St. Paul was actually the first to
speak of this coming “sabbath rest”: MM
And God rested on the seventh day from
all his works… So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God; for
whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. (Heb
4:4, 9-10)
In order to enter God’s rest, we have
to understand what was accomplished on the seventh day. Essentially, the “word”
or “Fiat that God spoke set creation into motion in perfect harmony — from the
movement of the stars to the very breath of Adam. All was in perfect balance
and yet, not complete. MM
Creation has its own goodness and
proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the
Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae)
toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined
it. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 302
…as if it were a fit thing that the
saints should thus enjoy a kind of Sabbath-rest during that period, a holy
leisure after the labors of six thousand years since man was created… (and)
there should follow on the completion of six thousand years, as of six days, a
kind of seventh-day Sabbath in the succeeding thousand years… —St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.; Church
Doctor), De Civitate Dei, Bk. XX, Ch. 7, Catholic University of America
Press
In the last century, nearly all the
popes have spoken of this coming “pacification”, “peace”, or “restoration” in
Christ that will subdue the world and give relief to the Church, as it were, of
her labors: MM
When it does arrive, it will turn out
to be a solemn hour, one big with consequences not only for the restoration of
the Kingdom of Christ, but for the pacification of… the world. We pray most
fervently, and ask others likewise to pray for this much-desired pacification
of society. —POPE PIUS XI, Ubi Arcani dei Consilioi “On the Peace of
Christ in his Kingdom”, December 23, 1922
Oh! when in every city and village the
law of the Lord is faithfully observed, when respect is shown for sacred
things, when the Sacraments are frequented, and the ordinances of Christian
life fulfilled, there will certainly be no more need for us to labor further to
see all things restored in Christ… All this, Venerable Brethren, We believe and
expect with unshakable faith. —POPE PIUS X, E Supremi, Encyclical “On
the Restoration of All Things”, n.14, 6-7
Still, what produces this Sabbath
Rest? Is it merely a “time out” from war and strife? Is it simply the absence
of violence and oppression, especially that of Satan who will be chained during
this period in the abyss (Rev 20:1-3)? No, it’s far more than that: the true
Sabbath Rest will be the fruit of the resurrection of
the Divine Will in man
that Adam forfeited… MM
Thus is the full action of the
original plan of the Creator delineated: a creation in which God and man, man
and woman, humanity and nature are in harmony, in dialogue, in communion. This
plan, upset by sin, was taken up in a more wondrous way by Christ, Who is
carrying it out mysteriously but effectively in the present reality, in
the expectation of bringing it to fulfillment…—POPE JOHN PAUL II,
General Audience, February 14, 2001
“Fears, doubt and
apprehensions are that which dominate you — all miserable rags of your human
will. And do you know why? Because the complete life of the Divine Will is not
established within you — the life which, putting to flight all the evils of the
human will, makes you happy and fills you with all the blessings it possesses.
Oh, if with a firm resolution you decide no longer to give life to your human
will, you will feel all evils die within you and all goods come back to life.” —Our Lady to Servant of God Luisa
Piccarreta, The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will, Day 3
If planet Earth were to go out of its
orbit by even one degree, it would throw the entire balance of life into chaos.
So too, when we do anything in our human will apart from the Divine Will, our
interior life is thrown into imbalance — we lose our interior peace or “rest”.
Jesus is the “perfect man” precisely because everything He did was always in
the Divine Will. What Adam lost in disobedience, Jesus repaired in His
obedience. And thus, the mysterious plan of God being carried out “in this
present reality” is that, through Baptism, every human is invited to be
incorporated into the “Body of Christ” in order that the life of Jesus may be
lived in them — that is, through the union of the human with the Divine in
one Single
Will. MM
In short, the Sabbath Rest will be
given to the Church when True
Sonship is restored to
her such that the original harmony of creation is returned. I believe this will
ultimately come through a “second Pentecost,” as the popes have been imploring for over a
century — when the Spirit will “renew the face of the earth.”[7] Through
the revelations of Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, we understand that this “full
stature” is essentially the restoration of the “gift of living in the Divine
Will” that Adam forfeited. The Lord has called this “the crown and the
fulfillment of all the other sanctities” [8] that He has bestowed
upon His People throughout the centuries, beginning with the “Fiats” of Creation
and Redemption, and now coming to completion through the “Fiat of
Sanctification” in the last era. MM
The generations will not end until my
Will reigns upon earth… The third FIAT will give such grace to the creature as
to make him return almost to the state of origin; and only then, when I see man
just as he came out from Me, will my Work be complete, and I will take my
perpetual rest in the last FIAT. —Jesus to Luisa, February 22, 1921,
Volume 12
If you keep my commandments, you will
remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in
his love… so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be
complete” (John 15:10-11).
“…in this love I find My true Love, I
find My true rest. My Intelligence rests in the intelligence of the one who
loves Me; My Heart, My desire, My hands and My feet rest in the heart that
loves Me, in the desires that love Me, desiring only Me, in the hands that work
for Me, and in the feet that walk only for Me. Therefore, bit by bit, I go
resting within the soul who loves Me; while the soul, with her love, finds Me
everywhere and in every place, resting completely in Me. —Ibid., May 30,
1912; Volume 11
In this way, the words of the “Our
Father” will at last find their fulfillment as the final stage of the Church
before the end of the world… MM
…every day in the prayer of the Our
Father we ask the Lord: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt
6:10)…. we recognize that “heaven” is where the will of God is done, and that
“earth” becomes “heaven”—i.e., the place of the presence of love, of goodness,
of truth and of divine beauty—only if on earth the will of God is done. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, February 1st, 2012,
Vatican City
“The world
is exactly at the same point as when I was about to come upon earth. All were
awaiting a great event, a new era, as indeed occurred. The same now; since the
great event, the new era in which the Will of God be done on earth as It is in
Heaven, is coming – everyone is awaiting this new era, tired of the present
one, without knowing what this new thing, this change, is about, just as they
did not know it when I came upon earth. This expectation is a sure sign that
the hour is near.” Jesus to Luisa, Book
of Heaven, July 14, 1923
Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi, Marian
Movement of Priests, Aug. 15, 1991:
“The new era, toward which
you are journeying, is bringing all creation to the perfect glorification of
the most holy trinity; the father receives his greatest glory from every
creature which reflects his light, his love and his divine splendour, the son
restores his reign of grace and of holiness, setting free every creature from
the slavery of evil and of sin, the holy spirit pours out in fullness his holy
gifts, leads to the understanding of the whole truth, and renews the face of
the earth.
The new era, which I
announce to you, coincides with the complete fulfilment of the Divine Will, so
that at last there is coming about that which Jesus taught you to ask for, from
the Heavenly Father, ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
This is the time when
the Divine Will of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is being
accomplished by the creatures. From the
perfect fulfilment of the Divine Will, the whole world is becoming renewed, because God finds there, as it were, His new garden
of Eden, where he can dwell in loving companionship with his creatures.
The new era, which is
just now beginning, brings you to a full communion of life with those who
have preceded you and who, here in paradise, enjoy perfect happiness.
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