The Seven Year Trial – Part I

 

TRUMPETS of Warning-Part V laid the groundwork for what I believe is now rapidly approaching this generation. The picture is becoming clearer, the signs speaking louder, the winds of change blowing harder. And so, our Holy Father looks tenderly at us once again and says, “Hope” …for the coming darkness will not triumph. This series of writings address the “seven year trial” which may be approaching.

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. 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. I encourage the reader to exercise their own discernment, enlightened and guided, of course, by the Magisterium.

 

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The Seven Year Trial – Part II

 


Apocalypse, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

When the seven days were over,
the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
(Genesis 7:10)


I
want to speak from the heart for a moment to frame the rest of this series. 

The past three years have been a remarkable journey for me, one I never intended to embark upon. I do not claim to be prophet… just a simple missionary who feels a call to shed a little more light upon the days we live in and the days which are coming. Needless to say, this has been an overwhelming task, and one which is done with much fear and trembling. At least that much I share with the prophets! But it is also done with the tremendous prayer support so many of you have graciously offered on my behalf. I feel it. I need it. And I am so grateful.

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The Seven Year Trial – Part IV

 

 

 

 

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

The Seven Year Trial – Part V


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.

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The Seven Year Trial – Part VII


The Crowning With Thorns, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. (Joel 2:1)

 

THE Illumination will usher in a period of evangelization that will come like a flood, a Great Flood of Mercy. Yes, Jesus, come! Come in power, light, love, and mercy! 

But lest we forget, the Illumination is also a warning that the path the world and many in the Church itself have chosen will bring terrible and painful consequences upon the earth. The Illumination will be followed by further merciful warnings that begin to unfold in the cosmos itself…

 

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The Seven Year Trial – Part IX


Crucifixion, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.Catechism of the Catholic Church, 677

 

AS we continue to follow the Passion of the Body in relation to the Book of Revelation, it is good to recall the words we read at that book’s beginning:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud and blessed are those who listen to this prophetic message and heed what is written in it, for the appointed time is near. (Rev 1:3)

We read, then, not in a spirit of fear or terror, but in a spirit of hope and anticipation of the blessing which comes to those who “heed” Revelation’s central message: faith in Jesus Christ saves us from everlasting death and grants us a share in the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.Continue reading

The Seven Year Trial – Epilogue

 


Christ the Word of Life, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

I will choose the time; I will judge fairly. The earth and all its inhabitants will quake, but I have firmly set its pillars. (Psalm 75:3-4)


WE have followed the Passion of the Church, walking in the footsteps of our Lord from His triumphal entry into Jerusalem to His crucifixion, death, and Resurrection. It is seven days from Passion Sunday to Easter Sunday. So too, the Church will experience Daniel’s “week,” a seven year confrontation with the powers of darkness, and ultimately, a great triumph.

Whatever has been prophesied in Scripture is coming to pass, and as the end of the world approaches, it tests both men and the times. —St. Cyprian of Carthage

Below are some final thoughts regarding this series.

 

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