Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers… —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 675
I have quoted this passage several times. Perhaps you have read it several times. But the question is, are you ready for it? Let me ask you again with urgency, "Are you ready for it?"
THE UNPREPARED
As I’ve meditated for months now upon what the Lord is unveiling in my heart, it is becoming clearer—with a sort of chilling horror—that many "good" Catholics are not going to be ready for what’s coming. The reason is because they are still "asleep" in the affairs of the world. They continue to delay spending time in prayer. They put off Confession as though it were another item to be shuffled around on the To Do list. They approach the Sacraments out of duty rather than a divine meeting with the Savior. They operate as permanent citizens of this world rather than pilgrims journeying to their true Home. They may even hear the words of warning such as those presented here, but carelessly set them aside as more "doom and gloom" or another "interesting opinion."
Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you… Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:5-13)
When the Lord asked me to begin this writing apostolate, He spoke in part through words which have been coming back lately:
Go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing! You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes; else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand, and they will turn and be healed. "How long, O Lord" I asked. And he replied: Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, houses, without a man, and the earth is a desolate waste. (Isaiah 6:8-11)
That is, those who are resisting this time of grace, shutting out the voice of God, closing their hearts to the obvious signs around them… risk remaining a stiff-necked people, unable to hear and see what God is doing until there is utter desolation, primarily spiritual desolation.
This word came to me before the Blessed Sacrament this week:
Even men who did not go to Mass will sense the loss of God’s presence when the Eucharist is abolished. Part of the coming chastisement will be when the Vine is plucked away, when the fruits which hung often quietly but tangibly in your offices, schools, and organizations are suddenly gone. There will come a famine—a famine for the Word of God. In this desert, the world will suffer its greatest chastisement, for the love of many will grow cold. When all is in tatters, when the earth is like a barren wasteland, when the cold desires of men’s hearts are crushed beneath the power of Satan, then will the Sun of Justice at last Dawn, and the rain of the Spirit fall to renew the face of the earth.
O mankind! Turn away from your present course. Perhaps God will relent and have pity. For no man can thrive in the darkness of death, and spiritual loss is the greatest, most painful death of all.
My colleague, a Catholic missionary with tested gifts in the Lord, had this vision/dream about the same time I was preparing this writing:
I could see land for miles (the world) and it was your normal green landscape. Then I saw someone walking, who I somehow knew was the Antichrist, and with each footstep he took, the land turned into an utter waste land from his footprint and all behind him. I woke up! I felt the Lord showing me the destruction about to come on the world as the Antichrist enters the scene!
It is easier for the earth to be without the sun than without the Mass. —St. Pio
THE FINAL TRIAL
The first signs of a coming schism in the Church are already on the horizon. The first signs of significant changes in our infrastructure are beginning to occur. And the first signs of the coming deception are beginning to manifest. When this three-pronged trial descends in full upon the world, many will be shaken because they do not have enough oil in their lamps, and will scatter in fear to the nearest light… a false light. How will you know what is the truth? How will you know whether or not the Catholic Church is the deception that its enemies will make it out to be? How will you know that Jesus is God, not the prophet they will say He is?
The answer which came to me so clear was that only those who have a relationship with God will know. If someone came to me today and said that my wife is not really my wife but a fraud, I would laugh because I know her. If someone said that my children do not exist, I would think they were crazy because I know them. So too, when the world presents its baseless arguments through such tangled deceptions as The Da Vinci Code, or Zeitgeist, or Oprah Winfrey, or other empty speech saying that Jesus Christ was only a historical figure and perhaps didn’t exist at all, I laugh. Because I know Him. I know Him! My belief in Jesus is not based upon an idea that I grew up with. It is not something I accept because my parents said I should. It is not because I am obligated to go to Sunday Mass. Jesus is a person whom I’ve met, whom I’ve encountered, and whose power has transformed my life! Jesus is alive! He is alive! Do they wish to tell me that I am not breathing? That my hair is not turning grey? That I am really not a man but a woman? You see, the false prophets—despite the evidence of God practically growing on the trees—will turn everything upside down. They will present all their gentle arguments in the most persuasive terms. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, their tongues forked, their arguments satanic.
And those who do not know Christ, will fall like a star from the heavens.
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DO YOU KNOW HIM?
If you are relying on what you know rather than Who you know, then you are in trouble.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not. (Proverbs 3:5)
Why has Our Blessed Mother come to say so very often "Pray, pray, pray"? Is it so that we will rattle off a bunch of Rosaries to feel good about ourselves? No, what our Mother is saying is to "pray from the heart." That is, begin a relationship with her Son. She repeats it three times to tell you that it is urgent. It is urgent, because she knows that relationships take time to build (hence God has given her time to make this appeal). Yes, it takes time, sometimes too much time for the human heart to come around to trusting in the love which God has for each of us. Death can come for us at any moment. Why delay saying yes to Love itself?
Are you out of time? If you’re reading this, the answer is no. Absolutely not. God can quickly fill your heart with the oil of faith and grace if you open your heart wide enough to him. Remember the parable Jesus told where those who came and worked late in the vineyard still received the same pay as those who began working in the morning…. God is generous! He does not want to see any soul lost. But how foolish are those who do not come to the vineyard at all!
Forgive me if I am too bold, but some of you reading these words are risking your eternal salvation by delaying your relationship with God. The hour is so late, it is so late… please, listen to what I’m telling you. Jesus loves you so much. Your sins are like a mist to Him, easily dissolved if you would but allow the flames of His Sacred Heart to enter yours. It is a sweet fire—the kind of fire that does not destroy but rather gives life. I beg you to take these words with all seriousness. Do not be afraid—but do not delay. Open your heart wide to Jesus Christ today!
The Catechism says that this "final trial" will shake the faith of "many" believers. It did not say all. That is, those who have given themselves in sincerity to God, who are praying their Rosaries from the heart, going to Confession, the Holy Eucharist, reading their Bibles, and seeking God as best they can will be safe when the most violent winds of this Great Storm come over the earth. Am I saying anything new to you?
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt 16:24-25)
It is from this spiritual refuge, the upper room of Mary’s heart where the Spirit will be poured out again, that they will fearlessly enter the battle to topple strongholds and draw into the Ark as many souls as possible before the Time of Mercy expires. They are, so to speak, the heel of Our Lady.
Are you ready?
Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. (Amos 8:11)
FURTHER READING:
- The false light: Image of the Beast
