“Two Deaths”, by Michael D. O’Brien
IN a response to my article Fear, Fire, and a “Rescue”?, Charlie Johnston wrote At Sea with his perspective on future events, thereby sharing with readers more of the private dialogues we’ve had in the past. This provides, I think, a crucial opportunity to underscore some of the most important aspects of my own mission and calling that newer readers may not be aware of.
A question from a reader:
In Revelation 20, it says the beheaded, etc. will also come back to life and reign with Christ. What do you think that means? Or what might it look like? I believe it could be literal but wondered if you had more insight…
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 6th, 2016
Liturgical texts here
Wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta (photo CBC)
SEVERAL of you have written asking if our family is okay, given the huge wildfire in northern Canada in and around Fort McMurray, Alberta. The fire is about 800km away… but the smoke darkening our skies here and turning the sun into a reddish burning ember, is a reminder that our world is much smaller than we think it is. It’s also a reminder of a what a man from there said to us several years ago…
So I leave you this weekend with a few random thoughts on the fire, Charlie Johnston, and fear, closing with a reflection on today’s powerful Mass readings.
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for May 4th, 2016
Liturgical texts here
First, I want to tell you, my dear family of readers, that my wife and I are grateful for the hundreds of notes and letters we’ve received in support of this ministry. I made a brief appeal a few weeks ago that our ministry was in dire need of support to continue (as this is my full-time work), and your response has moved us to tears many times. Many of those “widow’s mites” have come our way; many sacrifices have been made to communicate your support, gratitude, and love. In a word, you have given me a resounding “yes” to continue on this path. It is a leap of faith for us. We have no savings, no retirement funds, no certainty (as do any of us) about tomorrow. But we accept that this is where Jesus wants us. In fact, He wants all of us to be in a place of utter and total abandonment. We are in the process still of writing emails and thank you’s to all of you. But let me say now… thank you for your filial love and support, which has strengthened and moved me deeply. And I am grateful for this encouragement, because I have many serious things to write you in the days ahead, beginning now….
I have received many letters asking me to comment on Amoris Laetitia, the Pope’s recent Apostolic Exhortation. I have done so in a new section in the greater context of this writing from July 29th, 2015. If I had a trumpet, I would blare this writing through it…
I often hear both Catholics and Protestants say that our differences really don’t matter; that we believe in Jesus Christ, and that is all that matters. Certainly, we must recognize in this statement the authentic ground of true ecumenism, [1]cf. Authentic Ecumenism which is indeed the confession and commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord. As St. John says:
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Authentic Ecumenism |
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from Pentecost by El Greco (1596)
OF course, a reflection on the “gift of tongues” is going to stir controversy. And this doesn’t surprise me since it is probably the most misunderstood of all charisms. And so, I hope to answer some of the questions and comments I’ve received over the past few days on this subject, particularly as the popes continue to pray for a “new Pentecost”…[1]cf. Charismatic? – Part VI
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Charismatic? – Part VI |
|---|
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for April 25th, 2016
Feast of St. Mark
Liturgical texts here
AT a Steubenville conference several years ago, Papal household preacher, Fr. Raneiro Cantalamessa, recounted the story of how St. John Paul II emerged one day from his chapel at the Vatican, excitedly exclaiming that he had received the “gift of tongues.” [1]Correction: I had initially thought it was Dr. Ralph Martin who told this story. Fr. Bob Bedard, the late founder of the Companions of the Cross, was one of the priests present to hear this testimony from Fr. Raneiro. Here we have a pope, one of the greatest theologians of our times, witnessing to the reality of a charism rarely seen or heard in the Church today that Jesus and St. Paul spoke of.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Correction: I had initially thought it was Dr. Ralph Martin who told this story. Fr. Bob Bedard, the late founder of the Companions of the Cross, was one of the priests present to hear this testimony from Fr. Raneiro. |
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Revolution: “Love” backwards
SINCE Christianity’s beginnings, whenever revolution has broken out against her, it has most often come like a thief in the night.
Many new readers have come on board in the past few months. It is on my heart to republish this today. As I go back and read this, I am continually startled and even moved as I see that many of these “words”—often received in tears and many doubts—are coming to pass before our eyes…
IT has been on my heart for several months now to summarize for my readers the personal “words” and “warnings” I feel the Lord has communicated to me in the past decade, and that have shaped and inspired these writings. Everyday, there are several new subscribers coming on board who have no history with the over one thousand writings here. Before I summarize these “inspirations”, it is helpful to repeat what the Church says about “private” revelation:
Christ and the Good Thief, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), c. 1566
THERE is so much confusion today as to what “love” and “mercy” and “compassion” mean. So much so that even the Church in many places has lost her clarity, the force of truth that at once beckons sinners and repels them. This is no more evident than at that moment on Calvary when God shares the shame of two thieves…
THERE is a far greater plan behind the Lenten Retreat which so many of you just participated in. The call at this hour to intense prayer, the renewal of the mind, and faithfulness to the Word of God is actually a preparation for Reign—the reign of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
BASKING in the warmth of the charcoal fire Jesus has lit through our Lenten Retreat; sitting in the glow of His nearness and Presence; listening to the ripples of His ineffable Mercy gently caressing the shore of my heart… I have a few random thoughts left over from our forty days of reflection.
Embracing Hope, by Lea Mallett
JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE TOMB!
…now let Him rise in you,
that again, He may walk among us,
that again, He may heal our wounds
that again, He may dry our tears
and that again, we may look into His eyes of love.
May the Risen Jesus rise in you.
LENTEN RETREAT
Day 40
AND so, we have come to the end of our retreat… but I assure you, it is just the beginning: the beginning of the great battle of our times. It is the beginning of what St. John Paul II called…
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 39
IT’s certainly possible to purchase a hot air balloon, set it all up, turn on the propane, and begin to inflate it, doing it all on one’s own. But with the help of another experienced aviator, it would become so much easier, quicker and safer to get into the skies.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 38
THUS far in our retreat, I have mainly focused on the interior life. But as I said a few days ago, the spiritual life is not only a calling into communion with God, but a commission to go out into the world and…
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 37
IF there are “tethers” that we must detach from our hearts, that is, worldly passions and inordinate desires, we most certainly want to be bound by the graces that God Himself has given for our salvation, namely, the Sacraments.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 36
THE “hot air balloon” represents one’s heart; the “gondola basket” is the will of God; the “propane” is the Holy Spirit; and the two “burners” of love of God and neighbour, when lit by the “pilot light” of our desire, fill our hearts with the Flame of Love, enabling us to soar toward union with God. Or so it would seem. What is it that is still holding me back…?
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 35
OF course, one of the great obstacles and seeming tensions between one’s interior life and the exterior demands of one’s vocation, is time. “I don’t have time to pray! I’m a mother! I don’t have time! I work all day! I’m a student! I travel! I run a company! I’m a priest with a big parish… I don’t have time!“
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 34
NOW here is the thing, my dear brothers and sisters: the interior life, like a hot air balloon, has not one, but two burners. Our Lord was very clear about this when He said:
You shall love the Lord your God…[and] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:33)
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 33
THOMAS Merton once said, “There are a thousand ways to the Way.” But there are some foundational principles when it comes to the structure of our prayer-time that can help us advance more quickly toward communion with God, especially in our weakness and struggles with distraction.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 32
THE beginning of prayer is desire, desire to love God, who has loved us first. Desire is the “pilot light” which keeps the burner of prayer lit, always ready to mingle with the “propane” of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who then ignites, animates, and fills our hearts with grace, enabling us to begin the ascent, along the Way of Jesus, to union with the Father. (And by the way, when I say “union with God”, what I mean is a real and actual union of wills, desires, and love such that God lives totally and freely in you, and you in Him). And so, if you have stayed with me this long in this Lenten Retreat, I have no doubt that the pilot light of your heart is lit and ready to burst into flame!
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 31
I have to laugh, because I am the last person I would have ever imagined to be speaking about prayer. Growing up, I was hyper, constantly moving, always ready to play. I had a hard time sitting still at Mass. And books, to me, were a waste of good playtime. So, by the time I graduated from high school, I had probably read less than ten books in my whole life. And while I did read my Bible, the prospect of sitting down and praying for any length of time was challenging, to say the least.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 30
GOD knows, there have been a million books written on the science of prayer. But lest we become discouraged from the beginning, remember that it was not the Scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of the law that Jesus held nearest His heart… but the little ones.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 29
EVERYTHING we’ve discussed so far in this Lenten Retreat is equipping you and me to soar toward the heights of sanctity and union with God (and remember, with Him, all things are possible). And yet—and this is of utmost importance—without prayer, it would be like someone who has laid out a hot air balloon upon the ground and set up all their equipment. The pilot tries to climb into the gondola, which is the will of God. He is familiar with his flying manuals, which are the Scriptures and the Catechism. His basket is tethered to the balloon by the ropes of the Sacraments. And last, he has stretched out his balloon along the ground—that is, he has conceded a certain willingness, abandonment, and desire to fly toward Heaven…. But so long as the burner of prayer remains unlit, the balloon—which is his heart—will never expand, and his spiritual life will remain grounded.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 28
FOR all the beautiful teachings Jesus gave—the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, the Last Supper discourse in John, or the many profound parables—Christ’s most eloquent and powerful sermon was the unspoken word of the Cross: His Passion and death. When Jesus said He came to do the will of the Father, it wasn’t a matter of faithfully checking off a Divine To Do list, a kind of scrupulous fulfilling of the letter of the law. Rather, Jesus went deeper, further, and more intensely in His obedience, for He did all things in love to the very end.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 27
WHEN God entered human history in the flesh through the person of Jesus, one could say that He baptized time itself. Suddenly, God—to whom all eternity is present—was walking through seconds, minutes, hours, and days. Jesus was revealing that time itself is an intersection between Heaven and earth. His communion with the Father, His solitude in prayer, and His whole ministry were all measured in time and eternity at once…. And then He turned to us and said…
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 26
EVERYTHING I have said up to this point in our retreat can be summed up in this way: life in Christ consists in doing the will of the Father with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is that simple! In order to grow in holiness, to reach even the very heights of sanctity and union with God, it isn’t necessary to become a theologian. In fact, that might even be a stumbling block for some.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 25
The Temptation by Eric Armusik
I remember a scene from the film The Passion of the Christ when Jesus kisses the cross after they place it on His shoulders. That’s because He knew His suffering would redeem the world. Likewise, some of the saints in the early Church deliberately traveled to Rome so that they could be martyred, knowing that it would hasten their union with God.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 24
WHAT a gift we have through the Sacrament of Baptism: the innocence of a soul is restored. And should we sin after that, the Sacrament of Penance restores that innocence again. God wants you and me to be innocent because He delights in the beauty of a pristine soul, re-made again in His image. Even the most hardened sinner, if they appeal to God’s mercy, are restored to a primordial beauty. One could say that in such a soul, God sees himself. Moreover, He delights in our innocence because He knows that is when we are most capable of joy.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 23
LAST time, I spoke about remaining steadfast on the Narrow Pilgrim Road, “rejecting temptation to your right, and illusion to your left.” But before I speak further about the important subject of temptation, I think it will be helpful to know more of the nature of a Christian—of what happens to you and me in Baptism—and what doesn’t.
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In recent days, Canada has been moving toward some of the most extreme euthanasia laws in the world to not only permit “patients” of most ages to commit suicide, but force doctors and Catholic hospitals to assist them. One young doctor sent me a text saying,
I had a dream once. In it, I became a physician because I thought they wanted to help people.
And so today, I am republishing this writing from four years ago. For too long, many in the Church have set these realities aside, passing them off as “doom and gloom.” But suddenly, they are now on our doorstep with a battering ram. The Judas Prophecy is coming to pass as we enter the most painful part of the “final confrontation” of this age…
LENTEN RETREAT
Day 22
A revolution of the mind becomes the gateway to the sixth path that opens our hearts to the presence of God. For the intellect and will are what protect and foster purity of heart, and Jesus said…
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 21
EVERY now again in my research, I’ll stumble across a website that takes exception to my own because they say, “Mark Mallett claims to hear from Heaven.” My first reaction is, “Gee, doesn’t every Christian hear the voice of the Lord?” No, I don’t hear an audible voice. But I certainly hear God speaking through the Mass Readings, morning prayer, the Rosary, the Magisterium, my bishop, my spiritual director, my wife, my readers—even a sunset. For God says in Jeremiah…
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 20
SOME might find this the most intimidating and discouraging Scripture in the Bible.
Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 5:48)
Why would Jesus say such a thing to mere mortals like you and me who grapple daily with doing God’s will? Because to be holy as God is holy is when you and I will be happiest.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 19
BLESSED is the one who perseveres.
Why are you discouraged, my dear brother or sister? It is in perseverance that love is proven, not in perfection, which is the fruit of perseverance.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 18
As the deer longs for streams of water…
PERHAPS you feel as incapable of holiness as I do in continuing to write this Lenten Retreat. Good. Then we have both entered a critical point in self-knowledge—that apart from God’s grace, we can do nothing. But that does not mean that we should do nothing.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 17
from Christ at Rest, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1519)
TO rest with Jesus in the Storm is not a passive rest, as though we are to remain oblivious to the world around us. It is not…
…the rest of inactivity, but of the harmonious working of all the faculties and affections—of will, heart, imagination, conscience—because each has found in God the ideal sphere for its satisfaction and development. —J. Patrick, Vine’s Expository, p. 529; cf. Hastings’ Bible Dictionary
Think of the Earth and its orbit. The planet is in perpetual motion, always encircling the Sun, thereby generating the seasons; always rotating, generating night and day; always faithful to the course set out for it by the Creator. There you have the picture of what it means to “rest”: to live perfectly in the Divine Will.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 16
THERE is a reason, brothers and sisters, why I feel Heaven wants to do this Lenten Retreat this year, that up until now, I have not voiced. But I feel this is the moment to speak about it. The reason is that a violent spiritual Storm is bearing down all around us. The winds of “change” are blowing hard; the waves of confusion are spilling over the bow; the Barque of Peter is beginning to rock… and in the midst of it, Jesus is inviting you and me to the stern.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 15
IF you’ve ever been to one of my retreats before, then you’ll know I prefer to speak from the heart. I find it leaves room for the Lord or Our Lady to do whatever they want—like change the subject. Well, today is one of those moments. Yesterday, we reflected on the gift of salvation, which is also a privilege and calling to bear fruit for the Kingdom. As St. Paul said in Ephesians…
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 14
SALVATION is a gift, a pure gift from God that no one earns. It is freely given because “God so loved world.” [1]John 3:16 In one of the more moving revelations from Jesus to St. Faustina, He beckons:
Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me. The flames of mercy are burning Me—clamoring to be spent… I want to keep pouring them out upon souls; souls just don’t want to believe in My goodness. —Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 50
The Apostle Paul wrote that God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” [2]1 Tim 2:4 So there is no question of God’s generosity and burning desire to see every single man and woman remain with Him for eternity. However, it is equally true that we can not only refuse this gift, but forfeit it, even after we have been “saved.”
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 13
THERE is a word stirring in my heart today: pilgrim. What is a pilgrim, or more specifically, a spiritual pilgrim? Here, I am not speaking of one who is a mere tourist. Rather a pilgrim is one who sets out in search of something, or rather, of Someone.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 12
TO “prepare the way of the Lord,” the prophet Isaiah entreats us to make the road straight, the valleys lifted up, and “every mountain and hill made low.” In Day 8 we meditated On Humility—leveling those mountains of pride. But the evil brothers of pride are the foothills of ambition and self-will. And the bulldozer of these is humility’s sister: meekness.
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LENTEN RETREAT
Day 11
THE third path, which opens the way to God’s presence and action in one’s life, is intrinsically tied to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But here, it has to do, not with the mercy you receive, but the mercy you give.
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For those who are taking the Lenten Retreat, I made a boo-boo. There are 40 days in Lent, not counting Sundays (because they are the “Day of the Lord“). However, I did a meditation for last Sunday. So as of today, we are essentially caught up. I will resume Day 11 on Monday morning.
However, this provides a wonderful unintended pause for those who need a pause—that is, for those who are despairing as they look into the mirror, those who are discouraged, afraid, and disgusted to the point that they practically hate themselves. Self-knowledge must lead to the Savior—not self-hatred. I have two writings for you that are perhaps critical at this moment, otherwise, one could lose the most necessary perspective in the interior life: that of keeping one’s eyes always fixed upon Jesus and His mercy…