6-10 years and the next pope will be the pope at the end of the world, that doesn't leave much time for the world as we know it. For some reason I've always had the feeling like the end of the world would come in my lifetime. I don't know why, but I've always felt that. After talking with John (my roommate) about this too he said that he's always felt the same way as well. After talking about this with John we went online and did some research on things like the 3 days of darkness and prophecies from people like St. Faustina that look pretty legit. It's not going to be fun. Plus, our Lord said that the people who live during the end times will have wished they had never have been born.
That night (last night) we rented and watched the movie Hotel Rwanda. People, let me tell you. This movie blew me away. Terrifying, horrifying, incredible, heart-wrenching. I just sat in silence for about 5-10 minutes after it ended unable to speak or say anything. It is about the Rwandan genocides in '94 and this man who is doing everything he can to protect 1,200 refugees from being added to the death toll of 1,000,000 Tustis massacred by the Hutu tribe. What made this movie so scary is that it is a true story that happened ten years ago in my lifetime. The whole West just sat by and let this atrocity happen. It is sickening to see how easily man can be corrupted to kill and murder thousands of people because the are of a certain race and how the "civilized" world can sit by and watch it happen. After watching this movie, I never appreciated how good we have it here in America. Liberty is so, so, so precious. I think I understand better why so many great men throughout history have been so willing to give up their very lives for liberty and peace. Don't ever take it for granted.
One thing that made the movie so scary to me is that in some of those legit prophecies I was reading there was mentioned a great persecution of the Church where this kind of massacre would be going on. Most likely here in America as well.
*N.B. I know this is pretty much always a given but there are a couple of scenes in Hotel Rwanda, so just be cautious.
I was pretty sick a couple of weeks back and my mom actually came and picked me up from school. Needless to say I took the green Maxima back to school, so I have it here with me now. I think I'm getting spoiled though. Now I can't imagine going back to not having the luxury of having the mobility the car affords me. Which means I'll have to buy a car this summer. Oh well... life could be worse. =) The place I go the most now to study is University of Michigan's North Campus Engineering Library. It is open 24/7 which is very nice. I was there till 3am tonight (I just got back a little bit ago) and I was there till 4:30am the other day writing my American Civilization paper on America, the World, and the League of Nations. It is so inspirational studying there. All of these Asian students are seriously up all night every night studying like crazy. No wonder China is going to take over the world.
The other end of the world that my post's title refers to is some interesting prophecy info I heard from my mom the last time I spoke with her. I usually am pretty dismissive of "end of the world" predictions and prophecies because 90% of them, if not more, are completely bogus. What my mom told me, however, was pretty interesting. She heard that St. Malachai had a vision of all the popes till the end of time and I guess he made a one line prophecy about each and every single one has come true thus far. For instance he said something to the effect that Pope John Paul I's papacy would last one lunar cycle, and of course it did. For JPII, he said that he would begin and end on a solar eclipse and apparently there was a solar eclipse the day he died that could only be seen in certain parts of the world. For our present pope Benedict XVI, he predicted something like he would be called benedict (you can tell this is a really 3-4th handish explanation). The thing is though is that after Pope Benedict there is only supposed to be one more pope, who is not supposed to be very good. After that is the end times.
I'm not saying any of this is true or you should believe in it, but it really got me thinking. If our present pope lasts about 6-10 years and the next pope will be the pope at the end of the world, that doesn't leave much time for the world as we know it. For some reason I've always had the feeling like the end of the world would come in my lifetime. I don't know why, but I've always felt that. After talking with John (my roommate) about this too he said that he's always felt the same way as well. After talking about this with John we went online and did some research on things like the 3 days of darkness and prophecies from people like St. Faustina that look pretty legit. It's not going to be fun. Plus, our Lord said that the people who live during the end times will have wished they had never have been born.
That night (last night) we rented and watched the movie Hotel Rwanda. People, let me tell you. This movie blew me away. Terrifying, horrifying, incredible, heart-wrenching. I just sat in silence for about 5-10 minutes after it ended unable to speak or say anything. It is about the Rwandan genocides in '94 and this man who is doing everything he can to protect 1,200 refugees from being added to the death toll of 1,000,000 Tustis massacred by the Hutu tribe. What made this movie so scary is that it is a true story that happened ten years ago in my lifetime. The whole West just sat by and let this atrocity happen. It is sickening to see how easily man can be corrupted to kill and murder thousands of people because the are of a certain race and how the "civilized" world can sit by and watch it happen. After watching this movie, I never appreciated how good we have it here in America. Liberty is so, so, so precious. I think I understand better why so many great men throughout history have been so willing to give up their very lives for liberty and peace. Don't ever take it for granted.
One thing that made the movie so scary to me is that in some of those legit prophecies I was reading there was mentioned a great persecution of the Church where this kind of massacre would be going on. Most likely here in America as well.
*N.B. I know this is pretty much always a given but there are a couple of scenes in Hotel Rwanda, so just be cautious.
posted by Matthew at 3:33 AM
7 Comments:
Dube is getting Toyota Matrix probably today or tomorrow, so he might be roadtripping this summer. Other than that, he's working.
That's cool to hear about Wauconda. I'll have to check it out when I get home.
Is this going to be a Mahler-free blog?
Of course... I am always more than free to discuss my favorite composer. =) I'm glad to see some one is interested. Hehehe...
can't wait.
Z, z, z, z ... :-)
Mahler is cool.
Although in reference to end-of-the-world comments, whenever I hear discussion of it, I am always reminded of Mark 13:32.
"But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
Nick, I always remember the same thing and that's why I generally dismiss any predictions. One thing I just started wondering though is that when that verse refers to the "day or the hour" is that referring only to the specific time? Or can the year or decade be known by the signs of the times. Because Christ also tells us what signs to look for to know that the end is near. Knowing that the end is near and knowing the day and the hour are two distinct things in my opinion. So perhaps I shouldn't be so dismissive about prophecies. I am, however, very critical of rumors that say the end of the world is this year, in this month, etc...
Even if all these predictions and prophecies are completely illigitimate, we can still bring good out of them by recalling that our Lord will come like a thief in the night when we least expect Him and that we should renew our efforts to sanctify ourselves and repent of our sinful ways, so that when death comes knocking, we will be ready and joyful.
Sounds like a good plan to me.
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