The Consequences of Compromise

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for February 13th, 2014

Liturgical texts here

What’s left of Solomon’s Temple, destroyed 70 A.D.

 

 

THE beautiful story of Solomon’s achievements, when working in harmony with God’s grace, came to a halt.

When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God.

Solomon no longer followed God “unreservedly as his father David had done.” He began to compromise. In the end, the Temple he constructed, and all its beauty, was reduced to rubble by the Romans.

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2014 and the Rising Beast

 

 

THERE are many hopeful things developing in the Church, most of them quietly, still very much hidden from view. On the other hand, there are many troubling things on the horizon of humanity as we enter 2014. These too, though not as hidden, are lost on most people whose source of information remains the mainstream media; whose lives are caught in the treadmill of busyness; who have lost their internal connection to God’s voice through a lack of prayer and spiritual development. I am speaking of souls who do not “watch and pray” as Our Lord asked us.

I can’t help but call to mind what I published six years ago on this very eve of the Feast of the Holy Mother of God:

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The Lion of Judah

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 17th, 2013

Liturgical texts here

 

 

THERE is a powerful moment of drama in one of St. John’s visions in the Book of Revelation. After hearing the Lord chastise the seven churches, warning, exhorting, and preparing them for His coming, [1]cf. Rev 1:7 St. John is shown a scroll with writing on both sides that is sealed with seven seals. When he realizes that “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth” is able to open and examine it, he begins to weep profusely. But why is St. John weeping over something he hasn’t read yet?

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 cf. Rev 1:7

Snow In Cairo?


First snow in Cairo, Egypt in 100 years, AFP-Getty Images

 

 

SNOW in Cairo? Ice in Israel? Sleet in Syria?

For several years now, the world has watched as natural earth events ravage various regions from place to place. But is there a link to what is also happening in society en masse: the ravaging of the natural and moral law?

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The Horizon of Hope

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 3rd, 2013
Memorial of St. Francis Xavier

Liturgical texts here

 

 

ISAIAH gives such a consoling vision of the future that one could be forgiven for suggesting it is a mere “pipe dream.” After the purification of the earth by “the rod of [the Lord’s] mouth, and the breath of his lips,” Isaiah writes:

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall down with the kid… There shall be no more harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. (Isaiah 11)

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The Survivors

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 2nd, 2013

Liturgical texts here

 

 

THERE are some texts in Scripture that, admittedly, are troubling to read. Today’s first reading contains one of them. It speaks of a coming time when the Lord will wash away “the filth of the daughters of Zion”, leaving behind a branch, a people, who are His “luster and glory.”

…the fruit of the earth will be honor and splendor for the survivors of Israel. He who remains in Zion and he who is left in Jerusalem will be called holy: every one marked down for life in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:3)

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The Rising Beast

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 29th, 2013

Liturgical texts here.

 

THE prophet Daniel is given a powerful and frightening vision of four empires that would dominate for a time—the fourth being a world-wide tyranny from which the Antichrist would come forth, according to Tradition. Both Daniel and Christ describe what the times of this “beast” will look like, albeit from different perspectives.Continue reading

Two Pillars & The New Helmsman


Photo by Gregorio Borgia, AP

 

 

I say to you, you are Peter, and
upon
this
rock
I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld
shall not prevail against it.
(Matt 16:18)

 

WE were driving over the frozen ice road on Lake Winnipeg yesterday when I glanced at my cellphone. The last message I received before our signal faded was “Habemus Papam!”

This morning, I have been able to find a local here on this remote Indian reserve who has a satellite connection—and with that, our first images of The New Helmsman. A faithful, humble, solid Argentinian.

A rock.

A few days ago, I was inspired to reflect on the dream of St. John Bosco in Living the Dream? sensing the anticipation that Heaven would grant the Church a helmsman who would continue to steer the Barque of Peter between the Two Pillars of Bosco’s dream.

The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2009/01/pope-benedict-and-the-two-columns/

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Living the Dream?

 

 

AS I mentioned recently, the word remains strong on my heart, “You are entering dangerous days.” Yesterday, with an “intensity” and “eyes which seemed filled with shadows and concern,” a Cardinal turned to a Vatican blogger and said, “It is a dangerous time. Pray for us.” [1]March 11th, 2013, www.themoynihanletters.com

Yes, there is a sense that the Church is entering unchartered waters. She has faced many trials, some very grave, in her two thousand years of history. But our times are different…

…ours has a darkness different in kind from any that has been before it. The special peril of the time before us is the spread of that plague of infidelity, that the Apostles and our Lord Himself have predicted as the worst calamity of the last times of the Church. And at least a shadow, a typical image of the last times is coming over the world. —Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), sermon at opening of St. Bernard’s Seminary, October 2, 1873, The Infidelity of the Future

And yet, there is an excitement rising up in my soul, a sense of the anticipation of Our Lady and Our Lord. For we are on the cusp of the greatest trials and the greatest victories of the Church.

 

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 March 11th, 2013, www.themoynihanletters.com

Possible… or Not?

APTOPIX VATICAN PALM SUNDAYPhoto courtesy The Globe and Mail
 
 

IN light of recent historic events in the papacy, and this, the last working day of Benedict XVI, two current prophecies in particular are gaining traction among believers regarding the next pope. I am asked about them constantly in person as well as by email. So, I am compelled to finally give a timely response.

The problem is that the following prophecies are diametrically opposed to one another. One or both of them, therefore, cannot be true….

 

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The Hour of the Laity


World Youth Day

 

 

WE are entering a most profound period of purification of the Church and the planet. The signs of the times are all around us as the upheaval in nature, the economy, and social and political stability speaks of a world on the verge of a Global Revolution. Thus, I believe we are also approaching the hour of God’s “last effort” before the “day of justice” arrives (see The Last Effort), as St. Faustina recorded in her diary. Not the end of the world, but the end of an era:

Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them. —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 848

Blood and Water is pouring forth this moment from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is this mercy gushing forth from the Heart of the Savior that is the final effort to…

…withdraw [mankind] from the empire of Satan which He desired to destroy, and thus to introduce them into the sweet liberty of the rule of His love, which He wished to restore in the hearts of all those who should embrace this devotion.—St. Margaret Mary (1647-1690), sacredheartdevotion.com

It is for this that I believe we have been called into The Bastiona time of intense prayer, focus, and preparation as the Winds of Change gather strength. For the heavens and earth are going to shake, and God is going to concentrate His love into one last moment of grace before the world is purified. [1]see The Eye of the Storm and The Great Earthquake It is for this time that God has prepared a little army, primarily of the laity.

 

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Footnotes

A Black Pope?

 

 

 

SINCE Pope Benedict XVI renounced his office, I have received several emails asking about papal prophecies, from St. Malachi to contemporary private revelation. Most notable are modern prophecies that are completely opposed to one another. One “seer” claims that Benedict XVI will be the last true pope and that any future popes will not be from God, while another speaks of a chosen soul prepared to lead the Church through tribulations. I can tell you now that at least one of the above “prophecies” directly contradicts Sacred Scripture and Tradition. 

Given the rampant speculation and real confusion spreading throughout many quarters, it is good to revisit this writing on what Jesus and His Church have consistently taught and understood for 2000 years. Let me just add this brief prologue: if I were the devil—at this moment in the Church and the world—I would do my best to discredit the priesthood, undermine the Holy Father’s authority, sow doubt in the Magisterium, and attempt to make the faithful believe that they can only rely now upon their own inner instincts and private revelation.

That, simply, is a recipe for deception.

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The Sixth Day


Photo by EPA, at 6pm in Rome, February 11th, 2013

 

 

FOR some reason, a deep sorrow came over me in April of 2012, which was immediately after the Pope’s trip to Cuba. That sorrow culminated in a writing three weeks later called Removing the Restrainer. It speaks in part about how the Pope and the Church are a force restraining the “lawless one,” the Antichrist. Little did I or hardly anyone know that the Holy Father decided then, after that trip, to renounce his office, which he did this past February 11th of 2013.

This resignation has brought us closer to the threshold of the Day of the Lord…

 

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The Heart of the New Revolution

 

 

IT seemed like a benign philosophy—deism. That the world was indeed created by God… but then left for man to sort it out himself and determine his own destiny. It was a little lie, born in the 16th century, that was a catalyst in part for the “Enlightenment” period, which gave birth to atheistic materialism, which was embodied by Communism, which has prepared the soil for where we are today: on the threshold of a Global Revolution.

The Global Revolution taking place today is unlike anything seen before. It certainly has political-economic dimensions like past revolutions. In fact, the very conditions that led to the French Revolution (and its violent persecution of the Church) are among us today in several parts of the world: high unemployment, food shortages, and anger fomenting against the authority of both Church and State. In fact, the conditions today are ripe for upheaval (read The Seven Seals of Revolution).

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So, What Do I Do?


Hope of the Drowning,
by Michael D. O’Brien

 

 

AFTER a talk I gave to a group of university students on what the popes have been saying about the “end times”, a young man pulled me aside with a question. “So, if we are living in the “end times,” what are we supposed to do about it?” It’s an excellent question, which I went on to answer in my next talk with them.

These webpages exist for a reason: to propel us toward God! But I know it provokes other questions: “What am I to do?” “How does this change my current situation?” “Should I be doing more to prepare?”

I’ll let Paul VI answer the question, and then expand on it:

There is a great uneasiness at this time in the world and in the Church, and that which is in question is the faith. It so happens now that I repeat to myself the obscure phrase of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Luke: ‘When the Son of Man returns, will He still find faith on the earth?’…I sometimes read the Gospel passage of the end times and I attest that, at this time, some signs of this end are emerging. Are we close to the end? This we will never know. We must always hold ourselves in readiness, but everything could last a very long time yet. —POPE PAUL VI, The Secret Paul VI, Jean Guitton, p. 152-153, Reference (7), p. ix.

 

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The End of This Age

 

WE are approaching, not the end of the world, but the end of this age. How, then, will this present era end?

Many of the popes have written in prayerful anticipation of a coming age when the Church will establish her spiritual reign to the ends of the earth. But it is clear from Scripture, the early Church Fathers, and the revelations given to St. Faustina and other holy mystics, that the world must first be purified of all wickedness, beginning with Satan himself.

 

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As We Get Closer

 

 

THESE past seven years, I have felt the Lord comparing what is here and coming upon the world to a hurricane. The closer one gets to the eye of the storm, the more intense the winds become. Likewise, the closer we get to the Eye of the Storm—what mystics and saints have referred to as a global “warning” or “illumination of conscience” (perhaps the “sixth seal” of Revelation)—the more intense world events will become.

We began to feel the first winds of this Great Storm in 2008 when the global economic collapse began to unfold [1]cf. The Year of the Unfolding, Landslide &, The Coming Counterfeit. What we will see in the days and months ahead will be events unfolding very rapidly, one upon the other, that will increase the intensity of this Great Storm. It is the convergence of chaos. [2]cf. Wisdom and the Convergence of Chaos Already, there are significant events happening all over the world that, unless you are watching, as this ministry is, most will be oblivious to them.

 

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So Little Time Left

 

On the first Friday of this month, also the Feast day of St. Faustina, my wife’s mother, Margaret, passed away. We are preparing for the funeral now. Thanks to all for your prayers for Margaret and the family.

As we watch the explosion of evil all over the world, from the most shocking blasphemies against God in theaters, to the imminent collapse of economies, to the specter of nuclear war, the words of this writing below are rarely far from my heart. They were confirmed again today by my spiritual director. Another priest I know, a very prayerful and attentive soul, said just today that the Father is telling him, “Few know how very little time there really is.”

Our response? Do not delay your conversion. Do not delay going to Confession to begin again. Do not put off reconciling with God until tomorrow, for as St. Paul wrote, “Today is the day of salvation.

First published November 13th, 2010

 

LATE this past summer of 2010, the Lord began to speak a word in my heart that carries a new urgency. It is has been steadily burning in my heart until I woke up this morning weeping, unable to contain it any longer. I spoke with my spiritual director who confirmed what has been weighing on my heart.

As my readers and viewers know, I have striven to speak to you through the words of the Magisterium. But underlying everything I’ve written and spoken of here, in my book, and in my webcasts, are the personal directions that I hear in prayer—that many of you are also hearing in prayer. I will not deviate from the course, except to underscore what has already been said with ‘urgency’ by the Holy Fathers, by sharing with you the private words I have been given. For they are really not meant, at this point, to be kept hidden.

Here is the “message” as it has been given since August in passages from my diary…

 

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Jesus is in Your Boat


Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Ludolf Backhuysen, 1695

 

IT felt like the last straw. Our vehicles have been breaking down costing a small fortune, the farm animals have been getting sick and mysteriously injured, the machinery has been failing, the garden isn’t growing, windstorms have ravaged the fruit trees, and our apostolate has run out of money. As I raced last week to catch my flight to California for a Marian conference, I cried out in distress to my wife standing in the driveway: Doesn’t the Lord see we are in a free-fall?

I felt abandoned, and let the Lord know it. Two hours later, I arrived at the airport, passed through the gates, and settled down into my seat in the aircraft. I looked out my window as the earth and the chaos of the last month fell away beneath the clouds. “Lord,” I whispered, “to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life…”

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New Original Catholic Art


Our Lady of Sorrows, ©Tianna Mallett

 

 There have been many requests for the original artwork produced here by my wife and daughter. You can now own them in our unique high quality magnet-prints. They come in 8″x10″ and, because they are magnetic, can be placed in the center of your home on the fridge, your school locker, a toolbox, or another metal surface.
Or, frame these beautiful prints and display them wherever you like in your home or office.Continue reading

Pentecost and the Illumination

 

 

IN early 2007, a powerful image came to me one day during prayer. I recount it again here (from The Smoldering Candle):

I saw the world gathered as though in a dark room. In the center is a burning candle. It is very short, the wax nearly all melted. The Flame represents the light of Christ: Truth.Continue reading

Charismatic! Part VII

 

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

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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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Merciless!

 

IF the Illumination is to occur, an event comparable to the “awakening” of the Prodigal Son, then not only will humanity encounter the depravity of that lost son, the consequent mercy of the Father, but also the mercilessness of the elder brother.

It is interesting that in Christ’s parable, He does not tell us whether the elder son comes to accept the return of His little brother. In fact, the brother is angry.

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. (Luke 15:25-28)

The remarkable truth is, not everyone in the world will accept the graces of the Illumination; some will refuse “to enter the house.” Is this not the case every day in our own lives? We are granted many moments for conversion, and yet, so often we choose our own misguided will over God’s, and harden our hearts a little bit more, at least in certain areas of our lives. Hell itself is full of people who willfully resisted saving grace in this life, and are thus without grace in the next. Human free will is at once an incredible gift while at the same time a serious responsibility, since it is the one thing that renders the omnipotent God helpless: He forces salvation upon no one even though He wills that all would be saved. [1]cf. 1 Tim 2:4

One of the dimensions of free will that restrains God’s ability to act within us is mercilessness…

 

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 cf. 1 Tim 2:4

The Coming Revelation of the Father

 

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

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Footnotes

Missing the Message… of a Papal Prophet

 

THE Holy Father has been greatly misunderstood not only by the secular press, but by some of the flock as well. [1]cf. Benedict and the New World Order Some have written me suggesting that perhaps this pontiff is an “anti-pope” in kahootz with the Antichrist! [2]cf. A Black Pope? How quickly some run from the Garden!

Pope Benedict XVI is not calling for a central all-powerful “global government”—something he and popes before him have outright condemned (ie. Socialism) [3]For other quotes from popes on Socialism, cf. www.tfp.org and www.americaneedsfatima.org —but a global family that places the human person and their inviolable rights and dignity at the center of all human development in society. Let us be absolutely clear on this:

The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. … In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’ (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3) – a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est, n. 28, December 2005

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Footnotes

Footnotes
1 cf. Benedict and the New World Order
2 cf. A Black Pope?
3 For other quotes from popes on Socialism, cf. www.tfp.org and www.americaneedsfatima.org

The Great Revolution

 

AS promised, I want to share more words and thoughts that came to me during my time in Paray-le-Monial, France.

 

ON THE THRESHOLD… A GLOBAL REVOLUTION

I strongly sensed the Lord saying that we are upon the “threshold” of immense changes, changes that are both painful and good. The biblical imagery used over and over again is that of labor pains. As any mother knows, labor is a very turbulent time—contractions followed by rest followed by more intense contractions until finally the baby is born… and the pain quickly becomes a memory.

The labor pains of the Church have been occurring over centuries. Two large contractions occurred in the schism between Orthodox (East) and Catholics (West) at the turn of the first millennium, and then again in the Protestant Reformation 500 years later. These revolutions shook the foundations of the Church, cracking her very walls such that the “smoke of Satan” was able to slowly seep in.

…the smoke of Satan is seeping into the Church of God through the cracks in the walls. —POPE PAUL VI, first Homily during the Mass for Sts. Peter & Paul, June 29, 1972

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A Woman and a Dragon

 

IT is one of the most remarkable ongoing miracles in modern times, and the majority of Catholics are likely unaware of it. Chapter Six in my book, The Final Confrontation, deals with the incredible miracle of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and how it relates to Chapter 12 in the Book of Revelation. Due to widespread myths that have been accepted as facts, however, my original version has been revised to reflect the verified scientific realities surrounding the tilma upon which the image remains as in inexplicable phenomenon. The miracle of the tilma needs no embellishment; it stands on its own as a great “sign of the times.”

I have published Chapter Six below for those who already have my book. The Third Printing is now available for those who would like to order additional copies, which includes the information below and any typographical corrections found.

Note: the footnotes below are numbered differently than the printed copy.Continue reading

Catholic Fundamentalist?

 

FROM a reader:

I have been reading your “deluge of false prophets” series, and to tell you the truth, I am a little concerned. Let me explain… I am a recent convert to the Church. I was once a fundamentalist Protestant Pastor of the “meanest kind”—I was a bigot! Then someone gave me a book by Pope John Paul II— and I fell in love with this man’s writing. I resigned as Pastor in 1995 and in 2005 I came into the Church. I went to Franciscan University (Steubenville) and got a Masters in Theology.

But as I read your blog—I saw something I did not like—an image of myself 15 years ago. I am wondering, because I swore when I left Fundamentalist Protestantism that I would not substitute one fundamentalism for another. My thoughts: be careful you do not become so negative that you lose sight of the mission.

Is it possible that there is such an entity as “Fundamentalist Catholic?” I worry about the heteronomic element in your message.

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Benedict, and the End of the World

PopePlane.jpg

 

 

 

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…

 

 

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The Coming Refuges and Solitudes

 

THE Age of Ministries is ending… but something more beautiful is going to arise. It will be a new beginning, a restored Church in a new era. In fact, it was Pope Benedict XVI who hinted at this very thing while he was still a cardinal:

The Church will be reduced in its dimensions, it will be necessary to start again. However, from this test a Church would emerge that will have been strengthened by the process of simplification it experienced, by its renewed capacity to look within itself… the Church will be numerically reduced. —Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI), God and the World, 2001; interview with Peter Seewald

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My People Are Perishing


Peter Martyr Enjoins Silence
, Fra Angelico

 

EVERYONE’S talking about it. Hollywood, secular newspapers, news anchors, evangelical Christians… everyone, it seems, but the bulk of the Catholic Church. As more and more people are attempting to grapple with the extreme events of our time —from bizarre weather patterns, to animals dying en masse, to frequent terrorist attacks—the times we are living in have become, from a pew-persepective, the proverbial “elephant in the living room.” Most everyone senses to one degree or another that we are living in an extraordinary moment. It’s jumping out of the headlines every day. Yet the pulpits in our Catholic parishes are often silent…

Thus, the confused Catholic is often left to Hollywood’s hopeless end-of-world scenarios that leave the planet either without a future, or a future salvaged by aliens. Or is left with the atheistic rationalizations of the secular media. Or the heretical interpretations of some Christian sects (just cross-your-fingers-and-hang-on-until-the-rapture). Or the ongoing stream of “prophecies” from Nostradamus, new age occultists, or hieroglyphic rocks.

 

 

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Come Out of Babylon!


“Dirty City” by Dan Krall

 

 

FOUR years ago, I heard a strong word in prayer that has been growing recently in intensity. And so, I need to speak from the heart the words I hear again:

Come out of Babylon!

Babylon is symbolic of a culture of sin and indulgence. Christ is calling His people OUT of this  “city”, out from the yoke of the spirit of this age, out of the decadence, materialism, and sensuality which has plugged its gutters, and is overflowing into the hearts and homes of His people.

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Depart from her, my people, so as not to take part in her sins and receive a share in her plagues, for her sins are piled up to the sky… (Revelation 18:4-5)

The “her” in this Scripture passage is “Babylon,” which Pope Benedict recently interpreted as…

…the symbol of the world’s great irreligious cities… —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, December 20th, 2010

In Revelation, Babylon suddenly falls:

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a haunt for demons. She is a cage for every unclean spirit, a cage for every unclean bird, a cage for every unclean and disgusting beast…Alas, alas, great city, Babylon, mighty city. In one hour your judgment has come. (Rev 18:2, 10)

And thus the warning: 

Come out of Babylon!

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All the Nations?

 

 

FROM a reader:

In a homily on February 21st, 2001, Pope John Paul welcomed, in his words, “people from every part of the world.” He went on to say,

You come from 27 countries on four continents and speak various languages. Is this not a sign of the Church’s ability, now that she has spread to every corner of the globe, to understand peoples with different traditions and languages, in order to bring to all the message of Christ? —JOHN PAUL II, Homily, Feb 21, 2001; www.vatica.va

Would this not constitute a fulfillment of Matt 24:14 where it says:

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come (Matt 24:14)?

 

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The Second Coming

 

FROM a reader:

There is so much confusion regarding the “second coming” of Jesus. Some call it the “Eucharistic reign”, namely His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Others, the actual physical presence of Jesus reigning in the flesh. What is your opinion on this? I am confused…

 

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The Last Two Eclipses

 

 

JESUS said, “I am the light of the world.”  This “Sun” of God became present to the world in three very tangible ways: in person, in Truth, and in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus said it this way:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Thus, it should be clear to the reader that’s Satan’s objectives would be to obstruct these three avenues to the Father…

 

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Romans I

 

IT is only in hindsight now that perhaps Romans Chapter 1 has become one of the most prophetic passages in the New Testament. St. Paul lays out an intriguing progression: denial of God as Lord of Creation leads to vain reasoning; vain reasoning leads to a worship of the creature; and worship of the creature leads to an inversion of human **ity, and the explosion of evil.

Romans 1 is perhaps one of the chief signs of our times…

 

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