We have hope because of the empty grave

The earth is a giant graveyard.  But we have hope because one of these graves is empty.  Christ Jesus came to save us from sin and its consequence: death (Romans 6: 23).  And as Dr. Peter Kreeft once said, "The Resurrection also sharply distinguishes Jesus from all the other religious founders.  The bones of Abraham and Muhammad and Buddha and Confucius and Lao-tzu and Zoroaster are still here on earth.  Jesus' tomb is empty.  The existential consequences of the resurrection are incomparable.  It is the concrete, factual, empirical proof that: life has hope and meaning; 'love is stronger than death'; goodness and power are ultimately allies, not enemies; life wins in the end; God has touched us right where we are and has defeated our last enemy; we are not cosmic orphans, as our modern secular worldview would make us.."

In his poem entitled "The Convert," Gilbert Keith Chesterton so eloquently presents this truth:

After one moment when I bowed my head

And the whole world turned over and came upright,

And I came out where the old road shone white,

I walked the ways and heard what all men said,

Forests of tongues, like autumn leaves unshed,

Being not unlovable but strange and light;

Old riddles and new creeds, not in despite

But softly, as men smile about the dead.

The sages have a hundred maps to give

That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,

They rattle reason out through many a sieve

That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:

And all these things are less than dust to me

Because my name is Lazarus and I live.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (Jn 1:5).  And it never will.  Not even that supreme darkness and deception which is fast-approaching (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675).  Our sad broken world is dying.  Heaven and earth will pass away.  But not the word of the Living God.

Venerable Mary of Agreda: Antichrist will appear in Egypt

Venerable Maria of Agreda, prophesied that, "When the world will be drowned in terrible vices, Satan and all his devils will be let loosed so that they may pave the way for the godless Antichrist to attain world dominion and final persecution... As mankind has lost it's faith, the subjects of that time will be very much oppressed by their rulers and authorities. Then many people will come to the Antichrist, who will pretend to be exceedingly kind and generous to all, and tell him their troubles. He will console the oppressed and promise them help. Finally the delegates of certain nations, the Jews, Turks, and Tartars will beg him to personally free them from their yoke. He will now declare himself ready to fulfill their wishes, while at the same time he will arouse the neighboring nations to revolution. The Jews will finally bring him a costly crown and a kingly garment, as well as a scepter, and declare him their freely elected king. The kings of the world, who will hear of this, will laugh at it and not pay any attention to this little horn. In the meantime he will build a powerful army and take up residence in Babylon, where a magnificent palace will be built for him. Many Jews will then stream to Babylon."

"Then the Antichrist will seek to enlarge his kingdom. He will, therefore, occupy with his troops various surrounding districts in Asia. Then, like a storm wind, he will appear in Egypt with his army and conquer this country as well as Ethiopia. He will then endeavor to make himself loved by the subjugated nations by a friendly behavior, and by exacting a very small tribute from them. He will declare everywhere that he is destined to be the savior of all the oppressed. He will not in the least let it be known that he strives for a world kingdom. Thereupon, he will march into the promised land and occupy Jerusalem. Now, at last, the kings of the world will become frightened; they will recognize that they are dealing with the Antichrist, especially since the Jews of the whole world will make known the great talents and deeds of the Antichrist, so that his praise shall resound throughout the world. Then the kings will send armies to the Holy Land, but the Antichrist will slay them all."

And he will plunder its wealth: Daniel 11:40-45.