Mark Mallett

Pearl of Great Price by Michael D. O’Brien

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. (Matt 13:44-46)

IN my last three writings, we have talked about finding peace in suffering and joy in the big picture and finding mercy when we least deserve it. But I could summarize it all in this: the kingdom of God is found in the will of God. That is to say, the will of God, His Word, unlocks for the believer every spiritual blessing from Heaven, including peace, joy, and mercy. The will of God is the pearl of great price. Understand this, seek this, find this, and you will have everything.

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FROM a reader:

In my prayer life and in praying for very specific things, particularly my husband’s abuse of pornography and all the things that result from this abuse, such as loneliness, dishonesty, mistrust, isolation, fear etc. Jesus tells me to be full of joy and gratitude. I get that God allows us so many burdens in life so that our souls may be purified and perfected. He wants us to learn to recognize our own sinfulness and self -love and realize we can’t do anything without Him, but He also tells me specifically to carry it with joy. This seems to elude me… I don’t know how to be joyful in the midst of my pain. I get that this pain is an opportunity from God but I don’t understand why God allows this kind of evil in my home and how am I expected to be joyful about it? He just keeps telling me to pray, give thanks and be joyful and laugh! Any thoughts?

Dear reader. Jesus is truth. He would never, therefore, ask us to dwell in falsehood. He would never demand us to "give thanks and be joyful and laugh" about something as grievous as your husband’s addiction. Nor does He expect someone to chuckle when a loved one dies, or loses his house in a fire, or is laid off from a job. The Gospels do not speak of the Lord laughing or smiling during His Passion. Rather, they recount how the Son of God endured a rare medical condition called hoematidrosis in which, due to severe mental anguish, blood capillaries burst, and the ensuing blood clots are then carried away from the skin surface by sweat, appearing as drops of blood (Luke 22:44).

So, then, what do these Scripture passages mean:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! (Phil 4:4)

In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess 5:18)

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FROM a reader:

So what do I do when I forget that sufferings are His blessings to bring me closer to Him, when I am in the middle of them and get impatient and angry and rude and short tempered… when He’s not always at the forefront of my mind and I get caught up in emotions and feelings and the world and then the opportunity to do the right thing is lost? How do I ALWAYS keep Him in the forefront of my heart and mind and not (re)act like the rest of the world that doesn’t believe?

This precious letter summarizes the wound in my own heart, the fierce struggle and literal war that has broken out in my soul. There is so much in this letter that opens the door for light, beginning with its raw honesty…

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HIDDEN it seems from the ears of the world is the collective cry I hear from the Body of Christ, a cry that is reaching the Heavens: "Father, if it is possible take this cup away from me!" Letters I receive speak of tremendous family and financial strain, lost security, and growing concern over The Perfect Storm that has emerged on the horizon. But as my spiritual director often says, we are in "boot camp," training for this present and coming "final confrontation" that the Church is facing, as John Paul II put it. What appears to be contradictions, endless difficulties, and even a sense of abandonment is the Spirit of Jesus working through the firm hand of the Mother of God, forming her troops and preparing them for the battle of the ages. As it says in that precious book of Sirach:

My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.  Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great. Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient; for in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation. (Sirach 2:1-5)

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WHEN it came time for Jesus to enter His Passion, He set His face toward Jerusalem. It is time for the Church to set her face toward her own Calvary as the storm clouds of persecution continue to gather on the horizon. In the next episode of Embracing Hope TV, Mark explains how Jesus prophetically signals the spiritual condition necessary for the Body of Christ to follow its Head on the Way of the Cross, in this Final Confrontation that the Church is now facing…

 To watch this episode, go to www.embracinghope.tv

Photographers in Staffordshire

WHY is God letting me suffer in this way? Why are there so many obstacles to happiness and growing in holiness? Why does life have to be so painful? It feels as though I go from valley to valley (even though I know there are peaks in between). Why, God?

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To watch this new webcast, go to www.embracinghope.tv

Please remember that this apostolate, its writings and webcasts, depend entirely upon your prayers and financial support. God bless you. 

MY sixteen year old recently wrote an essay on the improbability that the universe occurred by chance. At one point, she wrote:

[Secular scientists] have been working so hard for so long to come up with "logical" explanations for a universe without God that they have failed to truly look at the universe itself .—Tianna Mallett

Out of the mouths of babes. St. Paul put it more directly,

For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools. (Rom 1:19-22)

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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.

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Summer Landscape by George Inness, 1894

I have longed to give you the Gospel, and more than that, to give you my very life; you have become very dear to me. My little children, I am like a mother giving birth to you, until Christ is formed in you. (1 Thess 2:8; Gal 4:19)

IT has been nearly a year since my wife and I picked up our eight children and moved to a small parcel of land on the Canadian prairies in the middle of nowhere. It is probably the last place I would have chosen.. a wide open ocean of farm fields, few trees, and plenty of wind. But all other doors closed and this was the one that opened.

As I prayed this morning, pondering the rapid, almost overwhelming change in direction for our family, words came back to me that I had forgotten that I had read shortly before we felt called to move… Ezekiel, Chapter 12.

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Family, by Michael D. O’Brien

ONE of the most common concerns I hear is from family members worried about their loves ones who have fallen away from the faith. This response was first published February 7th, 2008…

WE often say "Noah’s ark" when we speak of that famous boat. But it wasn’t just Noah who survived: God saved a family. 

Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. (Gen 7:7) 

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THE end of the world? The end of an era? When does the Antichrist appear? Will it be in our time?  Following Sacred Tradition, Mark answers these questions and more in a fascinating video that will both educate and prepare the viewer for the times we are presently living in.

To watch The End of Our Era, click here: www.embracinghope.tv

(Make sure you check out the Related Reading links at the bottom of each video that will lead you back to the relevant writings!)