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The Seven Seals of Revolution

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IN truth, I think most of us are very tired… tired of not only seeing the spirit of violence, impurity, and division sweeping over the world, but tired of having to hear about it—perhaps from people like me too. Yes, I know, I make some people very uncomfortable, even angry. Well, I can assure you that I have been tempted to flee to the “normal life” many times… but I realize that in the temptation to escape this strange writing apostolate is the seed of pride, a wounded pride that does not want to be “that prophet of doom and gloom.” But at the end of every day, I say “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. How can I say ‘no’ to You who did not say ‘no’ to me on the Cross?” The temptation is to simply close my eyes, fall asleep, and pretend that things are not what they really are. And then, Jesus comes with a tear in His eye and gently pokes me, saying:Continue reading →

The Marian Dimension of the Storm

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The elect souls will have to fight the Prince of Darkness.
It will be a frightening storm — no, not a storm,
but a hurricane devastating everything!
He even wants to destroy the faith and confidence of the elect.
I will always be beside you in the Storm that is now brewing.
I am your Mother.
I can help you and I want to!
You will see everywhere the light of my Flame of Love
sprouting out like a flash of lightning
illuminating Heaven and earth, and with which I will inflame
even the dark and languid souls!
But what sorrow it is for me to have to watch
so many of my children throw themselves in hell! 
—Message from the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth Kindelmann (1913-1985);
approved by Cardinal Péter Erdö, primate of Hungary

 

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The New Gideon

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MEMORIAL OF THE QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

 

Mark is coming to Philadelphia in September, 2017. Details at the end of this writing… In today’s first Mass reading on this memorial of the Queenship of Mary, we read about the call of Gideon. Our Lady is the New Gideon of our times…

 

DAWN expels the night. Spring follows the Winter. Resurrection proceeds from the tomb. These are allegories for the Storm that has come to the Church and the world. For all will appear as though lost; the Church will seem utterly defeated; evil will exhaust itself in the darkness of sin. But it is precisely in this night that Our Lady, as the “Star of the New Evangelization”, is presently leading us toward the dawn when the Sun of Justice will rise upon a new Era. She is preparing us for the Flame of Love, the coming light of her Son…

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Revolution… in Real Time

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Vandalized Statue of St. Junípero Serra, Courtesy KCAL9.com

 

SEVERAL years ago when I wrote about a coming Global Revolution, particularly in America, one man scoffed: “There is no revolution in America, and there won’t be!” But as violence, anarchy and hatred are beginning to reach a feverish pitch in the United States and elsewhere in the world, we are seeing the first signs of that violent persecution that has been brewing beneath the surface that Our Lady of Fatima predicted, and which will bring about the “passion” of the Church, but also her “resurrection.”Continue reading →

Journey to the Promised Land

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for August 18th, 2017
Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Liturgical texts here

 

THE whole of the Old Testament is a kind of metaphor for the New Testament Church. What unfolded in the physical realm for the People of God is a “parable” of what God would do spiritually within them. Thus, in the drama, stories, triumphs, failures, and journeys of the Israelites, are hidden the shadows of what is, and is to come for Christ’s Church…Continue reading →

True Woman, True Man

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ON THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

 

DURING the scene of “Our Lady” at Arcātheos, it seemed as if the Blessed Mother really was present, and sending us a message at that. One of those messages had to do with what it means to be a true woman, and thus, a true man. It ties into Our Lady’s overall message to humanity at this time, that a period of peace is coming, and thus, renewal…Continue reading →

Our Lady of Light Comes…

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From the Final Battle Scene at Arcātheos, 2017

 

OVER twenty years ago, myself and my brother in Christ and dear friend, Dr. Brian Doran, dreamed about the possibility of a camp experience for boys that not only formed their hearts, but answered their natural desire for adventure. God called me, for a time, on a different path. But Brian would soon birth what is today called Arcātheos, which means “Stronghold of God”. It is a father/son camp, perhaps unlike any in the world, where the Gospel meets imagination, and Catholicism embraces adventure. After all, Our Lord Himself taught us in parables…

But this week, a scene unfolded that some men are saying was the “most powerful” they’ve witnessed since the camp’s inception. In truth, I found it overwhelming…Continue reading →

The Ocean of Mercy

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for August 7th, 2017
Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial of St. Sixtus II and Companions

Liturgical texts here

 Photo taken on October 30th, 2011 in Casa San Pablo, Sto. Dgo. Dominican Republic

 

I JUST returned from Arcātheos, back to the mortal realm. It was an incredible and powerful week for all of us at this father/son camp situated at the base of the Canadian Rockies. In the days ahead, I will share with you the thoughts and words which came to me there, as well as an incredible encounter all of us had with “Our Lady”.Continue reading →

Summoned to the Gates

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My character “Brother Tarsus” from Arcātheos

 

THIS week, I am rejoining my companions in the realm of Lumenorus at Arcātheos as “Brother Tarsus”. It is a Catholic boys camp situated at the base of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and is unlike any boys camp I’ve ever seen.Continue reading →

Seeking the Beloved

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for July 22nd, 2017
Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

Liturgical texts here

 

IT is always beneath the surface, calling, beckoning, stirring, and leaving me utterly restless. It is the invitation to union with God. It leaves me restless because I know that I have not yet taken the plunge “into the deep”. I love God, but not yet with my whole heart, soul, and strength. And yet, this is what I am made for, and so… I am restless, until I rest in Him.Continue reading →

When the Weeds Begin to Head

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Foxtail in my pasture

 

I received an email from a distraught reader over an article that appeared recently in Teen Vogue magazine titled: “Anal Sex: What You Need to Know”. The article went on to encourage young people to explore sodomy as if it were as physically harmless and morally benign as clipping one’s toenails. As I pondered that article—and the thousands of headlines I’ve read over the past decade or so since this writing apostolate began, articles which essentially narrate the collapse of Western civilization—a parable came to mind. The parable of my pastures…Continue reading →

Divine Encounters

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for July 19th, 2017
Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE are times during the Christian journey, like Moses in today’s first reading, that you will walk through a spiritual desert, when everything seems dry, the surroundings desolate, and the soul almost dead. It is a time of testing of one’s faith and trust in God. St. Teresa of Calcutta knew it well. Continue reading →

The Scandal

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First published March 25th, 2010. 

 

FOR decades now, as I noted in When the State Sanctions Child Abuse, Catholics have had to endure a never-ending stream of news headlines announcing scandal after scandal in the priesthood. “Priest Accused of…”, “Cover Up”, “Abuser Moved From Parish to Parish…” and on and on. It is heartbreaking, not only to the lay faithful, but to fellow-priests. It is such a profound abuse of power from the man in persona Christi—in the person of Christ—that one is often left in stunned silence, trying to comprehend how this is not just a rare case here and there, but of a much greater frequency than first imagined.

As a result, the faith as such becomes unbelievable, and the Church can no longer present herself credibly as the herald of the Lord. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Light of the World, A Conversation with Peter Seewald, p. 25

Continue reading →

The Paralysis of Despair

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for July 6th, 2017
Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial of St. Maria Goretti

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE are many things in life that can cause us to despair, but none, perhaps, as much as our own faults.Continue reading →

Who Are You to Judge?

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OPT. MEMORIAL OF
THE FIRST MARTYRS OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH

 

“WHO are you to judge?”

Sounds virtuous, doesn’t it? But when these words are used to deflect from taking a moral stand, to wash one’s hands of responsibility for others, to remain uncommitted in the face of injustice… then it is cowardice. Moral relativism is cowardice. And today, we are awash in cowards—and the consequences are no small thing. Pope Benedict calls it…Continue reading →

Courage… to the End

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for June 29th, 2017
Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Liturgical texts here

 

TWO years ago, I wrote The Growing Mob. I said then that ‘the zeitgeist has shifted; there is a growing boldness and intolerance sweeping through the courts, flooding the media, and spilling out onto the streets. Yes, the time is right to silence the Church. These sentiments have existed for some time now, decades even. But what is new is that they have gained the power of the mob, and when it reaches this stage, the anger and intolerance begin to move very fast.’Continue reading →

When the State Sanctions Child Abuse

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Toronto Pride Parade, Andrew Chin/Getty Images

 

Open your mouth for the dumb,
and for the causes of all the children that pass.
(Proverbs 31:8)

 

First published June 27th, 2017. 

 

FOR years, we as Catholics have endured one of the greatest scourges to ever grip the Church in her 2000 year history—the widespread sexual abuse of children at the hands of some priests. The damage it did to these little ones, and then, to the faith of millions of Catholics, and then, to the credibility of the Church at large, is nearly inestimable.Continue reading →

The Need for Jesus

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SOMETIMES the discussion of God, religion, truth, freedom, divine laws, etc. can cause us to lose sight of the fundamental message of Christianity: not only do we need Jesus in order to be saved, but we need Him in order to be happy.Continue reading →

The Blue Butterfly

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A recent debate I had with a few atheists inspired this story… The Blue Butterfly symbolizes the presence of God. 

 

HE sat at the edge of the circular cement pond in the middle of the park, a fountain trickling away at its center. His cupped hands were raised in front of his eyes. Peter gazed through a tiny crack as though he were looking into the face of his first love. Inside, he held a treasure: a blue butterfly.Continue reading →

Making Way for Angels

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for June 7th, 2017
Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Liturgical texts here 

 

SOMETHING remarkable happens when we give praise to God: His ministering angels are released in our midst.Continue reading →

The Old Man

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for June 5th, 2017
Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Boniface

Liturgical texts here

 

THE ancient Romans never lacked the most brutal of punishments for criminals. Flogging and crucifixion were among their more notorious cruelties. But there is another… that of binding a corpse to the back of a convicted murderer. Under penalty of death, no one was allowed to remove it. And thus, the condemned criminal would eventually become infected and die.Continue reading →

The Unforeseeable Fruit of Abandonment

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for June 3rd, 2017
Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

Liturgical texts here

 

IT rarely seems that any good can come of suffering, especially in the midst of it. Moreover, there are times when, according to our own reasoning, the path that we’ve set forward would bring about the most good. “If I get this job, then… if I am physically healed, then… if I go there, then….” Continue reading →

Climate Change and The Great Delusion

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First published December, 2015 on…

THE MEMORIAL OF ST. AMBROSE
and
VIGIL OF THE JUBILEE YEAR OF MERCY 

 

I received a letter this week (June 2017) from a man who worked for decades with large corporations as an agronomist and agricultural financial analyst. And then, he writes…

It was through that experience that I noticed that trends, policies, corporate training and management techniques were going in a curiously nonsensical direction. It was this movement away from common sense and reason that drove me to questioning and searching for truth, that led me much closer to God…

Continue reading →

Finishing the Course

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 30th, 2017
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Liturgical texts here

 

HERE was a man who hated Jesus Christ… until he encountered Him. Meeting Pure Love will do that to you. St. Paul went from taking the lives of Christians, to suddenly offering his life as one of them. In stark contrast to today’s “martyrs of Allah”, who cowardly hide their faces and strap bombs on themselves to kill innocent folks, St. Paul revealed true martyrdom: to give oneself for the other. He did not hide either himself or the Gospel, in imitation of his Savior.Continue reading →

True Evangelization

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 24th, 2017
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE has been much hullabaloo since Pope Francis’ comments a few years back denouncing proselytism—the attempt to convert someone to one’s own religious faith. For those who did not scrutinize his actual statement, it caused confusion because, bringing souls to Jesus Christ—that is, into Christianity—is precisely why the Church exists. So either Pope Francis was abandoning the Church’s Great Commission, or perhaps he meant something else.Continue reading →

Peace in Hardships

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 16th, 2017
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Liturgical texts here

 

SAINT Seraphim of Sarov once said, “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you, thousands will be saved.” Maybe this is another reason why the world remains unmoved by Christians today: we too are restless, worldly, fearful, or unhappy. But in today’s Mass readings, Jesus and St. Paul provide the key to becoming truly peaceful men and women.Continue reading →

On False Humility

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 15th, 2017
Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Opt. Memorial of St. Isidore

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE was a moment while preaching at a conference recently that I felt a slight self-satisfaction in what I was doing “for the Lord.” That night, I reflected on my words and impulses. I felt shame and horror that I might have, in even a subtle way, attempted to steal a single ray of God’s glory—a worm trying to wear the King’s Crown. I thought about St. Pio’s sage advice as I repented of my ego:Continue reading →

The Great Harvest

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…behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat… (Luke 22:31)

 

EVERYWHERE I go, I see it; I am reading it in your letters; and I am living it in my own experiences: there is a spirit of division afoot in the world that is driving families and relationships apart like never before. On the national scale, the gulf between the so-called “left” and “right” has widened, and the animosities between them have a reached a hostile, nearly revolutionary pitch. Whether it is seemingly impassable differences between family members, or ideological divides growing within nations, something has shifted in the spiritual realm as if a great sifting is occurring. Servant of God Bishop Fulton Sheen seemed to think so, already, last century:Continue reading →

A Crisis of Community

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 9th, 2017
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Liturgical texts here

 

ONE of the most fascinating aspects of the early Church is that, after Pentecost, they immediately, almost instinctively, formed community. They sold everything they had and held it in common so that everyone’s needs were cared for. And yet, no where do we see an explicit command from Jesus to do as such. It was so radical, so contrary to the thinking of the time, that these early communities transformed the world around them.Continue reading →

The Refuge Within

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 2nd, 2017
Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
Memorial of St. Athanasius

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE is a scene in one of Michael D. O’Brien’s novels that I have never forgotten—when a priest is being tortured for his faithfulness. [1]Eclipse of the Sun, Ignatius Press In that moment, the clergyman seems to descend to a place where his captors cannot reach, a place deep within his heart where God resides. His heart was a refuge precisely because, there too, was God.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Eclipse of the Sun, Ignatius Press

God First

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for April 27th, 2017
Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

Liturgical texts here

 

I don’t think it’s just me. I hear it from both young and old: time seems to be speeding up. And with it, there is a sense some days as if one is hanging on by the fingernails to the edge of a whirling merry-go-round. In the words of Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe:

Continue reading →

The Hour of Judas

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THERE is a scene in the Wizard of Oz when the little mutt Toto pulls back the curtain and reveals the truth behind the “Wizard.” So too, in Christ’s Passion, the curtain is drawn back and Judas is revealed, setting in motion a chain of events that scatters and divides the flock of Christ…

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The Great Unveiling

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for April 11th, 2017
Tuesday of Holy Week

Liturgical texts here

 

Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
The anger of the Lord will not turn back
until He has executed and performed
the thoughts of His heart.
In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
(Jeremiah 23:19-20)

 

JEREMIAH’s words are reminiscent of the prophet Daniel’s, who said something similar after he too received visions of the “latter days”:

Continue reading →

What If…?

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What’s around the bend?

 

IN an open letter to the Pope, [1]cf. Dear Holy Father… He is Coming! I outlined to His Holiness the theological foundations for an “era of peace” as opposed to the heresy of millenarianism. [2]cf. Millenarianism: What it is and is Not and the Catechism [CCC} n.675-676 Indeed, Padre Martino Penasa posed the question on the scriptural foundation of an historic and universal era of peace versus millenarianism to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “È imminente una nuova era di vita cristiana?” (“Is a new era of Christian life imminent?”). The Prefect at that time, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger replied, “La questione è ancora aperta alla libera discussione, giacchè la Santa Sede non si è ancora pronunciata in modo definitivo”:

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. Dear Holy Father… He is Coming!
↑2 cf. Millenarianism: What it is and is Not and the Catechism [CCC} n.675-676