THE second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a day that Jesus promised to pour out immeasurable graces to the degree that, for some, it is “the last hope of salvation.” Still, many Catholics have no idea what this feast is or never hear about it from the pulpit. As you’ll see, this is no ordinary day…
THERE is so much war. War between nations, war between neighbours, war between friends, war between families, war between spouses. I am sure every one of you is a casualty in some way of what has taken place over the past two years. The divisions I see between people are bitter and deep. Perhaps at no other time in human history do the words of Jesus apply so readily and on such a massive scale:Continue reading
FOR years, I have been writing that the closer we get to the Warning, the more quickly major events will unfold. The reason is that some 17 years ago, while watching a storm rolling across the prairies, I heard this “now word”:
There is a Great Storm coming upon the earth like a hurricane.
Several days later, I was drawn to the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation. As I began to read, I unexpectedly heard again in my heart another word:
This IS the Great Storm.
IN this second webcast on the Timeline of events unfolding on the earth, Mark Mallett and Prof. Daniel O’Connor breakdown the “first seal” in the Book of Revelation. A compelling explanation of why it heralds the “time of mercy” we are living now, and why it may soon expire…Continue reading
THE Great Storm I spoke of in Spiraling Toward the Eye has three essential components according to the Early Church Fathers, Scripture, and confirmed in credible prophetic revelations. The first part of the Storm is essentially man-made: humanity reaping what it has sown (cf. Seven Seals of Revolution). Then comes the Eye of the Storm followed by the last half of the Storm which will culminate in God Himself directly intervening through a Judgment of the Living.
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The Heart of Jesus Christ, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta; R. Mulata (20th century)
WHAT you are about to read has the potential to not only set women, but in particular, men free from undue burden, and radically change the course of your life. That’s the power of God’s Word…
If there is a Storm in our times, will God provide an “ark”? The answer is “Yes!” But perhaps never before have Christians doubted this provision so much as in our times as controversy over Pope Francis rages, and the rational minds of our post-modern era must grapple with the mystical. Nonetheless, here is the Ark Jesus is providing for us at this hour. I will also address “what to do” in the Ark in the days ahead. First published May 11th, 2011.
JESUS said that the period before His eventual return would be “as it was in the days of Noah…” That is, many would be oblivious to the Storm gathering around them: “They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.” [1]Matt 24:37-29 St. Paul indicated that the coming of the “Day of the Lord” would be “like a thief in the night.” [2]1 These 5:2 This Storm, as the Church teaches, contains the Passion of the Church, who will follow her Head in her own passage through a corporate “death” and resurrection. [3]Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 675 Just as many of the “leaders” of the temple and even the Apostles themselves seemed unaware, even to the last moment, that Jesus had to truly suffer and die, so too many in the Church seem oblivious to the consistent prophetic warnings of the popes and the Blessed Mother—warnings that announce and signal a…
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. (Acts 2:1-2)
THROUGHOUT salvation history, God has not only used the wind in his divine action, but He Himself comes like the wind (cf. Jn 3:8). The Greek word pneuma as well as the Hebrew ruah means both “wind” and “spirit.” God comes as a wind to empower, purify, or procure judgment (see The Winds of Change).
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Saturday of the Third Week of Lent, March 14th, 2015
Liturgical texts here
Due to the surprise announcement by Pope Francis yesterday, today’s reflection is slightly longer. However, I think you will find its contents worth reflecting on…
THERE is a certain sense building, not only among my readers, but also of mystics with whom I’ve been privileged to be in contact with, that the next few years are significant. Yesterday in my daily Mass meditation, [1]cf. Sheathing the Sword I wrote how Heaven itself has revealed that this present generation is living in a “time of mercy.” As if to underline this divine warning (and it is a warning that humanity is on borrowed time), Pope Francis announced yesterday that Dec. 8th, 2015 to Nov. 20th, 2016 will be a “Jubilee of Mercy.” [2]cf. Zenit, March 13th, 2015 When I read this announcement, the words from St. Faustina’s diary came immediately to mind:
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Sheathing the Sword |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | cf. Zenit, March 13th, 2015 |
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent, March 10th, 2015
Liturgical texts here
THERE is a key to God’s heart, a key that can be held by anyone from the greatest sinner to the greatest saint. With this key, the heart of God can be opened, and not only His heart, but the very treasuries of Heaven.
And that key is humility.
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent, March 7th, 2015
First Saturday of the Month
Liturgical texts here
THREE minutes in a pig barn, and your clothes are done for the day. Imagine the prodigal son, hanging out with swine, feeding them day after day, too poor to even buy a change of clothes. I have no doubt that the father would have smelled his son returning home before he saw him. But when the father did see him, something amazing happened…
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Friday of the Second Week of Lent, March 6th, 2015
Liturgical texts here
Rescued By Love, by Darren Tan
THE parable of the tenants in the vineyard, who murder the landowners servants and even his son is, of course, symbolic of centuries of prophets that the Father sent to the people of Israel, culminating in Jesus Christ, His only Son. All of them were rejected.
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent, March 3rd, 2015
Liturgical texts here
WHEN it comes to weeding out sin this Lent, we cannot divorce mercy from the Cross, nor the Cross from mercy. Today’s readings are a powerful blend of both…
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Monday of the Second Week of Lent, March 2nd, 2015
Liturgical texts here
THERE is a line from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings that, among others, jumped out at me when the character Frodo wishes for the death of his adversary, Gollum. The wise wizard Gandalf responds:
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 9th, 2014
Memorial of St. Juan Diego
Liturgical texts here
IT was almost midnight when I arrived at our farm after a trip to the city a few weeks ago.
“The calf is out,” my wife said. “The boys and I went out and looked, but couldn’t find her. I could hear her bawling towards the north, but the sound was getting further away.”
So I got in my truck and started to drive through the pastures, which had nearly a foot of snow in places. Any more snow, and this would be pushing it, I thought to myself. I put the truck in 4×4 and started driving around tree groves, bushes, and along fencelines. But there was no calf. Even more puzzling, there were no tracks. After a half hour, I resigned myself to waiting till morning.
I believe that the vast majority of the Book of Revelation refers, not to the end of the world, but to the end of this era. Only the last few chapters really look at the very end of the world while everything else before mostly describes a “final confrontation” between the “woman” and the “dragon”, and all the terrible effects in nature and society of a general rebellion that accompanies it. What divides that final confrontation from the end of the world is a judgment of the nations—what we are primarily hearing in this week’s Mass readings as we approach the first week of Advent, the preparation for Christ’s coming.
For the past two weeks I keep hearing the words in my heart, “Like a thief in the night.” It is the sense that events are coming upon the world that are going to take many of us by surprise, if not many of us home. We need to be in a “state of grace,” but not a state of fear, for anyone of us could be called home at any moment. With that, I feel compelled to republish this timely writing from December 7th, 2010…
THE call of the Holy Father for the Church to become more of a “field hospital” to “heal the wounded” is a very beautiful, timely, and perceptive pastoral vision. But what exactly needs healing? What are the wounds? What does it mean to “welcome” sinners aboard the Barque of Peter?
Essentially, what is “Church” for?
PART III — FEARS REVEALED
SHE fed and clothed the poor with love; she nurtured minds and hearts with the Word. Catherine Doherty, foundress of the Madonna House apostolate, was a woman who took on the “smell of the sheep” without taking on the “stench of sin.” She constantly walked the thin line between mercy and heresy by embracing the greatest of sinners while calling them to holiness. She used to say,
Go without fears into the depths of men’s hearts… the Lord shall be with you. —from The Little Mandate
This is one of those “words” from the Lord that is able to penetrate “between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” [1]cf. Heb 4:12 Catherine uncovers the very root of the problem with both so-called “conservatives” and “liberals” in the Church: it is our fear to enter men’s hearts as Christ did.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Heb 4:12 |
|---|
PART II — Reaching the Wounded
WE have watched a rapid cultural and sexual revolution that in five short decades has decimated the family as divorce, abortion, redefinition of marriage, euthanasia, pornography, adultery, and many other ills have become not only acceptable, but deemed a social “good” or “right.” However, an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, drug use, alcohol abuse, suicide, and ever multiplying psychoses tell a different story: we are a generation that is bleeding profusely from the effects of sin.
IN all the controversies that unfolded in the wake of the recent Synod in Rome, the reason for the gathering seemed to have been lost altogether. It was convened under the theme: “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.” How do we evangelize families given the pastoral challenges we face due to high divorce rates, single mothers, secularization, and so forth?
What we learned very quickly (as proposals of some Cardinals were made known to the public) is that there is a a thin line between mercy and heresy.
The following three part series is intended to not only get back to the heart of the matter—evangelizing families in our times—but to do so by bringing to the forefront the man who is really at the center of the controversies: Jesus Christ. Because no one walked that thin line more than Him—and Pope Francis seems to be pointing that path to us once again.
We need to blow away the “smoke of satan” so we can clearly identify this narrow red line, drawn in Christ’s blood… because we are called to walk it ourselves.
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 13th, 2014
Liturgical texts here
ONE of the reasons I felt the Lord wanted me to write the “Now Word” on the Mass readings at this time, was precisely because there is a now word in the readings that is speaking directly to what is happening in the Church and the world. The readings of the Mass are arranged in three year cycles, and so are different each year. Personally, I think it is a “sign of the times” how this year’s readings are lining up with our times…. Just saying.
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 8th, 2014
Liturgical texts here
The subject matter of this meditation is so important, that I am sending this to both my daily readers of the Now Word, and those who are on the Spiritual Food for Thought mailing list. If you receive duplicates, that’s why. Because of today’s subject, this writing is a bit longer than usual for my daily readers… but I believe necessary.
I couldn’t sleep last night. I woke up in what the Romans would call the “fourth watch”, that period of time before dawn. I began to think about all the emails I’m receiving, the rumors I’m hearing, the doubts and confusion that are creeping in… like wolves on the edge of the forest. Yes, I heard the warnings clearly in my heart shortly after Pope Benedict resigned, that we were going to enter into times of great confusion. And now, I feel a bit like a shepherd, tension in my back and arms, my staff raised as shadows move about this precious flock that God has entrusted me to feed with “spiritual food.” I feel protective today.
The wolves are here.
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.
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for March 14th, 2014
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Liturgical texts here
ARE you merciful? It is not one of those questions that we should toss in with others such as, “Are you extroverted, a choleric, or introverted, etc.” No, this question lies at the very heart of what it means to be an authentic Christian:
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 10th, 2013
Liturgical texts here
IT was a freak snowstorm in the middle of May, 1987. The trees bent so low to the ground under the weight of heavy wet snow that, to this day, some of them remain bowed as though permanently humbled under the hand of God. I was playing guitar in a friend’s basement when the phone call came.
Come home, son.
Why? I inquired.
Just come home…
As I pulled into our driveway, a strange feeling came over me. With every step I took to the back door, I felt my life was going to change. When I walked into the house, I was greeted by tear stained-parents and brothers.
Your sister Lori died in a car accident today.
THE greatest expression of Christ’s love was not the Sermon on the Mount or even the multiplication of the loaves.
It was on the Cross.
So too, in The Hour of Glory for the Church, it will be the laying down of our lives in love that will be our crown.
AFTER Pope Benedict XVI relinquished the seat of Peter, I sensed in prayer several times the words: You have entered into dangerous days. It was the sense that the Church is entering into a period of great confusion.
Enter: Pope Francis.
Not unlike Blessed John Paul II’s papacy, our new pope has also overturned the deeply rooted sod of the status quo. He has challenged everyone in the Church in one way or another. Several readers, however, have written me with concern that Pope Francis is departing from the Faith by his unorthodox actions, his blunt remarks, and seemingly contradictory statements. I have been listening for several months now, watching and praying, and feel compelled to respond to these questions regarding our Pope’s candid ways….
O LORD, we were once companions.
You and I,
walking hand in hand in the garden of my heart.
But now, where are you my Lord?
I seek you,
but find only the faded corners where once we loved
and you revealed to me your secrets.
There too, I found your Mother
and felt her intimate touch to my brow.
But now, where are you?
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THERE is a new breeze blowing through my soul. In the darkest of nights these past several months, it has been barely a whisper. But now it is beginning to sail through my soul, lifting my heart toward Heaven in a new way. I sense the love of Jesus for this little flock gathered here daily for Spiritual Food. It is a love that conquers. A love that has overcome the world. A love that will overcome all that is coming against us in the times ahead. You who are coming here, be of courage! Jesus is going to feed and strengthen us! He is going to equip us for the Great Trials that now loom over the world like a woman about to enter hard labour.
HAS your heart grown cold? There’s usually a good reason, and Mark gives you four possibilities in this inspiring webcast. Watch this all-new Embracing Hope webcast with author and host Mark Mallett:
Open Wide the Draft of Your Heart
Go to: www.embracinghope.tv to watch other webcasts by Mark.
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.”
ONE of the great graces of the Illumination is going to be the revelation of the Father’s love. For the great crisis of our time—the destruction of the family unit—is the loss of our identity as sons and daughters of God:
The crisis of fatherhood we are living today is an element, perhaps the most important, threatening man in his humanity. The dissolution of fatherhood and motherhood is linked to the dissolution of our being sons and daughters. —POPE BENEDICT XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger), Palermo, March 15th, 2000
At Paray-le-Monial, France, during the Sacred Heart Congress, I sensed the Lord saying that this moment of the prodigal son, the moment of the Father of Mercies is coming. Even though mystics speak of the Illumination as a moment of seeing the crucified Lamb or an illuminated cross, [1]cf. Revelation Illumination Jesus will reveal to us the Father’s love:
He who sees me sees the Father. (John 14:9)
It is “God, who is rich in mercy” whom Jesus Christ has revealed to us as Father: it is His very Son who, in Himself, has manifested Him and made Him known to us… It is especially for[sinners] that the Messiah becomes a particularly clear sign of God who is love, a sign of the Father. In this visible sign the people of our own time, just like the people then, can see the Father. —BLESSED JOHN PAUL II, Dives in misercordia, n. 1
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Revelation Illumination |
|---|
THE “Illumination” will be an incredible gift to the world. This “Eye of the Storm“—this opening in the storm—is the penultimate “door of mercy” that will be open to all of humanity before the “door of justice” is the only door left open. Both St. John in his Apocalypse and St. Faustina have written of these doors…
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
This fall, I will be leading two conferences, one in Canada and the other in the United States:
SPIRITUAL RENEWAL AND HEALING CONFERENCE
September 16-17th, 2011
St. Lambert Parish, Sioux Falls, South Daktoa, U.S.
For more information on registration, contact:
Kevin Lehan
605-413-9492
Email: [email protected]
Brochure: click here
A TIME FOR MERCY
5th Men’s Annual Retreat
September 23-25th, 2011
Annapolis Basin Conference Centre
Cornwallis Park, Nova Scotia, Canada
For more info:
Phone:
(902) 678-3303
Email:
[email protected]
NEW ALBUM
This past weekend, we wrapped up the "bed sessions" for my next album. I am absolutely thrilled with where this is going and am looking forward to releasing this new CD early next year. It’s a gentle blend of story and love songs, as well as some spiritual tunes on Mary and of course Jesus. While that may seem like a strange mix, I don’t think so at all. The ballads on the album deal with the common themes of loss, remembering, love, suffering… and give an answer to it all: Jesus.
We have 11 songs left that can be sponsored by individuals, families, etc. In sponsoring a song, you can help me raise more funds to finish this album. Your name, if you wish, and a short message of dedication, will appear in the CD insert. You can sponsor a song for $1000. If you are interested, contact Colette:
Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding in the Temple, by Michael D. O’Brien.
LAST week, the Holy Father sent 29 newly ordained priests into the world asking them to “proclaim and witness to joy.” Yes! We must all continue to witness to others the joy of knowing Jesus.
But many Christians do not even feel joy, let alone witness to it. In fact, many are full of stress, anxiety, fear, and a sense of abandonment as the pace of life quickens, the cost of living increases, and they watch the news headlines unfold around them. “How,” some ask, “can I be joyful?”
GOD is infinite. He is ever-present. He is all-knowing…. and He is stoppable.
A word came to me in prayer this morning that I feel compelled to share with you:
It’s May 21, 2011, and the mainstream media, as usual, are more than ready to pay attention to those who brandish the name “Christian,” but espouse heretical, if not crazy ideas (see articles here and here. My apologies to those readers in Europe for whom the world ended eight hours ago. I should have sent this earlier).
Is the world ending today, or in 2012? This meditation was first published December 18th, 2008…
Lot Fleeing Sodom, Benjamin West, 1810
THE waves of confusion, calamity, and uncertainty are pounding upon the doors of every nation on earth. As food and fuel prices soar and the world economy sinks like an anchor to the seabed, there is much talk of refuges—safe-havens to weather the approaching Storm. But there is a danger facing some Christians today, and that is to fall into a self-preservationist spirit that is becoming more prevalent. Survivalist websites, ads for emergency kits, power generators, food cookers, and gold and silver offerings… the fear and paranoia today is palpable as insecurity mushrooms. But God is calling His people to a different spirit than that of the world. A spirit of absolute trust.
THE past 24 hours since writing After the Illumination, the words have been echoing in my heart: Like a thief in the night…
Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,and they will not escape. (1 Thess 5:2-3)
Many have applied these words to the Second Coming of Jesus. Indeed, the Lord will come at an hour that no one but the Father knows. But if we read the above text carefully, St. Paul is speaking about the coming of the “day of the Lord,” and what comes suddenly are like “labor pains.” In my last writing, I explained how the “day of the Lord” is not a single day or event, but a period of time, according to Sacred Tradition. Thus, that which leads up to and ushers in the Day of the Lord are precisely those labor pains that Jesus spoke of [1]Matt 24: 6-8; Luke 21:9-11 and St. John saw in the vision of The Seven Seals of Revolution.
They too, for many, will come like a thief in the night.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Matt 24: 6-8; Luke 21:9-11 |
|---|
IF you read Custody of the Heart, then you know by now how often we fail to keep it! How easily we are distracted by the smallest thing, pulled away from peace, and derailed from our holy desires. Again, with St. Paul we cry out:
I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate…! (Rom 7:14)
But we need to hear again the words of St. James:
Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
Grace is not cheap, handed over like fast-food or at the click of a mouse. We have to fight for it! Recollection, which is taking custody again of the heart, is often a struggle between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit. And so, we have to learn to follow the ways of the Spirit…
WE live in an extraordinary time where there are answers to everything. There is not a question on the face of the earth that one, with access to a computer or someone who has one, cannot find an answer. But the one answer that still lingers, that is waiting to be heard by the multitudes, is to the question of mankind’s deep hunger. The hunger for purpose, for meaning, for love. Love above everything else. For when we are loved, somehow all other questions seem to diminish the way stars fade away at daybreak. I am not speaking about romantic love, but acceptance, unconditional acceptance and concern of another.Continue reading
