Mark Mallett

Homecoming, by Michael D. O’Brien

Written on the journey home…

AS our plane rises with the cumulous clouds into the atmosphere where angels and freedom dwell, my mind begins to drift back over my time in Europe…

———-

It wasn’t that long an evening, maybe an hour and a half. I sang a few songs, and spoke the message that was on my heart for the people of Killarney, Ireland. Afterwards, I prayed over the individuals who came forward, asking Jesus to pour out His Spirit again upon the mostly middle-aged and senior adults who came forward. They came, like little children, hearts open, ready to receive. As I prayed, an older man began to lead the small group in songs of praise. When it was all over, we sat looking at one another, our souls filled with the Spirt and joy. They didn’t want to leave. I didn’t either. But necessity carried me out the front doors with my hungry entourage.

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St. Therese de Liseux, by Michael D. O’Brien

AS our vehicle traversed the French countryside this week, the words of John Paul II rolled through my mind like the hills surrounding Liseux, the "home" of St. Thérèse to which we were headed:

Holy people alone can renew humanity. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message to the Youth of the World, World Youth Day; n. 7; Cologne Germany, 2005

These words came on the heels of having visited some of the most fantastic cathedrals in all of Christendom, such as the one in Chartres, France. In that massive Gothic church, I was overwhelmed with the incredible faith and zeal that could have possibly created such a testament to the splendor of God—an outward expression of the inner life of France… an interior faith and love that has produced a litany of Saints. Yet, at the same time, I was struck with a terrible sorrow and wonderment: How, I asked over and over, could we in the Western nations go from creating such glorious structures, stained glass windows, and sacred art… to abandoning and closing our churches, destroying our statues and crucifixes, and extinguishing much of the mystery of God in our prayer and liturgy? The answer came silently as I could see with the eyes of my soul how this beauty, while at once inspiring saints, also corrupted men who bent the awe and power of our Catholic heritage to their own advantage. I understood at once that the Catholic Church, despite her holiness and providential role in the plan of salvation, has experienced in her long history the rise and fall of many Judases. They have welcomed her Joan of Arcs, and also burned them at the stake.

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IS the battle in your spiritual life intensifying? As I receive letters and speak with souls throughout the world, there are two themes which are consistent:

1. Personal spiritual battles are getting very intense.
2. There is a sense of imminence that serious events are about to take place, changing the world as we know it.

Yesterday, as I walked into the church to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, I heard two words:

Deliberate sin.

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Photo by Eve Anderson 

First publish January 1st, 2007.

IT’S the same thing every year. We look back over the Advent and Christmas season and feel the pangs of regret: "I didn’t pray like I was going to… I ate too much… I wanted this year to be special…I have missed another opportunity." 

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I have often written over the past few years of the necessity to stay awake, to persevere in these days of change. I believe there is a temptation, however, to read the prophetic warnings and words that God is speaking through various souls these days… and then dismiss or forget them because they have not yet been fulfilled after a few or even several years. Hence, the image I see in my heart is of a Church fallen asleep… "will the son of man find faith on earth when he returns?"

The root of this complacency is often a misunderstanding of how God works through His prophets. It takes time not only for such messages to be disseminated, but for hearts to be converted. God, in His infinite Mercy, gives us that time. I believe the prophetic word is often urgent so as to move our hearts to conversion, though the fulfillment of such words may be—in human perception—some time off. But when they do come to fulfillment (at least those messages which cannot be mitigated), how many souls will wish they had another ten years! For many events will come "like a thief in the night."

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Dear friends,

My family has spent the last week moving to a new location. I have had little internet access, and even less time! But I am praying for all of you, and as always, I am counting on your prayers for grace, strength, and perseverance. We are beginning construction of a new webcast studio tomorrow. Due to the workload ahead of us, my contact with you will likely be sparse.

Here is a meditation which has continually ministered to me. It was first published July 31st, 2006. God bless you all.

THREE weeks of holidays… three weeks of one minor crisis after another. From leaking rafts, to overheating engines, to bickering children, to just about anything breaking that could… I found myself exasperated. (In fact, while writing this, my wife called me to the front of the tour bus–just as my son spilled a can of juice all over the couch… oy.)

A couple nights ago, feeling as though a black cloud were crushing me, I spouted off to my wife in vitriol and anger. It was not a godly response. It was not an imitation of Christ. Not what you’d expect from a missionary.

In my grief, I fell asleep on the couch. Later that night, I had a dream:

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Veronica, by Michael D. O’Brien

SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART

WE often have it backwards. We want to know Christ’s victory, His consolations, the power of His Resurrection—before His Crucifixion. St. Paul said that he wants…

…to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phil 3:10-11)

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O LORD, I want to sail in your presence… but when the seas become rough, when the Wind of the Holy Spirit begins to blow me into the tempest of a trial, I quickly lower the Sails of my faith, and protest! But when the waters are calm, I gladly hoist them. Now I see the problem more clearly—why I am not growing in holiness. Whether the sea is rough or whether it is calm, I am not moving forward in my spiritual life toward the Harbor of Holiness because I refuse to sail into trials; or when it is calm, I merely stand still. I see now that to become a Master Sailer (a saint), I must learn to sail the high seas of suffering, to navigate the storms, and patiently let your Spirit direct my life in all matters and circumstances, whether they are pleasant to me or not, because they are ordered toward my sanctification.

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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).

I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or sea or against any tree… "Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." (Rev 7:1, 3)

This past Pentecost morning, we prayed:

…send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind… —Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer, Vol II

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DURING a speaking tour in the United States, a consistent warning kept rising to the forefront of my thoughts: do you know the voice of the Shepherd? Since then, the Lord has spoken in greater depth in my heart about this word, a crucial message for the present and coming times. At this time in the world when there is a concerted attack to undermine the credibility of the Holy Father, and thus shake the faith of believers, this writing becomes ever more timely.

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Christ in Gethsemane, Michael D. O’Brien

THE Church, I believe, is in an hour of temptation.

Temptation to fall asleep in the Garden. Temptation to slumber as the stroke of midnight nears. Temptation to console ourselves in the pleasures and trappings of the world.

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The Rescuer, by Michael D. O’Brien

THERE are many kinds of "love" in our world, but not all triumph. It is only that love which gives of itself, or rather, dies to itself that carries the seed of redemption.

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. (John 12:24-26)

What I am saying here is not easy—dying to our own will is not easy. Letting go in a certain situation is hard. Seeing our loved ones go down destructive paths is painful. Having to let a situation turn in the opposite direction we think it should go is a death in itself. It is only through Jesus that we are able to find the power to bear these sufferings, to find the power to give and the power to forgive.

To love with a love that triumphs.

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