Benedict XVI then pointed out how in his Second Letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle "changes perspective and speaks of the negative events that will precede the end. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived, he says, as if the Day of the Lord were truly imminent by some chronological calculation. ... The continuation of the Pauline text makes it clear that the coming of the Lord will be preceded by apostasy and by the appearance of a person identified only as 'the lawless one', the 'one destined for destruction', whom tradition came to identify as the Antichrist."
“The intention of this Letter of St. Paul is, above all, practical: the Lord's second coming does not dispense one from one's obligation in this world, but on the contrary, creates a responsibility before the Divine Judge regarding our actions in this world,” the Pope taught.
Turning to Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, the Holy Father observed how even though the apostle was imprisoned and awaiting a possible condemnation to death, he was able to indicate his “complete being with Christ." Living for others demonstrates Paul's "perfect availability to the will of God." His being with Christ creates a great interior freedom: "freedom in the face of death, but also freedom in the face of all life's tasks and sufferings."
Pope Benedict then went on to consider what “fundamental convictions” Christians should have when faced with death and the end of the world.
“Firstly,” Benedict said, “the conviction that Jesus is risen, is with the Father and is always with us. … Secondly, the conviction that Christ is with me. … Thirdly, the conviction that the Judge has left us responsibility for the world and for our brothers and sisters in Christ and the conviction of his mercy. …We know that God is the true Judge, we are sure He is good, we know His face, the face of the risen Christ. ... For this reason we can be sure of His goodness and live our lives courageously."
At the end of his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul "repeats a prayer of the early Christian communities of Palestine, putting it into the mouths of the Corinthians themselves: 'Marana tha! Our Lord, come!' ... which is also how the Book of the Apocalypse ends. ... Can we pray like this today? In our lives, in our world, it is difficult to pray sincerely for this world to perish, for the coming of the New Jerusalem, the Final Judgment, Christ the Judge. ... Nonetheless, like the first Christian community we can say: Come Jesus!”