The Flagellation, by Michael D. O’Brien
For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. (Exodus 12:15)
WE continue to follow Christ’s Passion—a pattern for the Church’s own present and coming trials. This writing looks in greater detail at how a Judas—the Antichrist—will rise to power.
Christ in Gethsemane, by Michael D. O’Brien
The Israelites did what displeases the Lord; the Lord gave them over for seven years into the hands of Midian. (Judges 6:1)
THIS writing examines the transition between the first and second half of the Seven Year Trial.
We have been following Jesus along His Passion, which is a pattern for the Church’s present and coming Great Trial. Furthermore, this series aligns His Passion to the Book of Revelation which is, on one of its many levels of symbolism, a High Mass being offered in Heaven: the representation of Christ’s Passion as both sacrifice and victory.
Seven years shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. (Dan 4:22)
During Mass this past Passion Sunday, I sensed the Lord urging me to repost a portion of the Seven Year Trial where it essentially begins with the Passion of the Church. Once again, these meditations are the fruit of prayer in my own attempt to better understand the Church’s teaching that the Body of Christ will follow its Head through its own passion or “final trial,” as the Catechism puts it (CCC, 677). Since the book of Revelation deals in part with this final trial, I have explored here a possible interpretation of St. John’s Apocalypse along the pattern of Christ’s Passion. The reader should keep in mind that these are my own personal reflections and not a definitive interpretation of Revelation, which is a book with several meanings and dimensions, not the least, an eschatological one. Many a good soul has fallen on the sharp cliffs of the Apocalypse. Nonetheless, I have felt the Lord compelling me to walk them in faith through this series, drawing together the Church’s teaching with mystical revelation and the authoritative voice of the Holy Fathers. I encourage the reader to exercise their own discernment, enlightened and guided, of course, by the Magisterium.Continue reading
I HOPE to answer a couple of your questions at this time regarding the new website: www.embracinghope.tv.
A few viewers are having difficulty seeing the videos. I have established a Help Page that will solve 99.9% of these issues, including questions on MP3’s and iPod versions. If you are having difficulty, please click here: HELP.
WHY A WEBCAST? BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT…
Many of you have been introduced to my ministry through my writings, where evidently, several of you have found "spiritual food" and many other graces. For this, I thank God continually that He has used these writings in spite of the writing instrument.
The same Lord who has inspired these writings also placed it on my heart to begin a webcast. It’s taken me a year to find my feet again in television, and now I see what the Lord is doing. There is a kind of "dance" beginning to occur now between my writings and the webcasts. Where as before I would say "If you miss the webcasts, don’t worry, I’ll write about it…", that’s no longer true. The webcast and writings are like the left and right hands of a body. You can get by with one or the other, but there’s so much more you can do with two. That’s one of the major reasons why I felt it absolutely necessary to make the webcasts freely available to the public.
EVENTS in the world are unfolding before our eyes that appear to be a fulfillment of many prophecies—including the prophecy given in 1975 before Pope Paul VI.
In Part V of the Prophecy at Rome, Jesus allegedly says that He will lead us into the desert… a place of temptation, testing, and purification. I explain when the Church entered into this trial and how it has brought her and the world to the Great Storm of our times unfolding before us.
Watch the video now: click here.
IT is only in hindsight now that perhaps Romans Chapter 1 has become one of the most prophetic passages in the New Testament. St. Paul lays out an intriguing progression: denial of God as Lord of Creation leads to vain reasoning; vain reasoning leads to a worship of the creature; and worship of the creature leads to an inversion of human **ity, and the explosion of evil.
Romans 1 is perhaps one of the chief signs of our times…
THERE is confusion, even among Catholics, as to the nature of the Church Christ established. Some feel the Church needs to be reformed, to allow a more democratic approach to her doctrines and to deciding how to deal with present day moral issues.
However, they fail to see that Jesus did not establish a democracy, but a dynasty.
FIRST, I want to welcome all my new subscribers. I messed up. We found a technical error where over two thousand subscribers were not receiving emails from me for quite some time. So if you are now, that’s why! I’m so sorry.
EMBRACING HOPE RE-LAUNCHED
Finally, my webcast Embracing Hope TV is now available to watch without a subscription. We’ve always wanted to make this show freely available, and now it is. It’s a step of faith for us, because now this ministry is completely dependent upon viewers to click the "Donate" button to keep this ministry going. However, I feel it is God will, and so I know He will move hearts to provide what is necessary. The new website is here:
For those who had subscribed, we hope you will consider allowing your subscription fee to become a simple donation to this ministry. However, if you would rather have a refund for what’s left in your subscription, please contact [email protected]. As a way of thanking our annual subscribers for your long-term commitment to this ministry, we will provide you with a coupon code to my online store which will give you 50% off of my CD’s or book. You should receive it soon via the email address you provided when you subscribed. Thank you so much!