[Question:]{.underline} Can a Catholic believe in the “rapture”?
[Answer:]{.underline} You will not find any discussion on the rapture in any Catholic catechism. However, you will often find it mentioned by fundamentalist protestant preachers, by Jehovah`s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists, and the concept has been popularized in novels and movies as well.
The idea of a rapture is based upon an interpretation of this text of St. Paul`s in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “…the dead in Christ will rise up first. Then we who live, who survive, shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord.” (4:17) The followers of the rapture take this to mean that Christ would come before the end of the world, that is before his Second Coming, and that at that time the righteous would be raptured, that is caught up into the air with Christ, while sinners would remain on the earth for a period of great tribulation. It would then be after this that Jesus would come on the earth to rule for 1,000 years, after which finally there would be the end of the world and the General Judgment.
The idea of the rapture is consequently closely intertwined with the theory of millenarism, which was embraced by a few isolated ecclesiastical authors, such as Papias, St. Justin and Tertullian, and later rejected by the Church, notably by the Council of Ephesus, but has been adopted by these sects. This theory of millenarism is in turn based upon a literal interpretation of chapter 20 of the Apocalypse, which speaks of the victory of Christ over Satan, holding him bound for 1,000 years (v.3), during which time the souls of those who refused the mark of the beast “reigned with Christ a thousand years”, “but the rest of the dead did not come to life till the thousand years were finished”. (v 5). In a response dated July 21, 1944, the Holy Office condemned millenarism as an error that “cannot safely be taught” (in Renié, Manuel d`Ecriture Sainte, V, §314), and the same year a work of Fr. Manuel Lacunza was placed on the Index of forbidden books on account of the same error.
However, it is interesting to know why these ideas are false and how a false understanding of Sacred Scripture lies behind them. The text of St. Paul`s letter to the Thessalonians is very clear in the context of the preceding verses. It refers to the end of the world, to the second coming and to the general judgment, and for this uses the images already employed by the prophet Daniel to describe the end of the world. Hence the preceding verse: “For the Lord himself with cry of command, with voice of archangel, and with trumpet of God will descend from heaven; and the dead in Christ will rise up first. Then, we who live, who survive…” (! Thess 4:16). The promise is to be victorious with Christ on the last day, and this is what is consoling, not that we might be snatched away for a period, or even that we might rule with Him on earth for one thousand years. Moreover, we are repeatedly told, but by our Divine Savior, and also by His apostles, that we are not to know the day or the hour of His coming, but that he will come when least expected. “But of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Mk 13:32). Or “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief” (2 Pet 3:10), just to quote a couple of examples. This could hardly be the case if there were to be a rapture.
The interpretation of the Apocalypse to mean a thousand physical years reign on this earth is likewise based upon a view of the Sacred Scriptures which fails to take into account the various literary genres. The Apocalypse is a prophetic work, and consequently uses the literary style of prophecy, which is full of imagery, which although truthful, is not intended to be chronological nor to give a historical account. The thousand years is symbolic of the long period of time that follows the Resurrection, in which Satan is chained in his control of the faithful who are baptized, at last relatively speaking. It is at the end of the long period during which the Church Militant fights against all kinds of persecution, that finally the devil will be released, the time of the antichrist will come and then rapidly will take place the Last Judgment, as is described in the last verses of chapter 20 of the Apocalypse (11-15). To interpret these images in a physical manner so as to indicate a thousand years of peace with Christ is to miss the entire point of the passage, which is show that this time is a preparation for the Last Judgment, a time for us to combat the Devil, to crush evil, to persevere in good works, that our names might be “found written in the book of life” (v.15). A literal, physical interpretation of these images and texts is just as grossly materialistic as were the Pharisees in their desire for a Messias who would rule over a temporal kingdom.
Rather than a millennium of peace and earthly comfort for those who consider themselves to be just, it will be a time of loss of Faith, of apostasy, in which the good will have to suffer along with the wicked, which is to precede the General Judgment. This is described by St. Paul: “Let no one deceive you in any way, for the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition” (2Thess 2:3) and Our Lord Himself: “There will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things they will arrest you and persecute you…By your patience you will win your souls” (Lk 21:11-19).
Consequently, there is no doubt that the fantasy of a rapture is incompatible with Catholic doctrine and spirituality, as also is the millenialist dream. The struggle of our earthly life, lived for the love of God is the time of preparation for the harvest, and this preparation will continue until the day on which Our Divine Savior comes in glory to render judgment to every man “according to his works, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10):
“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field if the world; the good seed the sons of the kingdom; the weeds, the sons of the wicked one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. But the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burnt with fire, so well if be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all scandals and those who work iniquity, and cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the just will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Mt 33:38-43).
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.