I like to browse my public library’s collection of audiobooks to listen to as I drive. In the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that the library is stocking various titles in the popular “Left Behind” series—a fictional account of the end of the world. It seems that a lot of folks are interested in reading about an event which even Jesus avoided describing in detail! At this time of year, when the scriptural readings on Sundays and weekdays will soon be drawn from “apocalyptic” material in both the Old and New Testament, it’s helpful to review our Catholic beliefs about the end of time. The “bottom line” for Jesus and for us is “be ready!” Can we be comfortable not knowing specifics about “the day or the hour” and instead focus on the here-and-now response to the Kingdom which Jesus commands? Join our ACR guests this month for a look at what the Bible teaches us about the end of the world!

Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.

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Highlights from this episode include:

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen is a man known to many Catholics a half-century ago for his weekly television appearances—the first Catholic bishop to have a national program, and one which got top ratings to boot! His cause for canonization has recently moved from his home diocese in Peoria, Illinois, to Rome.

Judy Zarick interviews Jimmy Akin, director of Apologetics and Evangelization at Catholic Answers and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." He is a convert to Catholicism, and tells us about his experience with "end time" books growing up and the "Left Behind" series that is engaging young people today.

Father Dan Kroger suggests business-ethics resources in response to an e-mail question.

Paul Defends his Apostleship
How did Paul respond to his critics? In observance of the Year of St. Paul, Father Norman Langenbrunner tells us that Paul’s ministry as an apostle was controversial in the early Church. In the letters he wrote, he frequently had to defend his work with his credentials as an apostle.

Franciscan Father Michael D. Guinan is professor of Old Testament, Semitic languages and biblical spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, California. He holds degrees in theology and Semitic languages from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He’s written a number of books and articles on a variety of biblical topics, including the Book of Revelation, the end of the world and a 2004 Catholic Update entitled “Raptured or Not? A Catholic Understanding.” He speaks with producer John Feister about what the Bible tells us—and what we Catholics believe—about the end of the world.

Highlights from this episode include:

Francisco and Jacinta Marto are today’s two “saintly visitors.” These “blesseds” received a call to holiness, which came in connection with a well-known 20th-century appearance of the Blessed Mother, in Fatima, Portugal.

Catholic Christian mystic Chris Hoyt was a hard-core evangelical when he decided that Catholicism was the faith for him. He tells producer Judy Zarick how he—though working in the "real world"—finds ways to share his faith through the Internet and good deeds.

Father Don Miller answers questions about marriages performed by a justice of the peace and whether original sin gives God a way to punish us for a sin we didn't commit.

Paul and his Churches
In observance of the Year of St. Paul, Father Norman Langenbrunner desccribes how Paul, like any good pastor, loved the “parishioners” of his missionary churches. Paul used the image of a mother who loves her children or the devoted father of the bride to describe his pastoral zeal.

Our guest on “Exploring Our Faith” today is Jesuit Father William S. Kurz. He is professor in the department of theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he specializes in the exegesis and interpretation of the New Testament. He is the author of more than 40 articles and seven books, including the award-winning, What Does the Bible Say About the End Times? A Catholic View (Servant Books, 2004). The “end times” is his topic with producer John Feister.