Catholic Interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

[Miquelot]

It's important to note that Catholics believe the event described in Thessalonians is going to occur. Where we part company with Pentacostals/Evangelicals/Fundamentalists is the timing of it. Catholics believe this event will happen after the reign of Antichrist and at the time of the Second Coming; the aforementioned groups believe it'll happen before the reign of Antichrist, and they're going to be in for a rude awakening when it doesn't go according to their expectations.

So in essence you are saying that Catholics do believe in a "rapture" event, one in which believers will be whisked away to ascend into the clouds, but after the Great Tribulation? 

The Catholic Church doesn't believe in it in the same sense the aforementioned groups do. However, since St. Paul did say this event is going to occur, it will happen. Certain Saints and Doctors of the Church described this part of Catholic eschatology. If you want me to, I'll try and dig up the quotes.

I hate to put you through the trouble, but I have been struggling with this verse for a long time, so if you can at least point me to the quotes, I would be grateful.  In the end I know it is not a critical verse to understand, but something -- perhaps my exposure to so many Evangelicals -- is prompting me towards understanding it in its fullness and orthodoxy.  (Or rather how to understand it, in the light of Scripture and Tradition.) 

[CrusaderKing]

So far, I found one from St. Augustine. I wish I had the book " Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph: Before, During, and After Antichrist" by Desmond Birch in my possession, but I lent it to my sister over a year ago and haven't seen it since. That book dealt with the whole "Rapture" issue in later chapters.

The whole pre-millenium Rapture nonsense seems to have started with an Ebionite heretic named Cerenthus, who was an opponent of both St. Paul and St. John.

"In connection with the Last Judgment the following events shall come to pass, as we have learned: Elias the Tishbite shall come; the Jews shall believe; the Antichrist shall persecute; Christ shall judge; the dead shall rise; the good and the wicked shall be separated; the world shall be burned and renewed. All these things we believe shall come to pass; but how, or in what order, human understanding cannot perfectly teach us, but only the experience of the events themselves. My opinion, however, is that they will happen in the order in which I have related them." 

[Miquelot]

So far, I found one from St. Augustine. I wish I had the book " Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph: Before, During, and After Antichrist" by Desmond Birch in my possession, but I lent it to my sister over a year ago and haven't seen it since. That book dealt with the whole "Rapture" issue in later chapters.

The whole pre-millenium Rapture nonsense seems to have started with an Ebionite heretic named Cerenthus, who was an opponent of both St. Paul and St. John.

"In connection with the Last Judgment the following events shall come to pass, as we have learned: Elias the Tishbite shall come; the Jews shall believe; the Antichrist shall persecute; Christ shall judge; the dead shall rise; the good and the wicked shall be separated; the world shall be burned and renewed. All these things we believe shall come to pass; but how, or in what order, human understanding cannot perfectly teach us, but only the experience of the events themselves. My opinion, however, is that they will happen in the order in which I have related them." 

That is helpful, and it is helpful just to know about the Desmond Birch book so that I can check it out of the library for myself one day and investigate.  I thank you for looking that up for me, and for bringing to my attention Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph: Before, During, and After Antichrist. 

[petrelton]

So far, I found one from St. Augustine. I wish I had the book " Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph: Before, During, and After Antichrist" by Desmond Birch in my possession, but I lent it to my sister over a year ago and haven't seen it since. That book dealt with the whole "Rapture" issue in later chapters.

The whole pre-millenium Rapture nonsense seems to have started with an Ebionite heretic named Cerenthus, who was an opponent of both St. Paul and St. John.

"In connection with the Last Judgment the following events shall come to pass, as we have learned: Elias the Tishbite shall come; the Jews shall believe; the Antichrist shall persecute; Christ shall judge; the dead shall rise; the good and the wicked shall be separated; the world shall be burned and renewed. All these things we believe shall come to pass; but how, or in what order, human understanding cannot perfectly teach us, but only the experience of the events themselves. My opinion, however, is that they will happen in the order in which I have related them." 

That is helpful, and it is helpful just to know about the Desmond Birch book so that I can check it out of the library for myself one day and investigate.  I thank you for looking that up for me, and for bringing to my attention Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph: Before, During, and After Antichrist. 

My understanding is that the trumpets sound, Christ returns to earth in similar fashion to his departure. He brings the souls of the saved with him from heaven. The dead bodies of the saved are resurrected and reunited with their souls so that the man is again complete. After this there are various theories of what transpires some of which are not safely taught but the general consensus is that at this time or at some time after the return of Christ the general judgement occurs when all the dead are raised to damnation or to salvation to receive in their bodies justice for their deeds which they did whilst in the body, then the heavens and earth pass away and the new heavens and earth. The event in Thessalonians is called in the Apocalypse the "First resurrection" and is regarded as a seperate event to the general judgement (also called the second death) in the Apocalypse which occurs after the First resurrection. Not sure whether I am speaking with too much clarity here. The church is deliberately blurry on these sequences of events and often describes the return of Christ and the general judgement together because too many people in the past have made bandwagons out of these issues and have caused division. I believe that the church allows a variety of beliefs in this area but does not like us to push our barrows on one theory or another.

Certainly however the catechism is very clear that the return of the Christ and the resurrection is AFTER the Great Tribulation and the temptations of the anti-Christ, as other posters have stated. The pre-millenium rapture as it is taught by evangelicals is a clear heresy. It teaches a secret return of Christ prior to the tribulation whereas the scripture and even the passage in Thessalonians describes as a loud and highly visible event that all the world will witness. As Christ said. "All the nations of the world will mourn". "Like the lightening which travels from the East to the West so will be the coming of the son of man" or words to that effect.

[veritatem_dilexisti]

http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/index.htm > "1 Thessalonians" > "4: The Coming of the Lord" > "Comment" (to the right of the header "Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction")