We believe, as Christians, that human history is not just a series of meaningless, random events; rather, we are part of a Larger Story. So, are we in the End ?
By Fr. Joseph Gill
Crisis Magazine
April 9, 2026
t used to be that apocalyptic talk was relegated to the fringes of society. But a recent study indicates that about a third of Americans believe we're living in the End Times. In March, Putin's Kremlin announced that we were in the Last Days, with the current war simmering in the Middle East; and Peter Theil, from Palantir, has been holding a series of discussions about the Antichrist. Catholics, too, are sounding the alarm: Fr. Chad Ripperger, Catholic author Mark Mallett, and many other sane and holy individuals are indicating that world events might be drawing toward a dramatic climax.
Are we in the "end times" ? That is a question that has been asked in every age. We believe, as Christians, that human history is not just a series of meaningless, random events; rather, we are part of a Larger Story-one that is being written by God and is accomplishing His purposes. Every story has a Beginning (Creation and the Fall), a Middle (Christ's Incarnation and Paschal Mystery), and an End (Christ's triumphal return). So, are we in the End?
We are certainly well past the middle-about 2,000 years past the middle-which is about how far Abraham was from Christ, historically. The question that no one knows is how close we are to the end. It could be a year, five years, a hundred years, a thousand years. In my personal opinion, it will not happen in my lifetime.
But "the end" is not just a moment, it is a process. In a sense, one could trace the beginning of "the end" back to the 1400s with the rise of the Renaissance, a system that began to take the attention off of God and put it back on man, seeing the creature without a relation to the Creator.
Thinking of ourselves in "the end" is, to me, just situating ourselves in the Larger Story. We talk about the mundane and the boring nature of our everyday lives-and certainly all of our lives are full of mundane, boring things. But they are not unimportant things.
Many years ago, my sister and I went to go see the first Lord of the Rings together in the movie theater. We were driving home and gazing into a brilliant sunset when she sighed deeply and said, "Oh, I wish life could be like that ! An epic quest, a thrilling adventure!" I've often used that quote in talks that I've given because I think it was a profound insight into the human heart.
Human beings want to know that their life is not just a random chance accident, that our presence here on this planet isn't just unnoticed and unimportant. This desire of the human heart was placed there by God because we do play an irreplaceable role in a grand epic-the epic of Salvation History. So those mundane, boring tasks, when seen through that lens, take on monumental significance.
Consider: when a mother cleans a dirty diaper or makes dinner for her kids, she is taking care of the physical needs of an immortal soul who will someday spend eternity as an eternal triumph of glory or an everlasting tragedy of horror. These immortal souls in your house will someday either advance the Kingdom of God here on earth, taking back ground for the King, or they will participate in the Kingdom's further destruction. All of the mundane tasks that we do have ramifications in history and into eternity. We are part of an epic tale, a battle between good and evil, which is fought in every soul, in every home, in every nation, in every age.
And so I do find it spiritually helpful to be aware of what role we might be playing at this critical juncture in history. One thing that such reflections have taught me is how much of the stuff I worry about on a daily basis won't matter in the grand scheme of things. That traffic jam, that jaywalker, that worry about money-will it matter if the end is near ? After all, whether or not the end of the world is near, the end of my world is near and guaranteed. Apocalyptic thinking is just memento mori writ large. It helps me to remember that life is bigger than my petty worries and that I have to focus on the truly important things-being ready for when Christ comes for me.
When I became a priest, one thing that struck me deeply is how much our liturgy talks about Christ's Second Coming. I never really noticed it until I started celebrating Mass, but all of the Eucharistic prayers and the Memorial Acclamations-and even much of the New Testament-is all about awaiting His return. We are an eschatological people, always looking for the culmination of all things.
In a sense, Christ's death on the Cross was an incomplete redemption-not that He has to add anything to it, but sin continues to multiply even with the tremendous outpouring of grace. The Cross allowed us to be reconciled to God if we respond to the grace-but He has not yet exercised His full dominion over creation. The dominion is His, but He awaits the fulfillment of all things in order to display His full might and power. That is why the Church has cried in every age, "Maranatha ! Come, Lord Jesus!" As Catholics, we are all longing for that day when His redemption will be complete, when "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26).
As we await that final victory, Christ calls us to be vigilant and to observe the signs of the times. Every age has had to wrestle with the question, "Is the end near?" Our age is no different. And so prophets, and wise men, and those who have the mind of Christ would do well to continue to discern that question.
I do think there are some fundamental differences between our age and the ages past (stay tuned for Part 2), but every person in every age is called to discern wisely the signs of the times. Although we can't draw any solid conclusions yet, we should always prayerfully consider the evidence in geopolitics and the philosophical winds that blow. I think it can be quite helpful, spiritually. Consider the number of times we are called in Scripture to be vigilant, watchful, keeping our spiritual eyes open-it's a constant theme in the New Testament.
Rather than taking us away from the duties of our state in life, consideration of "the end" can help us to perform our duties with more diligence, knowing that if we are half-hearted or sleepy, the Bridegroom will return and leave those foolish virgins outside. If I (wrongly) believe that my life is just full of boring, meaningless things, or that Christ's coming is so delayed that I will always have time to repent and draw close to Him, then He will arrive like a thief in the night. This is true not just for each individual but for the world as well. Is the Church ready ? Is the world ready ? If not, what do we need to do to prepare ourselves for His coming?
Recently, someone asked me, "Didn't every age think they were in the End Times ? What makes this age different from every other age?" I thought that was a very good question-one that deserved a response.
I do think that there are fundamental differences between life as we see it now in the 21st century versus life throughout history. It's not simply a matter of "more sin" or different kinds of sin; there was always lust, greed, violence, and even drugs throughout history. Various cultures have been equally depraved. Atheism has been around for a long time. The devaluation of human life dates back to Cain and Abel. So, it's not just a matter of "sex, drugs, and rock & roll" being the defining factor of our age.
No, I think there are philosophical and anthropological trends which are far more prevalent that make this a profoundly unique time in human history.
Globalization. Never before in human history has the world been as small as it is today. I can send an email to someone in India in a matter of seconds. An event that happened in Australia might be posted online in minutes for the rest of the world to see. For the first time in human history, we truly live in a global village. This is important because it means the exportation of ideologies can happen at a rapid rate. Popes Benedict and Francis both warned against an "ideological colonization": first-world countries that are sending out their ideologies to developing and third-world countries. (For a humorous take on this, see the music video by Rammstein called "Amerika." )
Technology and Mass Media. Never before in human history has mass media been able to so thoroughly shape and form a culture. From radio, to television, to the Internet, the ability to form minds and souls has been concentrated in the hands of a few elite. For millennia prior, cultures were passed down through communities. One grew up listening to the stories of grandparents, to witnessing the histories of your town, to being a part of celebrations and grieving rituals and the whole gamut of human life filtered through a community. Now, however, culture is self-defined through one's media consumption. One chooses what culture to imbibe. This becomes problematic when cultural values are exported through the mass media (this ideological colonization again).
Never before could a person born and raised in a certain culture seek out a completely different set of ideals through the mass media. This is why parents, despite raising their kids in the Catholic Faith, watch their children jettison the Faith: because the young have often willingly chosen a culture through the technological mass media that is at odds with how they have been raised. No longer are parents and other adults the main influential factors on a young person's cultural, intellectual, and moral development, as had been the case for the vast majority of human history; now souls are formed through technology and mass media.
In addition, we view the world through the lens of the screen. There is a dearth of interaction with the "stuff" of the world (dirt, plants, humans, tools, etc.). Now most interaction is through a device. This has fundamentally changed the way we relate—the way we receive and form culture and the way we interact with the world.
Scientism & Secular Humanism. Closely related to technology is the undying belief that science holds the answers to all of life's problems and that scientific truth is the only truth that exists. Very few people examine the philosophical, anthropological, and spiritual implications of suffering or problems. They just want it gone, through science. There is a belief that there is no need to turn to a deity but to turn, instead, to human beings for answers and solutions. This is the first time in human history that man has been so exalted.
Rate of Change. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman coined the term "Liquid Modernity" to describe the rapid rate of change in our culture, technology, and society. Five hundred years ago, if someone saw three or four life-changing inventions in their lifetime, it would have been significant. But consider how many changes have occurred in my short lifespan of four decades: the internet, cell phones, AI, medical advances; I even have a "smart refrigerator" that connects to an app on my phone. And it's not only technology. Cultural phenomena that would have been unthinkable in my teen years, such as gay marriage or the transgender movement, have quickly become the law of the land. The rate of change continues to accelerate and shows no sign of stopping.
Relativism. Throughout human history, truth has been seen as something worth fighting for and dying for. I think of the bitter fights—which sometimes ended in bloodshed, exile, and imprisonment—during the Arian controversy, which debated whether or not Jesus was truly divine; or the Crusades; or the wars of religion during the Protestant Reformation. There has always, in every culture, been a belief that truth was knowable, that it was important, and that one should seek it. For the first time in human history, however, truth is seen by many as a subjective experience. "Live your truth," as one member of the transgender community put it. No longer is there any idea that truth exists in reality; rather, all truth is subjective and therefore cannot be scrutinized by others as to its actual correspondence with reality.
Irreligion/Thorough Secularism. The tribesmen of the Amazon, the aborigines in the desert, the high Anglican in the cathedral, the barbarian in the Norse lands—all cultures of all times have had some sort of religion. Whether it was the polytheism of the Greeks and Romans, or the Persian Zoroastrians, or the ancestor-worship of ancient China, every culture (from the Latin cultus, meaning "worship") was based upon adoration of a transcendent deity/deities. But for the first time in history, we are forming a culture that is purposely irreligious. Religion is often scorned, seen as illogical or superstitious, and viewed as something passé. There is a concerted effort to build a world that is completely secular, which has never been done in human history before.
Sheer Magnitude of Sin. Even in the most barbaric days of the ancient Mayan empire, they were still not able to slaughter the 600,000-plus babies killed each year in America alone through abortion. A teenage boy can see more sexually explicit images in one hour than even the most hedonistic Roman emperor would see in his lifetime. There is a sense in which those sins which have always existed have now reached a commonality to which we have become numb.
I believe that our modern age is one that is indeed different from every other age. We have abandoned the idea of God and replaced man in His stead. This expresses itself in the way we see Truth (subjective to man's perception), the way we solve problems (man's power, through science, can end all suffering), the way in which we have crafted a society without God.
Indeed, the seeds of this have been planted all the way back centuries ago, from the Renaissance, to the Industrial Revolution, to Communism. But in the past 70-100 years we have seen a rapid growth and a full flowering of these seeds. For this reason, I believe that we truly are living in unprecedented times. Where will this end ? Where will this lead ? I do not know. But God knows, and my trust is in Him.