Lets now look at the issue. In the theory of Fr Iannuzzi, he links the idea of Rev 20 and the thousand year reign as a spiritual millenium which is also the seventh day of rest as certain Fathers of the Church taught.Their view was that this is a period of time to come in the future-the temporal era of peace/Kingdom of Divine Will/Triumph of the Immaculate Heart etc. As Mark Mallett wrote on his blog: " The tradition of the Church Fathers is that there are "two more days" remaining for humanity; one within the boundaries of time and history, the other, an everlasting and eternal day. The next day, or "seventh day" is the one I have been referring to in these writings as an "Era of Peace" or "Sabbath-rest," as the Fathers call it."(Two More Days, 11 Dec 2007). So we see in that view we are in the sixth day now and on the verge of entering the seventh day after the coming reign of Antichrist and chastisement. One further aspect of this which is of paramount importance is that in this interpretation the devil will be chained in hell for the symbolic period of a thousand years, which is why a triumphant era of Christianity would be able to flourish with hardly any sin or temptation, and according to certain Fathers includes a first bodily ressurection of the dead( Rev 20.4). As many will know here, I have argued that the Popes have never ever taught this interpretation and that the age of the Church from the first coming of Jesus to his second(for the final Jundgment) is what Rev 20 refers to. We are already in the reign of Christ as he has already defeated Satan for ever. This is the view put forward by St Augustine and has been held by the Church ever since-for 1600 years approx. (Of note here is the parable of the binding of the strong man (Matt12:29) Jesus bound the strong man(Satan) through his death and Resurrection and plundered his house(meaning his rule of sin over the world from Adam and Eve to Calvary). That is why Satan is "bound" or "chained" already, not in some future millennium. The revelations of St Hildegard which concern us here come from "Scivias". In these following passages it is God the Father himself who is speaking to Hildegard: "We are now in the seventh millennium But, O ye people who desire to dwell in those streets, flee from the Devil and adore God, who created you! For in six days God completed His works, and on the seventh day He rested. What does this mean? The six days are the six numbered epochs; and in the sixth epoch the latest miracles were brought forth in the world, as God finished his work on the sixth day. But now the world is in the seventh epoch, approaching the end of time, as on the seventh day. How? The prophets have completed their utterances, My Son has accomplished His Will in the world, and the Gospel has been preached openly throughout all lands; and throughout the times of this full number and more years after it, despite the diversity of human customs, the world has remained as it was well-established by Me"( Book 3 Vision11:17) Further confirmation is given later: "The world is in its seventh epoch, and Man cannot know what will follow For,as was said, God completed His works in six days. Five days represent five numbered epochs; and in the sixth, new wonders were manifested on earth, as on the sixth day the first man was created. And now the sixth number is complete and the seventh has come, and the course of the world is fixed in, as it were the seventh day of rest. For now that work which the mighty doctors kept sealed in the holy Scriptures is revealed; it is openly expounded in gentle words, like the words of this book, as if on a Sabbath of rest. For there are six days of work and a seventh of rest; there is no other number of days. And what lies beyond cannot be known to you, O human, but is in the keeping of the Father. But you o humans, have a time to traverse from now on, until the coming of that murderer who will try to pervert the Catholic faith. But as to what may happen then, it is not for you to know the time of that moment, even as you cannot know what comes after the seven days of the week; for only the Father knows this, who has placed these things in his power. And about the days of the week and times of the ages, it is not for you, O human, to know more"(Book 3 Vision 11:23). In Vision 11:24, God explains that His Son came in the sixth day: "And so after five epochs of the world, My Son showed himself to the world as it began to move towards its end". Therefore, what we see clearly is that the Eternal Father confirms the position taken by St Augustine and taught by the Church's magisterium throughtout the centuries. It is false to teach a coming seventh day spiritual millennium, we have confirmation that we live it now. One further piece of evidence concerning Rev 20 and the binding of Satan now rather than in a "thousand year reign" to come is to be found in Scivias Book 2 Vision 7:11: (Hildegard is shown a vision of Satan as a chained monster fixed to the abyss, but who breathed flames and black smoke up towards those trying to reach heaven, some he blackened and dragged down through temptation and sin, others clad in white trod on him and were severly tormenting him): "The might of God has broken the Devil's strength to do what he wants And around its neck a chain is riveted, which also binds its hands and feet;which is to say that the strength of the Devil was so broken and crushed by the power of Almight God that he cannot freely work his evil and accost humans in the way. And this chain is firmly fastened to a rock in the abyss, confining it so that it cannot move about as its wicked will desires; for the power of God abides unfailingly and immovably for eternity, and by saving souls oppreses the Devil so forcibly that he is not able by inner or outer means to take away redemption from the faithful, or keep them from that place of joy from which he perversely exiled himself". If we compare that to Rev 20, it is the very same imagery of the Devil being chained in the abyss and only at the end of time let out for a short time (which is his extended power now.) So we have to ask ourselves, do we accept the teaching of the Church in this matter which is confirmed by the words of God the Father himself in a fully approved series of visions and revelations to a Doctor of the Church and one of the greatest mystice the Church has ever seen, or do we just ignore it? There is no basis for belief in a temporary era of peace. We live in the seventh day of rest now while awaiting the coming of the Antichrist who will be defeated at the Second Coming of Jesus. Only then will we live in a glorious era of peace that will have no end. As Pope Benedict stated about Hildegard's writings- eminent because of the "correctness of its interpretation." Stephen Walford www.divinemercypopes.com
I think we shall get the answer to all these questions when Our Lady appears at Fatima for the seventh time as she promised us she would. I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.
