Cloud by Day, Fire by Night

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AS world events intensify, many are feeling panicked as they watch their security begin to crumble. It should not be so for believers. God cares for His own (and how He wishes the whole world were of His flock!) The care God provided His people in the exodus from Egypt prefigures the care He is giving to His Church today as they pass through this desert toward the "promised land".

The LORD preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of cloud to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night. Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night ever left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13:21-22)

 

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Of Seers and Visionaries

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Elijah in the desert
Elijah in the Desert, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

PART of the struggle many Catholics have with private revelation is that there is an improper understanding of the calling of seers and visionaries. If these “prophets” aren’t shunned altogether as fringe misfits in the culture of the Church, they are often the objects of envy by others who feel the seer must be more special than themselves. Both views do much harm to the central role of these individuals: to carry a message or mission from Heaven.

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On Private Revelation

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The Dream
The Dream, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

 

Within the past two hundred years, there have been more reported private revelations that have received some form of ecclesiastical approval than in any other period of the Church’s history. —Dr. Mark Miravalle, Private Revelation: Discerning with the Church, p. 3

 

 

STILL, there seems to be a deficit among many when it comes to understanding the role of private revelation in the Church. Out of all of the emails I have received over the course of the past few years, it is this area of private revelation which has produced the most fearful, confused, and mean-spirited letters that I have ever received. Perhaps it is the modern mind, trained as it were to shun the supernatural and only accept those things which are tangible. On the other hand, it could be a skepticism generated by the proliferation of private revelations this past century. Or it could be the work of Satan to discredit genuine revelations by sowing lies, fear, and division.

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The "Time of Grace"… Expiring? (Part III)

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St. Faustina 

FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY

 

First published November 24th, 2006. I have updated this writing…

 

WHAT would you say was Pope John Paul II’s central mission? Was it to bring down Communism? Was it to unify Catholics and Orthodox? Was it to birth a new evangelization? Or was it to bring the Church a “theology of the body”?

 

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Paralyzed by Fear — Part I

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Jesus Prays in the Garden, by Gustave Doré,  1832-1883

 

First published September 27th, 2006. I have updated this writing…

 

WHAT is this fear that has gripped the Church?

In my writing How To Know When a Chastisment is Near, it’s as though the Body of Christ, or at least parts of it, are paralyzed when it comes to defending the truth, defending life, or defending the innocent.

We are afraid. Afraid to be mocked, insulted, or excluded from our friends, family, or the office circle.

Fear is the disease of our age. —Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, March 21, 2009, Catholic News Agency

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That Which is Built on Sand

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Canterbury Cathedral, England 

 

THERE is a Great Storm coming, and it is already here, in which those things built on sand are crumbling. (First published October, 12th, 2006.)

Everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. (Matthew 7:26-27)

Already, the driving winds of secularism have shaken apart several mainstream denominations. The United Church, the Anglican Church of England, the Lutheran Church, the Episcopalian, and thousands of other smaller denominations have begun to cave in as the raging flood waters of moral relativism pound at their foundations. Permission of divorce, birth control, abortion, and gay marriage has eroded the faith so drastically that the rains have begun to wash large numbers of believers out of their pews.

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The Book, The Webcast, and The Wardrobe

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  typewriter

 

AFTER many months of wrestling, prayer, editing, head-scratching, consultations with my spiritual director, prostrations before the Blessed Sacrament, gallons of coffee, and long nights into the wee hours… I’m still not done my book.

The good news is that the final draft has gone out for editing this morning.

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