Quest for Freedom

Thanks to all those who responded to my computer woes here and donated so generously your alms and prayers. I have been able to replace my broken computer (however, I am experiencing several “glitches” in getting back on my feet… technology…. ain’t it great?) I am so deeply grateful to all of you for your words of encouragement and tremendous support of this ministry. I am eager to continue to serve you as long as the Lord sees fit. During the next week, I am in retreat. Hopefully when I get back, I can solve some of the software and hardware issues that have suddenly come up. Please remember me in your prayers… the spiritual oppression against this ministry has become tangible.

“EGYPT is free! Egypt is free!” cried protesters after learning that their decades old dictatorship was finally coming to an end. President Hosni Mubarak and his family have fled the country, driven out by the hunger of millions of Egyptians for freedom. Indeed, what force is there in man stronger than his thirst for true freedom?

It has been captivating and emotional to watch strongholds fall. Mubarak is one of many more leaders who are likely going to topple in the unfolding Global Revolution. And yet, many dark clouds hang over this growing insurgence. In the quest for freedom, will true freedom prevail?

IT WILL TAKE PLACE IN YOUR COUNTRY

One of the tests in discerning if a prophetic utterance is true is whether or not it comes to pass. I am compelled once again to repeat the words spoken to me by a humble priest in Michigan… words which seem to be unfolding now before our eyes. His absolute zeal for souls, total consecration to Jesus through Mary, his continuous prayer life, faithfulness to the Church, and devotion to his priesthood are also reasons to discern a prophetic “word” he received in 2008. ^[1]2008… the Year of the Unfolding

In April of that year, the French saint, Thérèse de Lisieux, appeared to him in a dream wearing a dress for her first Communion, and led him toward the church. However, upon reaching the door, he was barred from entering. She turned to him and said:

Just as my country [France], which was the eldest daughter of the Church, killed her priests and faithful, so will the persecution of the Church take place in your own country. In a short time, the clergy will go into exile and will be unable to enter the churches openly. They will minister to the faithful in clandestine places. The faithful will be deprived of the “kiss of Jesus” [Holy Communion]. The laity will bring Jesus to them in the absence of the priests.

Since then, Fr. John says he has audibly heard the saint repeat these words to him, especially before Mass. On one occasion in 2009, she allegedly said:

In a short time, what took place in my native country, will take place in yours. The persecution of the Church is imminent. Prepare yourself.

She is referring, of course, to the French Revolution in which, not just the Church, but the monarchical system was also overthrown. It was a bloody revolution. The people rebelled against corruption, whether it was in the Church or in the ruling structures, dragging many to their execution while burning down churches and buildings. This revolt against corruption is precisely what we are beginning to see in many countries throughout the world. Evil has degenerated many systems and structures in societies—from fraudulent financial markets, to questionable “bailouts,” to corporate payoffs, to “unjust” wars, to interference in distribution of foreign aid, to political power-mongering, to manipulation of food and health, ^[2]see webcast Q & A and to often “democracies” ignoring the will of the people. Through world-wide communications, the internet, and an increasingly globalized world, peoples of many nations are beginning to reach across borders and cultures, collectively joining hands in a growing quest for freedom… 

LIBERATED FROM EVIL… REALLY?

Still, there are ominous clouds gathering over this Global Revolution. There is deep concern that, in the Middle East, radical Islamism may usurp the place of deposed dictators creating an even greater instability in the region and consequently throughout the world. We are seeing countries such as Greece, Iceland, or Ireland watch their sovereignty erode as they consign themselves to foreign “bailouts.” In the East, Christians are increasingly and violently ^[3]see www.persecution.org being singled out while, in the West, the media continues its unabated assault on the Catholic Church.

That “free” nations can and will accept alternative forms of totalitarianism is a fact. We have watched in Venezuela, for example, how the populace there has embraced socialism and an authoritarian leader for the sake of social security. In America, there has been a remarkable erosion of freedoms since 911 that has not only been “democratically” pushed forward through legislation, such as the Patriot Acts, but often eagerly embraced by the citizenry for the sake of “national security.” And so this begs the question: What exactly does it mean to be free?

The quest for freedom is rooted in the very heart of man. We are made in God’s image, and thus we desire to be free in a sense “like God.” And this is precisely where Satan attacked Adam and Eve: with the lure of supposedly greater “freedom.” He convinced Eve that eating from the “forbidden tree” was actually an assertion of their autonomy. Herein lies the great danger, the crisis in our times: the serpent, that dragon of the Apocalypse, is now luring all of mankind into a snare that appears to be a quest for freedom, but is ultimately, a deadly trap. For the New World Order emerging today is godless. It seeks not to enshrine the rights of religion, but to quash them; it seeks not to uphold the inherent rights of individuals, but to assign and alter them according to a humanistic ideology that is often inhuman. ^[4]“A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism.” —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n. 78 Was this not the warning of the Holy Father in his most recent encyclical?

…without the guidance of charity in truth, this global force could cause unprecedented damage and create new divisions within the human family… humanity runs new risks of enslavement and manipulation.. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n.33, 26

That is the key: “the guidance of charity in truth.” Love, formed and informed by truth is the only path that leads to freedom.

For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. (Gal 5:13)

But what exactly is love? In our day, “love” has often been mistaken for a tolerance of sin and sometimes great evils. Here is where truth is indispensable, for truth is what keeps love authentic and a force that can change the world. ^[5]How can we know the truth? See The Unfolding Splendor of Truth and The Fundamental Problem on interpreting Scripture Ironically, there is a growing intolerance for those who speak about He who is Love and Truth itself.

Of course, I am also disappointed. By the continued existence of this lack of interest in the Church, especially in the Western world. By the fact that secularity continues to assert its independence and to develop in forms that increasingly lead people away from the faith. By the fact that the overall trend of our time continues to go against the Church. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Light of the World, A Conversation with Peter Seewald, P. 128

Hence, the revolutions unfolding today may very well be part of the “punishments” that Blessed Anne Marie Taigi foretold:

God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions, and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. —Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, Catholic Prophecy, P. 76

THE PATH… THE CHOICE AHEAD

Like Eve, mankind stands at a critical point in this Global Revolution: we can either choose to live by the Creator’s designs, or attempt to become gods ourselves by overthrowing the divine authority, role, and even presence of the Church in the future of mankind. ^[6]This is precisely the desired revolution the Illumaniti have been attempting to achieve. See Global Revolution! and The Last Two Eclipses  Like Eve, we face three primary temptations:

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. (Gen 3:6)

In each of these temptations, there is a truth that draws, but a lie that ensnares. That is what makes them so powerful.

I. “Good for food”

The fruit Eve took from the tree was good for food, but not for the soul. Likewise, the overthrow of existing structures that appear corrupt would seem to be a good thing. True, the Catholic Church today is rife with tepidity, scandal, and corruption in some of her members. She appears to be like…

…a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side. —Cardinal Ratzinger, March 24, 2005, Good Friday meditation on the Third Fall of Christ

And thus, the temptation will be to sink her entirely and to launch a new, less complicated, less patriarchal, less dogmatic religion that does not create wars and divisions—or so say the secular social engineers and those who believe their insipid logic. ^[7]see Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich‘s vision of a new world religion here

II. “Pleasing to the eyes”

Food, water, and the necessities of life are being deprived for hundreds of millions of people around the world. The growing shortages of these necessities is and will be a factor in the Global Revolution. The idea that every human being has equal access to resources indeed is “pleasing to the eyes.” But herein lies the danger of Marxist ideologies that see a central power controlling and dictating the needs and rights of citizens, rather than accommodating these needs and respecting each person’s inherent God-given rights (control is, after all, the baneful goal of the secret societies.) True revolution would see every level of human activity respected and working together in harmony in what Pope Benedict calls “subsidiarity.”

In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together. Globalization certainly requires authority, insofar as it poses the problem of a global common good that needs to be pursued. This authority, however, must be organized in a subsidiary and stratified way, if it is not to infringe upon freedom... —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n.57

III. “Desirable for gaining wisdom”

The last temptation is that this Global Revolution is an opportunity to cast off, once and for all, the old systems of power and hegemony that would seem to subvert the intellectual progress of modern man. Thus, our times have given rise to a “new atheism,” a movement to overthrow the “mind-grip” that the Church holds on its brainwashed minions. It is the moment, they say, to seize the opportunity to move the human race to a higher evolutionary plane, ^[8]see The Coming Counterfeit where science and technology lead the way rather than “myths” and “dogmas”; where technology becomes the leading solution to man’s miseries rather than the “empty” spiritual hopes and promises of religion.

…the development of peoples goes awry if humanity thinks it can re-create itself through the “wonders” of technology, just as economic development is exposed as a destructive sham if it relies on the “wonders” of finance in order to sustain unnatural and consumerist growth. In the face of such Promethean presumption, we must fortify our love for a freedom that is not merely arbitrary, but is rendered truly human by acknowledgment of the good that underlies it. To this end, man needs to look inside himself in order to recognize the fundamental norms of the natural moral law which God has written on our hearts. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n.68

TRUE GLOBAL REVOLUTION

And thus, true global revolution, one that brings about that desired unity of all that Jesus prayed for in the Gospels, can only be achieved—not by taking the forbidden fruit of “secular messianism” ^[9]“The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.” —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 676—but by obeying “the fundamental norms of the natural moral law which God has written on our hearts.” It is this natural moral law which Christ built upon in His teachings, and commissioned the Church to likewise teach to the nations. But if this fundamental mission is prohibited in a New World Order, then the light of truth will be extinguished, ^[10]see The Smoldering Candle forcing the hand of God to correct the nations:

If God turns nations’ poisonous joys into bitterness, if He corrupts their pleasures, and if He scatters thorns along the path of their riot, the reason is that He loves them still. And this is the holy cruelty of the Physician, who, in extreme cases of sickness, ^[11]see The Cosmic Surgery makes us take most bitter and most horrible medicines. The greatest mercy of God is not to let those nations remain in peace with each other who are not at peace with Him. —St. Pio of Pietrelcina, My Daily Catholic Bible, p. 1482

And herein lies the great “fork in the road.”  The Global Revolution before us appears all too ready, after centuries of priming, ^[12]see Understanding the Final Confrontation to seize the temptation to mute the voice of truth in order to achieve the utopia that will be promised in the midst of great chaos. ^[13]see The Coming Counterfeit Like the Head before her, the Body of Christ is facing her own Passion. Commenting on the “third secret of Fatima” ^[14]The Message of Fatima during a trip to Portugal in 2010, Pope Benedict told reporters that it is still very much a prophetic word for the Church:

… there are indications of the reality of the Church’s future, which gradually develop and show themselves. That is to say, beyond the moment indicated in the vision, it is spoken, it is shown there is the need for the Passion of the Church, which naturally reflects itself on the person of the Pope, but the Pope is in the Church and therefore what is announced is the suffering for the Church… the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from outside enemies, but is from sin within the Church. And the Church now has a deep need to re-learn penance, accept purification, learn to forgive, but also a need for justice. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, interview with reporters on his flight to Portugal; translated from Italian: “Le parole del papa: «Nonostante la famosa nuvola siamo qui…»” Corriere della Sera, May 11, 2010.

More than ever, we are called to be a light in the growing darkness of our uncertain world. It is up to Christians today to point the way: to announce with renewed energy that a revolution of political structures is not enough. There must be a revolution of the heart! ^[15]see new Catholic website God’s Revolution Today It is not a time to fear, but to boldly proclaim the truth that sets us free. And we know, brothers and sisters, that this is a difficult time to do that. The Church is hanging on to mere shreds of credibility. The scandals in the priesthood, ^[16]see The Scandal, liberalism, and apathy among the laity has disfigured the Church at times beyond recognition. It will be the power of the Spirit—not human wisdom—that will convince today. And yet, has this not been the case before? When the Church in previous times has been under great persecution, both from within and without, it was not the assertion of her institutionalism that triumphed, but the holiness of certain souls and individuals who boldly proclaimed the truth with their words and actions—and sometimes their blood. Yes, the program for God’s revolution is holiness, childlike men and women who give themselves totally to Jesus. Compared to the size of the meat, how many grains of salt does it take to give it taste? So too, the renewal of the world today will come through the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through a remnant.

We must become the Face of Love—the face of Truth in the world’s rising quest for freedom that they will have a guiding light to true freedom. Few understand the martyrdom that is being asked of us right now…

…man cannot bring about his own progress unaided, because by himself he cannot establish an authentic humanism. Only if we are aware of our calling, as individuals and as a community, to be part of God’s family as his sons and daughters, will we be able to generate a new vision and muster new energy in the service of a truly integral humanism. The greatest service to development, then, is a Christian humanism that enkindles charity and takes its lead from truth, accepting both as a lasting gift from God… For this reason, even in the most difficult and complex times, besides recognizing what is happening, we must above all else turn to God’s love. Development requires attention to the spiritual life, a serious consideration of the experiences of trust in God, spiritual fellowship in Christ, reliance upon God’s providence and mercy, love and forgiveness, self-denial, acceptance of others, justice and peace. All this is essential if “hearts of stone” are to be transformed into “hearts of flesh” (Ezek 36:26), rendering life on earth “divine” and thus more worthy of humanity. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n.78-79