On Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the second letter to the Thessalonians (2:1-17) entitled "The day of the Lord". Our treasure, which follows, is from a homily by a spiritual writer of the fourth century.
Saint Paul arrived in Greece for the first time around 50 A.D. In making converts in Philippi and, soon afterwards, in Thessalonica, he was beset by persecution from Jews and Gentiles alike. Moving on to Beroea, he was again harassed by enemies from Thessalonica and hurriedly left for Athens. Silvanus and Timothy remained behind for a while. Paul soon sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to strengthen that community in its trials. Timothy and Silvanus finally returned to Paul when he reached Corinth, probably in the early summer of A.D. 51.
Saint Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians distinguishes itself by the detailed teaching it presents at the end times. False teachers had been presenting fake letters as if they were from Paul and telling the Thessalonian believers that the day of the Lord had already come. This would have been especially troubling to them because Paul had encouraged them in his previous letter that they would be raptured before the day of wrath came upon the earth.
So, Paul explained to them that this future time of tribulation had not yet come because a certain "man of lawlessness" had not yet been revealed. Comparisons with other passages in Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation reveal this man to be none other than the Antichrist. But Paul encouraged the Thessalonians not to worry, because the Antichrist would not come until a mysterious restrainer—the Thessalonians apparently knew his identity—was removed from earth. The identity of this restrainer has been heavily debated, though due to the nature of the work the restrainer does, He is likely the Spirit of God working redemptively through the church. When the believers leave the earth in the rapture, all who remain will experience the wrath of the tribulation.
