…BECAUSE we have not listened. We have not heeded a consistent warning from Heaven that the world is creating a future without God.
To my surprise, I sensed the Lord ask me to set aside writing on the Divine Will this morning because it is necessary to rebuke the cynicism, hard-heartedness and unwarranted skepticism of believers. People have no idea what awaits this world that is like a house of cards on fire; many are simply Sleeping as the House Burns. The Lord sees into the hearts of my readers better than I. This is His apostolate; He knows what must be said. And so, the words of John the Baptist from today’s Gospel are my own:
…[he] rejoices greatly at the Bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease. (John 3:30)
IGNORING HEAVEN
I want to speak to my brothers and sisters in the Church who hold the following position: “I do not have to believe in private revelation because it is not necessary for salvation.” This is only partially true. In the words of Pope Benedict XIV:
One may refuse assent to “private revelation” without direct injury to Catholic Faith, as long as he does so, “modestly, not without reason, and without contempt.” —POPE BENEDICT XIV, Heroic Virtue, Vol. III, p. 397; Private Revelation: Discerning with the Church, page 38
That is to say, that if we have “reason” to believe that God himself is speaking to us, we actually have an obligation to assent to it, particularly when it involves directives according to His Divine Will:
He to whom that private revelation is proposed and announced, ought to believe and obey the command or message of God, if it be proposed to him on sufficient evidence… For God speaks to him, at least by means of another, and therefore requires him to believe; hence it is, that he is bound to believe God, Who requires him to do so. —BENEDICT XIV, Heroic Virtue, Vol III, p. 394
Thus, this commonly stated notion that one can simply dismiss “private revelation” out of hand is inaccurate. Moreover, it is a false notion that God has ceased speaking to the Church since the death of the last Apostle. Rather, what has ceased is the “Public Revelation” of Christ pertaining to all that is necessary for salvation. That’s all. It doesn’t mean that the Lord has nothing more to say about how that salvation unfolds, how the fruits of Redemption are applied, or how they will triumph in the Church and the world.
…even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 66
Jesus taught this himself!
I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. (John 16:12)
How can we say, then, that this “more” that God has yet to say is not important? How can we simply ignore him as He speaks through His prophets? Doesn’t this sound absurd? It’s not only absurd, it’s dangerous. Humanity rests on a precipice precisely because we have lost the child-like capacity to hear His voice and obey. The cries of Our Lord in Gethsemane were not because He was afraid to suffer; it was because He saw clearly into the future that, despite His Passion, many souls would reject Him—and be lost forever.
A CUP OF TEA WITH MOTHER?
Why is God sending His mother to earth to speak to us if it is not important? Has she come to have a cup of tea with her children or assure little old ladies with rosary beads how nice their devotion is? I have heard this kind of condescension for years.
No, Our Lady has been sent by the Holy Trinity to tell the world that God exists, and that without Him, there is no future. As Our Mother, she comes to prepare us for not only the catastrophes we are blindly walking into and which we have created by our own hands, but the triumphs that await us if we but surrender ourselves into her hands. I will give two examples of why disregarding such “private revelation” is not only foolish, but reckless.
You have heard of Fatima, but listen more carefully again to what Our Lady said:
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war [World War I] is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. —from the “Third Memoir” of Sr. Lucia, August 31st, 1941, for the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima in a message from Our Lady in 1917; “The Message of Fatima”, vatican.va
Despite the “miracle of the sun” to confirm Our Lady’s words, the Church took thirteen years to approve the apparitions, and then several more decades after that before the “consecration of Russia” was made (and even then, some dispute whether it was done properly since Russia was not explicitly mentioned in John Paul II’s “Act of Entrustment.”[1]cf. “The Message of Fatima“) The point is this: our delay or non-response objectively resulted in World War II and the spread of Russia’s “errors”—Communism—that has not only claimed tens of millions of lives all over the world, but is poised to drag us into a third World War as the nations point their weapons at each other (see The Hour of the Sword).
The second example is in Rwanda. In the approved apparitions to the seers of Kibeho, they saw visions in graphic detail of the coming genocide—some 12 years before it occurred. They conveyed Our Lady’s message calling the nations to repentance so as to avert catastrophe… but the message was not heeded. Most ominously, the seers reported that Mary’s appeal…
…is not directed to only one person nor does it concern only the current time; it is directed to everyone in the entire world. —www.kibeho.org
DOOM AND GLOOM?
This is all to say that our refusal to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd—whether it is through Our Lady, or through His prophets positioned throughout the world—is done at our own peril. You see, many dismiss these men and women as “prophets of doom and gloom.” The truth is this: it is we, not they, who determines what kind of prophets they are. If we listen to them, then they are prophets of hope, peace and justice. But if we ignore them, if we dismiss them out of hand, then they are indeed prophets of doom and gloom.
We decide.
Moreover, I repeat: what do you think is more “doom and gloom”—that Our Lord comes to put an end to this present suffering and bring about peace and justice… or that we continue to live under the beating of war drums? That abortionists continue to tear apart our babies and thus our future? That politicians promote infanticide and assisted suicide? That the scourge of pornography continue to destroy our sons and daughters? That scientists continue to play with our genetics while industrialists poison our earth? That the rich continue to grow richer while the rest grow more in debt just to surivive? That the powerful continue to experiment with the sexuality and minds of our children? That entire nations remain malnutritioned while Westerners grow obese? That Christians continue to be slaughtered, marginalized, and forgotten around the world? That clergy continue to remain silent or betray our trust while souls remain on the path to perdition? What is more gloom and doom—Our Lady’s warnings or the false prophets of this culture of death??
PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD
Over Christmas, we were accustomed to hearing the Gospel proclaimed:
A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ (Matt 3:3)
If you travel through the Rocky Mountains of Canada, there are several ways through. The southern route is very windy, steep and slow. The central route is more straight and level. So it is with the future of this world. It is we—the “free will” response of humanity—who will determine whether we are to pass through the straight and level roads of peace and accord, or through the valley of the shadow of death. Our Lady of Fatima promised, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” But she made no guarantees of which road we would take to get there, because that is up to us.
…prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future. —Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI), “Message of Fatima”, Theological Commentary, www.vatican.va
Right now, in various parts of the world, Our Lady continues to speak to the Church with specific instructions on what we are to do at this hour. And right now, it is to prepare ourselves to receive the incredible Gift of Living in the Divine Will. But who is listening? Are we continuing to rationalize away if not ridicule her voice, which is both the “rod” and “staff” by which the Good Shepherd is guiding His sheep? It would seem so, as her messages, while continuing to offer hope, also warn now of great spiritual dangers here and coming. As such, we are preparing to launch (in 2020) a new website where people can find the trusted voice of Our Lady. For she has begun to warn that the world is entering into a phase that, while ultimately, will see the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart, it will come through the arduous, winding, and painful roads that we have refused to straighten.
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. (Matthew 7:26)
Picking a photo for this article was hard. Seeing the tears of fathers, mothers and children all over the world was heartbreaking. The headlines today read like a dirge, a painful lamentation of a world that it is either too stubborn, too proud, or too blind to see how, after thousands of years of civilization, despite our “knowledge” and “advances”, we are less human than ever. Heaven weeps with us, most of all, because the possibility of joy and peace is always within our grasp—but never in our hands.
Oh, how the free will of mankind is at once a marvelous and yet terrifying thing! It has the potential to unite itself to God, through Jesus Christ, and divinize the soul… or to reject the Divine Will and remain wandering in a waterless spiritual desert with only false oases to tempt its thirst.
Children, be on your guard against idols. (Today’s first reading)
In the Related Reading below are further links to challenge those in the Church who falsely and overconfidently believe we can ignore Heaven’s voice—including this one:
Dear children, I am the Immaculate Conception. I come from heaven to encourage you and make you men and women of faith. Open your hearts to the Lord and make of Him the little ark where the truth will be preserved. In this time of great
spiritual confusion only those who remain in the truth will be saved from the great threat of the shipwreck of faith. I am your Sorrowful Mother and I suffer for what comes to you. Listen to Jesus and His Gospel. Do not forget the lessons of the past. I ask you everywhere to seek to witness to the love of My Son Jesus. Announce to all without fear the truth announced by My Jesus and the true Magisterium of His Church. Do not retreat. You will yet see horrors everywhere. Many chosen to defend the truth will retreat out of fear. You will be persecuted for your faith, but stand fast in the truth. Your reward will come from the Lord. Bend your knees in prayer and seek strength in the Eucharist. Do not be discouraged by the trials that will come. I will be with you.—Our Lady “Queen of Peace” to Pedro Regis of Brazil; his bishop continues to discern his messages, but has expressed, from a pastoral point of view, his satisfaction of the very positive fruits from the apparitions there. [2]cf. spiritdaily.net
I sense a bitterness in the Lord’s voice as I write this; an anguish echoing from Gethsemane that after so many appeals of His love and mercy, so many wonders and works throughout the centuries, so many proofs and miracles beyond explanation (that are but a Google search away), we remain closed, unmoved, obstinate.
Lukewarm.
I give You, my Lord Jesus, the last word, since I, too, am an unworthy sinner.
I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. (Rev 3:15-19)
Originally published December 11th, 2017; updated today.
RELATED READING
Can You Ignore Private Revelation?
Sleeping While the House Burns
Rationalism, and the Death of Mystery
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Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. “The Message of Fatima“ |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | cf. spiritdaily.net |