AS A CATHOLIC, SHOULD I BELIEVE IN THE “RAPTURE”?

“We who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

Prologue: The word, Protestant. The doctrine, biblical. But what exactly does the Catholic Church believe?

“The Rapture!” 

For many Catholics, the word immediately conjures up images of Protestant preachers announcing that Christians will suddenly vanish from the earth: cars crashing because their drivers have disappeared, empty aeroplanes falling from the sky, clothes lying abandoned on beds, and terrified unbelievers wondering:

“Where did everybody go?”

But here is the surprise:

The Catholic Church does believe that the faithful living at Christ’s coming will be “caught up” to meet Him.

St. Paul says it plainly:

“We who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

And the Latin Vulgate says:

“simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in aera.”

Rapiemur: “We shall be caught up.”

From this Latin verb comes the word rapture.

So the question is not simply:

“Does Catholicism believe in the Rapture?”

The better question is:

“What does Catholicism mean by the ‘Rapture’?”

And here is where things become very interesting.

THE CATHOLIC ANSWER: YES; BUT NOT THE WAY YOU MAY HAVE BEEN TOLD

There is a legitimate Catholic doctrine behind the word rapture.

There is also a distinctly non-Catholic system of eschatology commonly associated with the Protestant use of the word.

We must separate the two.

The Catholic believes:

• Christ will truly come again.
• The dead will rise.
• Those faithful who are alive at His coming will be transformed.
• They will be caught up to meet Christ.
• There will be a final judgment.
• Christ will triumph.

But the Catholic does not have to believe in the popular scheme of:

Secret Rapture → Christians disappear → seven-year Tribulation → Second Coming of Christ.

That is a very different theological construction, and it has no foundation in sacred scripture. 

1. ST. PAUL REALLY DOES SAY “CAUGHT UP”

Let us begin where every Catholic discussion of this subject should begin: Sacred Scripture.

St. Paul writes:

“For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead, who are in Christ, shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)

Read that carefully.

What happens?

• Christ comes down.
• An archangel’s voice is heard.
• The trumpet sounds.
• The dead rise.
• The living faithful are caught up.

This is hardly a picture of Christ secretly sneaking back to earth to remove a handful of Christians.

There is nothing particularly “secret” about an archangel, a divine command, a trumpet, and the resurrection of the dead.

The scene is cosmic.

The King is coming.

2. THE “RAPTURE” IS CONNECTED TO THE RESURRECTION

This is the point Protestant discussions overlook.

St. Paul does not present the catching up of the living as an isolated event.

He connects it directly with the resurrection:

“The dead, who are in Christ, shall rise first.”

Then:

“We who are alive…shall be taken up together with them.”

The living faithful are not disappearing years before the resurrection.

They are being caught up together with the resurrected faithful.

And St. Paul immediately tells us why:

“And so shall we be always with the Lord.”

This is the Christian hope.

Not:

“I hope I escape the Tribulation.”

But:

“I hope to be with Christ forever.”

3. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: THE RESURRECTION IS AT THE END

Here the traditional Catholic theological tradition becomes particularly important.

St. Thomas Aquinas asks directly whether the resurrection should be delayed until the end of the world.

His answer is yes.

He teaches that the general resurrection belongs to the consummation of the world. He also explicitly addresses St. Paul’s statement:

“We shall all indeed rise again…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

St. Thomas concludes that the resurrection will indeed be sudden. (New Advent)

This gives us a crucial distinction:

Catholicism believes in a sudden transformation of the living faithful.

But:

Catholicism does not thereby teach a secret Rapture years before the final resurrection.

4. ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM SAW THE SAME THING

The ancient Catholic tradition is even more striking.

St. John Chrysostom, commenting on 1 Corinthians 15, explains St. Paul’s words:

“We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

He understands St. Paul to be referring to those who are still alive at Christ’s coming.

And then comes the remarkable phrase:

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

St. John Chrysostom emphasizes the instantaneous character of the transformation: the living will be changed from mortality to incorruption. (New Advent)

So if somebody tells you:

“Catholics don’t believe that Christians alive at the end of the world will suddenly be transformed and caught up to Christ,”

you can answer:

St. Paul says they will. St. Chrysostom explains it. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches the suddenness of the resurrection.

The problem is not the biblical event.

The problem is the interpretation of its chronology.

5. WHAT ABOUT THE “SECRET RAPTURE”?

Now we come to the real controversy.

The popular dispensationalist conception often proposes:

• First coming of Christ for His Church
• Then: Secret Rapture
• Then: Seven-year Tribulation
• Then: Second Coming of Christ
• Then: Millennial Kingdom

But this is not the traditional Catholic framework.

The pre-Vatican II Catholic Encyclopedia, in its article on Eschatology, teaches that:

“The visible coming (parousia) of Christ in power and glory will be the signal for the rising of the dead.”

It further states that all the dead to be judged will rise, both the wicked and the just, and describes the traditional Catholic position as one general resurrection. (New Advent)

That is a fundamentally different structure.

The Catholic expectation is not:

Christ secretly comes → the Church disappears → Christ comes again later.

Rather:

Christ comes in glory → the dead rise → the living faithful are transformed → all stand before the divine judgment.

6. “BUT TWO WILL BE IN THE FIELD…”

Someone will immediately quote Our Lord:

“Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left.” (Matthew 24:40)

And:

“Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one shall be taken, and one shall be left.” (Matthew 24:41)

“Father! There it is! The Rapture!”

Not so fast.

Read the context.

Our Lord compares His coming to the days of Noe.

“For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking…until the flood came and took them all away.”

Notice the problem?

In Noah’s example, the people who were taken away were not necessarily the righteous.

The Flood took away the wicked.

Noah and his family remained in the ark.

Therefore, the expression:

“taken = saved; left = damned”

cannot simply be assumed from the text.

The passage must be interpreted in its context.

And that context is the coming of the Son of Man and judgment, not necessarily a secret pre-tribulation evacuation.

7. “AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT” DOES NOT MEAN “INVISIBLY”

Another argument is:

“The Lord comes like a thief in the night!”

Yes.

But what does a thief’s coming signify?

Simply this: Unexpectedness.

Not necessarily invisibility.

A thief comes without warning.

That is the point.

Our Lord repeatedly commands:

“Watch.”

“Be ye also ready.”

“For at what hour you know not.”

The traditional Catholic understanding therefore emphasizes vigilance, not prophetic timetable mathematics.

The end comes unexpectedly.

The Christian must be ready.

The pre-Vatican II Catholic Encyclopedia similarly emphasizes the unexpected character of the end and connects the visible Parousia with the resurrection. (New Advent)

8. AND THEN THERE IS THAT TRUMPET!

Let us return to St. Paul.

“With the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God…”

And again:

“At the last trumpet.” (1 Corinthians 15:52)

Now ask yourself:

Does “last trumpet” sound like a secret event?

St. Thomas Aquinas discusses the trumpet in connection with the resurrection. He notes traditional interpretations in which the trumpet signifies the manifest appearance of Christ as Judge. He explains that Christ’s appearing itself may be understood as the divine command summoning creation to judgment. (New Advent)

The imagery is unmistakably public:

• The King appears.
• The trumpet summons.
• The dead rise.
• The living are changed.
• Judgment follows.

9. THE CHURCH IS NOT PROMISED AN ESCAPE FROM TRIBULATION

Here lies another major difference between Catholic spirituality and much popular Rapture preaching.

The Catholic does not say:

“Lord, make sure I am gone before the trouble starts.”

The Catholic says:

“Lord, give me the grace to remain faithful whatever comes.”

Our Lord said:

“In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

And:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Christianity is not fundamentally an escape from the Cross.

It is participation in Christ’s Passion so that we may participate in His Resurrection.

That is why the Catholic Church has always prepared her children for:

• persecution,
• tribulation,
• martyrdom,
• death,
• judgment,

and ultimately

• eternal life.

10. THE GREAT CATHOLIC “RAPTURE” IS THE RESURRECTION

This is where Catholic theology becomes both simpler and more profound.

• St. Augustine, commenting on the resurrection and those who will be alive when Christ comes, explicitly discusses believers who will be “caught up to meet Him” and relates their transformation to the resurrection and immortality. (New Advent)
• St. Thomas Aquinas likewise teaches the resurrection of the body and its final consummation. (New Advent)

The Catholic therefore does not have to fear the word rapture.

We simply have to put it back into its proper theological home.

The “Rapture” belongs to the Resurrection.

The Resurrection belongs to the Parousia.

The Parousia belongs to the consummation of the world.

And the consummation belongs to:

CHRIST THE KING.

11. WHAT, THEN, SHOULD A CATHOLIC BELIEVE?

Here is the Catholic answer in plain language:

YES: Christ will return.

YES: The dead will rise.

YES: The faithful who are alive at His coming will be transformed.

YES: They will be caught up to meet Christ.

YES: This transformation will be sudden; “in the twinkling of an eye.”

NO: Catholics are not obliged to believe in a secret disappearance of Christians years before the final coming of Christ.

NO: The popular dispensationalist seven-year Rapture timetable is not the traditional Catholic doctrine.

NO: The Christian’s hope is not fundamentally an escape from earthly suffering.

YES: The Christian’s hope is Christ Himself.

12. THE REAL QUESTION

Perhaps we have been asking the wrong question.

We ask:

“Will I be raptured?”

But the Catholic should ask:

“Will I belong to Christ when He comes?”

Because there will indeed be a separation.

There will be:

• sheep and goats,
• just and wicked,
• the faithful and the unfaithful,
• the saved and the lost.

But the decisive question will not be:

“Did you correctly calculate the Rapture?”

It will be:

• “Were you faithful to Christ?”
• Were you in the state of grace?
• Did you keep God’s commandments?
• Did you persevere?
• Did you remain faithful to the Catholic Faith?
• Did you receive the sacraments worthily?
• Did you pray?
• Did you repent?
• Did you love God?
• Did you die in friendship with Him?

13. THE CATHOLIC SHOULD NOT LIVE IN FEAR OF THE END

The Christian does not look toward the Second Coming and say:

“I hope I escape.”

He looks toward it and says:

“Come, Lord Jesus.”

Because the One who comes is not merely Judge.

He is our Redeemer.

He is our King.

He is the One who died for us.

He is the One who rose again.

He is the One whose Body and Blood we receive in the Holy Eucharist.

And He is the One who promised:

“I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.” (John 14:3)

SUMMING UP: THE FINAL CATHOLIC INSIGHT

So:

Should a Catholic believe in the Rapture?

If by “Rapture” you mean that, at Christ’s final coming, the faithful who are still alive will be miraculously transformed and caught up to meet Him;

YES.

• St. Paul teaches it.
• The Fathers taught it.
• St. Augustine discussed it.
• St. Thomas Aquinas explains the suddenness of the final resurrection.

But if by “Rapture” you mean a secret coming of Christ years before His glorious Second Coming, in which Christians disappear from the earth before a separate seven-year Tribulation;

THAT IS NOT THE TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC DOCTRINE.

The Catholic waits for one glorious King.

The Catholic awaits one final triumph.

The Catholic awaits the resurrection of the body.

The Catholic awaits the judgment.

The Catholic awaits the life of the world to come.

And therefore the Catholic does not primarily pray:

“Lord, take me away before the trouble begins.”

He prays:

“Lord, keep me faithful until the end.”

For the promise is not merely that we shall escape the world.

The promise is infinitely greater:

“AND SO SHALL WE BE ALWAYS WITH THE LORD.”

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus.