AS I prepare to write more of the vision of hope that’s been laid upon my heart, I want to share with you some very crucial words, to bring both the darkness and light into focus.
In Prophetic Perspective (Part I), I wrote how important it is for us to grasp the big picture, that prophetic words and images, though they bear a sense of imminence, carry broader meanings and often cover vast periods of time. The danger is that we become caught up in their sense of imminence, and lose perspective… that the will of God is our food, that we are to ask only for “our daily bread,” and that Jesus commands us not to be anxious about tomorrow, but to seek first the Kingdom today.
Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) addresses this in his synthesis of the “Third Secret of Fatima.”
This compression of time and place in a single image is typical of such visions, which for the most part can be deciphered only in retrospect… It is the vision as a whole that matters, and the details must be understood on the basis of the images taken in their entirety. The central element of the image is revealed where it coincides with what is the focal point of Christian “prophecy” itself: the centre is found where the vision becomes a summons and a guide to the will of God. —Cardinal Ratzinger, The Message of Fatima
That is, we must always return to living in the Sacrament of the Present Moment.
Many discard prophecy with the excuse that “I don’t need to know. I’ll just live my life…” That is tragic, for prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit intended to instruct, enlighten, and build up the Body of Christ (1 Cor 14:3). We should, as St. Paul says, test every spirit and keep that which is good (1 Thes 5:19-20). The other extreme is one of falling into the trap of emotionalism and a kind of living in another reality, often marked by fear and restlessness. Neither is this a fruit of the Spirit of Jesus, who is Love, and who casts out all fear.
God wants us to know something of tomorrow so we can better live today. Thus, the elements of both darkness and light which comprise the writings of this website are two sides of the one coin of Truth. And the truth always sets us free, even though it is difficult at times to hear.
God wants us to know something of the future. But more than anything, He wants us to trust Him.
We can indeed recognize something of God’s plan. This knowledge goes beyond that of my personal fate and my individual path. By its light we can look back on history as a whole and see that this is not a random process but a road that leads to a particular goal. We can come to know an inner logic, the logic of God, within apparently chance happenings. Even if this does not enable us to predict what is going to happen at this or that point, nonetheless we may develop a certain sensitivity for the dangers contained in certain things—and for the hopes that are in others. A sense of the future develops, in that I see what destroys the future—because it is contrary to the inner logic of the road—and what, on the other hand, leads onward—because it opens the positive doors and corresponds to the inner design of the whole.
To that extent the ability to diagnose the future can develop. It’s the same with the prophets. They are not to be understood as seers, but as voices who understand time from God’s point of view and can therefore warn us against what is destructive—and on the other hand, show us the right road forward. —Cardinal Ratzinger, (POPE BENEDICT XVI), Interview with Peter Seewald in God and the World, pp. 61-62
As I continue to write of the road ahead, know that I truly lean upon your prayers that I will be faithful to my mission as a husband and father, and for as long as God permits, His little courier.
