The Day of the Lord

I saw the Lord Jesus, like a king in great majesty, looking down upon our earth with great severity; but because of His Mother’s intercession, He prolonged the time of His mercy… I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy… I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of [sinners]. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation… —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 126I, 1588, 1160

The day of the Lord approaches. All must be prepared. Ready yourselves in body, mind, and soul. Purify yourselves. —God the Father to Barbara Rose Centill, The Miracle of the Illumination of Conscience by Dr. Thomas W. Petrisko, p. 53, February 16th, 1998

The Time of Mercy Ends, the Door of Justice Opens

If we are presently living in a “time of mercy," it implies that this “time” will come to an end. If we are living in a “Day of Mercy,” then it will have its vigil before the dawning of the “Day of Justice.” The fact that so many in the Church wish to ignore this aspect of Christ’s message through St. Faustina is a disservice to billions of souls (see Can You Ignore Private Revelation?).

Just as the Saturday evening vigil Mass precedes Sunday—the “day of the Lord”—so too, the facts strongly suggest that we have entered into the evening vigil of the Day of Mercy, the last twilight of this era. As we watch the night of deception spread over the entire earth and the works of darkness multiply—abortion, genocide, beheadings, mass shootings, terrorist bombings, pornography, human trading, child sex rings, gender ideology, sexually transmitted diseases, weapons of mass destruction, technological tyranny, clerical abuse, liturgical abuses, unfettered capitalism, the “return” of Communism, the death of freedom of speech, brutal persecutions, Jihad, climbing suicide rates, pandemic and the destruction of nature and the planet… is it not clear that it is we, not God, who are creating a planet of sorrows?

The Lord’s question: “What have you done?”, which Cain cannot escape, is addressed also to the people of today, to make them realize the extent and gravity of the attacks against life which continue to mark human history… Whoever attacks human life, in some way attacks God himself. —POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II, Evangelium Vitae; n. 10

It is a night of our own making. However, just as the "labour pains" are led by the "rider on a white horse", so too, the culmination of events is finished by a Rider on a White Horse, Jesus Christ, King of All Nations.

Today, everything is dark, difficult, but whatever the difficulties we are going through, there is only one Person who can come to our rescue. —Cardinal Robert Sarah, interview with Valeurs Actuelles, March 27th, 2019; cited in Inside the Vatican, April 2019, p. 11

Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for [granting] mercy. —Mother of God to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 635

But even God's justice is mercy, for it is precisely this present "shaking" that is necessary to call the "prodigal" sons and daughters of this generation back to God before the purification of the world. Hence, Jesus said with urgency to St. Faustina:

Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the Day of Justice. —Ibid., n. 848

In the context of the “end times”, the Day of Justice is the same as what Tradition calls “the day of the Lord.” This is understood as the “day” when Jesus comes to “judge the living and the dead”, as we recite in our Creed. While Evangelical Christians speak of this as a twenty-four day—literally, the last day on earth—the Early Church Fathers taught something entirely different based on the oral and written Tradition passed onto them:

Behold, the Day of the Lord shall be a thousand years. —Letter of Barnabas, The Fathers of the Church, Ch. 15

And again,

…this day of ours, which is bounded by the rising and the setting of the sun, is a representation of that great day to which the circuit of a thousand years affixes its limits. —Lactantius, Fathers of the Church: The Divine Institutes, Book VII, Chapter 14, Catholic Encyclopedia; newadvent.org

The “thousand years” they are referring to is in Chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation and also spoken of by St. Peter in his discourse on the day of judgment:

…with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. (2 Pet 3:8)

Essentially, the “thousand years” symbolizes an extended “period of peace” or what the Church Fathers called a “sabbath rest.” They saw the first four thousand years of human history before Christ, and then the two thousand years after, leading up to the present day, as paralleling the “six days” of creation. On the seventh day, God rested. Thus, drawing upon St. Peter’s analogy, the Fathers saw…

…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… And this opinion would not be objectionable, if it were believed that the joys of the saints, in that Sabbath, shall be spiritual, and consequent on the presence of God… —St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.; Church Doctor), De Civitate Dei, Bk. XX, Ch. 7, Catholic University of America Press

And that is precisely what God has in store for the Church: a “spiritual” gift consequent upon a new outpouring of the Spirit to “renew the face of the earth.” It is the "gift of Living in the Divine Will." However, this rest will be impossible unless the world is first purified. As Jesus conveyed to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta:

…the chastisements are necessary; this will serve to prepare the ground so that the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat [the Divine Will] may form in the midst of the human family. So, many lives, which will be an obstacle to the triumph of my Kingdom, will disappear from the face of the earth… —Diary, September 12th, 1926; The Crown of Sanctity On the Revelations of Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, Daniel O’Connor, p. 459

First, Christ must come to put to an end to the ungodly global system of control and governance that is quickly corralling the entire world into its power (see The Great Corralling). This system is what St. John called “the beast.” Just as Our Lady, the “woman clothed in the sun and crowned with twelve stars” is a personification of the Church, the “beast” will find its personification in the “son of perdition” or “Antichrist.” It is this “new world order” and “lawless one” whom Christ must destroy in order to inaugurate an “era of peace.”

The beast that rises up is the epitome of evil and falsehood, so that the full force of apostasy which it embodies can be cast into the fiery furnace. —St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Church Father (140–202 A.D.); Adversus Haereses, 5, 29

If the Day of the Lord begins in the vigil of darkness, this destruction of Antichrist inaugurates the dawn of the “seventh day” (to be followed later by the “eighth” and eternal day, which is the end of the world).

…His Son will come and destroy the time of the lawless one and judge the godless, and change the sun and the moon and the stars—then He shall indeed rest on the seventh day… after giving rest to all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day, that is, the beginning of another world. —Letter of Barnabas (70-79 A.D.), written by a second century Apostolic Father

Let us understand then what both the presence of Our Lady and the call of her "watchmen" constitutes:

Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ! —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World, XVII World Youth Day, n. 3; (cf. Is 21:11-12)

It is Mary’s prerogative to be the Morning Star, which heralds in the sun… When she appears in the darkness, we know that He is close at hand. He is Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Behold He comes quickly, and His reward is with Him, to render to everyone according to his works. “Surely I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” —St. Cardinal John Henry Newman, Letter to the Rev. E. B. Pusey; “Difficulties of Anglicans”, Volume II

Thus, the judgment of the Antichrist and those who take his "mark" compromises the judgment “of the living”, described as follows:

And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)

Yes, with a puff of His lips and the brightness of the dawn of His justice, Jesus will put an end to the arrogance of the world’s billionaires, banksters, and bosses who are unreservedly refashioning creation in their own image:

Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come to sit in judgment [upon]… Babylon the great [and]… anyone who worships the beast or its image, or accepts its mark on forehead or hand… Then I saw the heavens opened, and there was a white horse; its rider was called “Faithful and True.” He judges and wages war in righteousness… The beast was caught and with it the false prophet… The rest were killed by the sword that came out of the mouth of the one riding the horse… (Rev 14:7-10, 19:11, 20-21)

This was also prophesied by Isaiah who likewise foretold, in strikingly parallel language, a coming judgment followed by a period of peace.

He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb… the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea…. On that day, The Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim the remnant of his people that is left… When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world’s inhabitants learn justice. (Isaiah 11:4-11; 26:9)

This effectively ushers in, not the end of the world nor the "Second Coming" at the very end of the world, but the dawn of the Day of the Lord when Christ will reign in His saints after Satan is chained in the abyss for the rest of the Day or “thousand years” (cf. Rev 20:1-6 and The Resurrection of the Church).

St. Thomas and St. John Chrysostom explain the words quem Dominus Jesus destruet illustratione adventus sui (“whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the brightness of His coming”) in the sense that Christ will strike the Antichrist by dazzling him with a brightness that will be like an omen and sign of His Second Coming… The most authoritative view, and the one that appears to be most in harmony with Holy Scripture, is that, after the fall of the Antichrist, the Catholic Church will once again enter upon a period of prosperity and triumph. —Fr. Charles Arminjon (1824-1885), The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, p. 56-57; Sophia Institute Press

The Day of Vindication

It would be incorrect to reduce the Day of the Lord to mere chastisement; it is far, far more! It is also a day of vindication of God’s Word. Indeed, Our Lady’s tears are not only sorrow for the unrepentant, but joy for the “triumph” that is coming.

Is it really credible that the day when all people will be united in this long-sought harmony will be the one when the heavens shall pass away with great violence—that the period when the Church Militant enters her fullness will coincide with that of the final catastrophe? Would Christ cause the Church to be born again, in all her glory and all the splendor of her beauty, only to dry up forthwith the springs of her youth and her inexhaustible fecundity?… The most authoritative view, and the one that appears to be most in harmony with Holy Scripture, is that, after the fall of the Antichrist, the Catholic Church will once again enter upon a period of prosperity and triumph. —Fr. Charles Arminjon, Ibid., p. 58, 57

Says the great Marian saint Louis de Montfort:

Is it not true that your will must be done on earth as it is in heaven? Is it not true that your kingdom must come? Did you not give to some souls, dear to you, a vision of the future renewal of the Church? —St. Louis de Montfort, Prayer for Missionaries, n. 5

But let us hear it from the popes too! (see The Popes and the Dawning Era):

And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” [John 10:16] May God… shortly bring to fulfillment His prophecy for transforming this consoling vision of the future into a present reality… It is God’s task to bring about this happy hour and to make it known to all… 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

Both Isaiah and St. John testify that, after a severe judgment, there is coming a new glory and beauty that God wishes to bestow upon the Church in the final stage of her earthly pilgrimage:

Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD… To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it. (Isaiah 62:1-2; Rev 2:17)

What is coming is essentially the fulfillment of the Pater Noster, the “Our Father” that we pray each day: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The coming of Christ’s Kingdom is synonymous with His will being done “as it is in heaven.” As Daniel O’Connor’s exclaims:

Two Thousand Years Later, the Greatest Prayer Will Not Go Unanswered!

What Adam and Eve lost in the Garden—that is, the union of their wills with the Divine Will, which enabled their cooperation in the holy prodigies of creation—will be restored in the Church.

The gift of Living in the Divine Will restores to the redeemed the gift that prelapsarian Adam possessed and that generated divine light, life and sanctity in creation… —Rev. Joseph Iannuzzi, The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta

Jesus revealed to Servant of God Luisa Piccaretta His plan for the next era, this “seventh day”, this “sabbath rest” or “noon” of the Day of the Lord:

I desire, therefore, that My children enter My Humanity and copy what the Soul of My Humanity did in the Divine Will… Rising above every creature, they will restore the rights of Creation— My own as well as those of creatures. They will bring all things to the prime origin of Creation and to the purpose for which Creation came to be… —Rev. Joseph. Iannuzzi, The Splendor of Creation: The Triumph of the Divine Will on Earth and the Era of Peace in the Writings of the Church Fathers, Doctors and Mystics (Kindle Location 240)

In essence, Jesus wishes that His own interior life become that of His Bride in order to make her “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (Eph 5:27). Thus, the "day" of the Lord is essentially the brightness of interior perfection in the Bride of Christ:

The Church, which comprises the elect, is fittingly styled daybreak or dawn… It will be fully day for her when she shines with the perfect brilliance of interior light. —St. Gregory the Great, Pope; Liturgy of the Hours, Vol III, p. 308

While the fullness of perfection body, soul, and spirit is reserved for Heaven and the beatific vision, there is a certain liberation of creation, starting with man, that is also part of God’s plan for the Era of Peace:

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

So, when we speak of Christ coming at the dawn of the Day of the Lord for a purification and renewal of the earth, we are speaking of an interior coming of Christ’s Kingdom within individual souls that will manifest literally in a "civilization of love" that, for a time (a “thousand years”), will bring the witness and full scope of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Indeed, Jesus said, “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) Here, the magisterial teaching could not be clearer:

It would not be inconsistent with the truth to understand the words,“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” to mean: “in the Church as in our Lord Jesus Christ himself”; or “in the Bride who has been betrothed, just as in the Bridegroom who has accomplished the will of the Father.” —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2827

The Catholic Church, which is the kingdom of Christ on earth, [is] destined to be spread among all men and all nations… —POPE PIUS XI, Quas Primas, Encyclical, n. 12, Dec. 11th, 1925

The Twighlight of the Day of the Lord

Jesus said to St. Faustina…

You will prepare the world for My final coming. —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 429

Pope Benedict clarified that this statement does not imply the imminent end of the world when Jesus will return to “judge the dead” (the twilight of the Day of the Lord) and establish a literal “new heavens and a new earth”, the “eighth day”—what is traditionally known as the “Second Coming.”

If one took this statement in a chronological sense, as an injunction to get ready, as it were, immediately for the Second Coming, it would be false. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Light of the World, A Conversation with Peter Seewald, p. 180-181

The more noteworthy of the prophecies bearing upon “latter times” seem to have one common end, to announce great calamities impending over mankind, the triumph of the Church, and the renovation of the world. —Catholic Encyclopedia, Prophecy, www.newadvent.org

The Day of the Lord, then, reaches its zenith in our Timeline when, near the end of the world, Satan has one last reprisal against the saints of Christ before the Second and "final" coming of Christ...