Carlos Caso-Rosendi
A few minutes ago I was looking out the window on a humid overcast morning in Buenos Aires. I got up early and it was still dark, the clouds did not let me see the sun rise over the wide river. Then I thought of the Lord’s words before the Sanhedrin: “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:62.
At this point I am convinced that we are living in apocalyptic times. The world media continues to cover up the signs. No one seems to be touching certain themes: the disastrous state of the world economy, the millions of human beings aborted, the casual selling of human flesh over a plate of linguine and a glass of red wine, the ever growing menace of that mental disease called terrorism, etc. A deep darkness has covered the nations and yet the long list of present abominations is in a way announcing its end. The night is always at its darkest, coldest when morning is about to break.
The right side of God is perfect justice. Think of the scene at the Sanhedrin: Jesus is beat up, he has been awake all night, he is surrounded by hostile faces, people declare falsehood after falsehood against him. When he utters those words, clearly identifying himself as the Blessed Messiah, the court receives them as proof of blasphemy. That will be known forever as the darkest moment in the history of Israel. The tribunal condemns to death the very source of all life, after having more that enough proof of his divine origin. There is no justice at the left hand of darkness but in that moment of absolute despair, the sun of truth begins to rise. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” John 3:14. Jesus is talking about life at the time when his own death nears, concealed by darkness under the horizon the life-giving sun is relentlessly approaching. Who would have known?
Today the Church is facing a similar trial. Accusations and humiliations come from all sides, hostile forces surround her, the end seems to be near. I for one believe that the hour to shine is upon us. Jesus is about to come with true justice from the right hand of the throne of God. The sun may be setting upon the systems of global oppression but we know that morning will come; we know that no one can stop it. The same forces that “raised the Son of Man” on the Cross of Calvary now want to finish the job by silencing the Church. They may succeed temporarily. They may have their Friday victory but they cannot stop time. Evil could not stop Resurrection Sunday from coming.
Darkness and trials precede a great era for the triumphant Church: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3. After the ordeal we will have a whole world to rebuild. Light and justice are coming. The sun also rises.
Carlos Caso-Rosendi 
Beautiful, Carlos, and strangely comforting!
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Thank you for that first comment Cathy! I hope to have this website going in the days to come. It took a lot of work to post all the old articles here. Now I only have to add the Portuguese section. I hope we can all encourage each other here also. “Acknowledge God, take the next right step, and be a sign of hope to others.” God bless!
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Beautiful, Carlos (the article AND the new website).
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Thanks, Mick! Just a few minutes ago a friend in Mexico commented that the Church has been wounded five times, and each time her enemies have perished while the Church came back to continue her mission. It made me think of the five wounds of Christ. Woe to her enemies! This is their final try and they won’t succeed. Christ will purify his Bride and give her a new and glorious mission!
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Chesterton was not the first to note that God seems to enjoy paradox and her flighty but comely cousin irony. These are dark days indeed for the faithful. Yet, in the old literary device, the hero is most beset upon and hope seems dimmest just before the cavalry bugle is heard at the crest of the hill. Locked in the dimensions of time and space as we are, it is not sensible to us that every earthly triumph contains, already fully sprouted, the seeds of defeat. Trend lines are as ephemeral as fashion. In fact, they are related. We project our sightlines into the future forgetting that others with a different perspective are doing the same and that at some point the visions intersect.
The atheistic political left is probably quite near its high water mark. It has seemingly captured the world and some would say the Vatican as well. Its strange alliance with the followers of the prophet is no stranger than the alliance of national and international socialism in 1939. Totalitarian systems recognize each other as kin. A quick glance at the historical record reveals that the statist’s project (the city of man cut off from the city of God) always turns on itself even to its own destruction. 1939 and triumph must become 1941 and catastrophe.
In thinking about the Biblical description of the anti-Christ, it seems to me that every age encounters the spirit of it. From Nero to Napoleon and from Caligula to Stalin – with the “religion of peace” as a kind of running theme of a direct contradiction of everything Christ, did, said and stood for – every age must choose between the light and the dark.
There will, of course, be a final choice to be made. Yet for Christians it almost does not matter whether this is the time of the final choice or not. Saint John Fisher understood his choice when he encountered the spirit of the anti-Christ. It was final for him.
It is not for me to know the appointed hour – speculations to one side. However, when I see the casual blasphemy, the profound vulgarity, and the seven deadly sinfulness of the present hour I know that it must soon turn. For one thing, the demonic project hates fun and human flourishing. At some point, the people just get tired of puritanical rigor in the worship of man. People stop investing their emotions in an increasingly phony narrative. The feigned outrage becomes ever more feigned.
No matter what form it takes, and no matter what schedule it is on, irony will out and the great and continual change that the left is always on about will cause events (the tide in human affairs) to overshoot the mark they have set in the sand and we shall see rebirth and restoration.
Come Lord Jesus.
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Amen!
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A beautiful reflection, Carlos, thank you. So much hope!
Also, I love your new website. Congratulations 🙂
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More essays and articles coming soon. Thank you, Marie! 😉
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Carlos, your website is beautiful and your articles always insightful and thought-provoking. God bless you.
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