medjugorje

Medjugorje… and Hairsplitting

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All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
(Ecclesiastes 1:8)

 

IN recent weeks, the Vatican has surprised many with announcements pertaining to the mystical realm. The late Fr. Stefano Gobbi, who founded the Marian Movement of Priests, was declared a Servant of God and his Cause for canonization opened; the canonization process of another Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, was issued a nihil obstat to proceed after a brief pause; the Vatican affirmed the current bishop’s judgement regarding the alleged apparitions at Garabandal that “there are no elements to conclude that they are supernatural”; and the phenomenon surrounding the decades-old and ongoing apparitions at Medjugorje were given an official ruling, namely, a nihil obstat. Continue reading →

Fatima and the Apocalypse

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Beloved, do not be surprised that
a trial by fire is occurring among you,
as if something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice to the extent that you
share in the sufferings of Christ,
so that when his glory is revealed
you may also rejoice exultantly. 
(1 Peter 4:12-13)

[Man] shall be actually disciplined beforehand for incorruption,
and shall go forwards and flourish in the times of the kingdom,
in order that he may be capable of receiving the glory of the Father. 
—St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Church Father (140–202 A.D.) 
Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons, passim
Bk. 5, Ch. 35, The Fathers of the Church, CIMA Publishing Co

 

YOU are loved. And that’s why the sufferings of this present hour are so intense. Jesus is preparing the Church to receive a “new and divine holiness” that, until these times, was unknown. But before He can clothe His Bride in this new garment (Rev 19:8), He has to strip His beloved of her soiled garments. As Cardinal Ratzinger stated so vividly:Continue reading →

The Great Stripping

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IN April of this year when churches began to close, the “now word” was loud and clear: The Labor Pains are Real. I compared it to when a mother’s water breaks and she begins labor. Even though the first contractions may be tolerable, her body has now begun a process that cannot be stopped. The following months were akin to the mother packing her bag, driving to the hospital, and entering the birthing room to go through, at last, the coming birth.Continue reading →

Dawn of Hope

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WHAT will the Era of Peace be like? Mark Mallett and Daniel O’Connor go into the beautiful details of the coming Era as found in Sacred Tradition and the prophecies of mystics and seers. Watch or listen to this exciting webcast to learn about events that may transpire in your lifetime!Continue reading →

The Great Liberation

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MANY feel that Pope Francis’ announcement declaring a “Jubilee of Mercy” from Dec. 8th, 2015 to Nov. 20th, 2016 bore greater significance than may first have appeared. The reason being is that it is one of numerous signs converging all at once. That hit home for me also as I reflected on the Jubilee and a prophetic word I received at the end of 2008… [1]cf. The Year of the Unfolding

First published March 24th, 2015.

Footnotes

A Greater Gift

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent, March 25th, 2015
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Liturgical texts here


from The Annunciation by Nicolas Poussin (1657)

 

TO understand the future of the Church, look no further than the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Continue reading →

Prophecy Properly Understood

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WE are living in a time when prophecy has perhaps never been so important, and yet, so misunderstood by the vast majority of Catholics. There are three harmful positions being taken today regarding prophetic or “private” revelations that, I believe, are doing at times great damage in many quarters of the Church. One is that “private revelations” never have to be heeded since all we are obligated to believe is the definitive Revelation of Christ in the “deposit of faith.” Another harm being done is by those who tend to not only put prophecy above the Magisterium, but give it the same authority as Sacred Scripture. And last, there is the position that most prophecy, unless uttered by saints or found without error, should be mostly shunned. Again, all these positions above carry unfortunate and even dangerous pitfalls.

 

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Charismatic! Part VII

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THE point of this entire series on the charismatic gifts and movement is to encourage the reader to not be afraid of the extraordinary in God! To not be afraid to “open wide your hearts” to the gift of the Holy Spirit whom the Lord wishes to pour out in a special and powerful way in our times. As I read the letters sent to me, it is clear that the Charismatic Renewal has not been without its sorrows and failures, its human deficiencies and weaknesses. And yet, this is precisely what occurred in the early Church after Pentecost. Saints Peter and Paul devoted much space to correcting the various churches, moderating the charisms, and refocusing the budding communities over and over again upon the oral and written tradition that was being handed on to them. What the Apostles did not do is deny the often dramatic experiences of believers, try to stifle the charisms, or silence the zeal of thriving communities. Rather, they said:

Do not quench the Spirit… pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy… above all, let your love for one another be intense… (1 Thess 5:19; 1 Cor 14:1; 1 Pet 4:8)

I want to devote the last part of this series to sharing my own experiences and reflections since I first experienced the charismatic movement in 1975. Rather than give my entire testimony here, I will restrict it to those experiences one might call “charismatic.”

 

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Charismatic? Part VI

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pentecost3_FotorPentecost, Artist Unknown

  

PENTECOST is not only a single event, but a grace that the Church can experience again and again. However, in this past century, the popes have been praying not only for a renewal in the Holy Spirit, but for a “new Pentecost”. When one considers all the signs of the times that have accompanied this prayer—key among them the continued presence of the Blessed Mother gathering with her children on earth through ongoing apparitions, as though she were once again in the “upper room” with the Apostles… the words of the Catechism take on a new sense of immediacy:

…at the “end time” the Lord’s Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 715

This time when the Spirit comes to “renew the face of the earth” is the period, after the death of Antichrist, during what the Church Father’s pointed to in St. John’s Apocalypse as the “thousand year” era when Satan is chained in the abyss.Continue reading →

Charismatic? Part V

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AS we look at the Charismatic Renewal today, we see a great decline in its numbers, and those who remain are mostly grey and white-haired. What, then, was the Charismatic Renewal all about if it appears on the surface to be fizzling? As one reader wrote in response to this series:

At some point the Charismatic movement vanished like fireworks that light up the night sky and then fall back into the darkenss. I was somewhat puzzled that a move of Almighty God would wane and finally fade away.

The answer to this question is perhaps the most important aspect of this series, for it helps us to understand not only where we’ve come from, but what the future holds for the Church…

 

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Charismatic? Part IV

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I have been asked before if I am a “Charismatic.” And my answer is, “I am Catholic!” That is, I want to be fully Catholic, to live in the center of the deposit of faith, the heart of our mother, the Church. And so, I strive to be “charismatic”, “marian,” “contemplative,” “active,” “sacramental,” and “apostolic.” That is because all of the above belong not to this or that group, or this or that movement, but to the entire body of Christ. While apostolates may vary in the focus of their particular charism, in order to be fully alive, fully “healthy,” one’s heart, one’s apostolate, should be open to the entire treasury of grace that the Father has bestowed upon the Church.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens… (Eph 1:3)

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The Verdict

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AS my recent ministry tour progressed, I felt a new weight in my soul, a heaviness of heart unlike previous missions the Lord has sent me on. After preaching about His love and mercy, I asked the Father one night why the world… why anyone would not want to open their hearts to Jesus who has given so much, who has never hurt a soul, and who has burst open the gates of Heaven and gained every spiritual blessing for us through His death upon the Cross?

The answer came swiftly, a word from the Scriptures themselves:

And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. (John 3:19)

The growing sense, as I’ve meditated on this word, is that it is a definitive word for our times, indeed a verdict for a world now upon the threshold of extraordinary change….

 

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