TO you, Jesus,
Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer you my day and my entire being.
To look at only that which you want me to see;
To listen to only that which you wish me to hear;
To speak only that which you want me to say;
To love only that which you wish me to love.
IMAGINE a small child, who has just learned to walk, being taken into a busy shopping mall. He is there with his mother, but does not want to take her hand. Every time he begins to wander, she gently reaches for his hand. Just as quickly, he pulls it away and continues to dart in any direction he wants. But he is oblivious to the dangers: the throngs of hurried shoppers who barely notice him; the exits that lead to traffic; the pretty but deep water fountains, and all the other unknown dangers that keep parents awake at night. Occasionally, the mother—who is always a step behind—reaches down and grabs a little hand to keep him from going into this store or that, from running into this person or that door. When he wants to go the other direction, she turns him around, but still, he wants to walk on his own.
Now, imagine another child who, upon entering the mall, senses the dangers of the unknown. She willingly lets the mother take her hand and lead her. The mother knows just when to turn, where to stop, where to wait, for she can see the dangers and obstacles ahead, and takes the safest path for her little one. And when the child is willing to be picked up, the mother walks straight ahead, taking the quickest and easiest path to her destination.
Now, imagine that you are a child, and Mary is your mother. Whether you are a Protestant or a Catholic, a believer or an unbeliever, she is always walking with you… but are you walking with her?
SOME questions and answers on the “era of peace,” from Vassula, to Fatima, to the Fathers.
Q. Didn’t the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith say that the “era of peace” is millenarianism when it posted its Notification on Vassula Ryden’s writings?
I have decided to answer this question here since some are using this Notification to draw flawed conclusions regarding the notion of an “era of peace.” The answer to this question is as interesting as it is convoluted.
NOT only can we hope for the fulfillment of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the Church has the power to hasten its coming by our prayers and actions. Instead of despairing, we need to be preparing.
What can we do? What can I do?
I WANT to give a message of hope—tremendous hope. I continue to receive letters in which readers are despairing as they watch the continual decline and exponential decay of society around them. We hurt because the world is in a downward spiral into a darkness unparalleled in history. We feel pangs because it reminds us that this is not our home, but Heaven is. So listen again to Jesus:
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)
AS Pope Francis prepares to consecrate his papacy to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13th, 2013 through Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, Archbishop of Lisbon,1 it is timely to reflect on the Blessed Mother’s promise made there in 1917, what it means, and how it will unfold… something that seems more and more likely to be in our times. I believe his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, has shed some valuable light on what is coming upon the Church and the world in this regard…
In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. —www.vatican.va
FOOTNOTES:
Artist Unknown
I WANT to conclude my thoughts on the “era of peace” based on my letter to Pope Francis in hopes that it will benefit at least some who are fearful of falling into the heresy of Millenarianism.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,577 especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.578 —n. 676
I deliberately left in the footnote references above because they are crucial in helping us understand what is meant by “millenarianism”, and secondly, “secular messianism” in the Catechism.
What’s around the bend?
IN my letter to the Holy Father,1 I presented to His Holiness the theological foundations for an “era of peace” as opposed to the heresy of millenarianism. However, note again what the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated regarding the possibility of a “new era of Christian life”:
The question is still open to free discussion, as the Holy See has not made any definitive pronouncement in this regard. —Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Il Segno del Soprannauturale, Udine, Italia, n. 30, p. 10, Ott. 1990; Fr. Martino Penasa presented this question of a “millenary reign” to Cardinal Ratzinger
Thus it is remotely possible that the Church, at any point in the future, may also state definitively that an “era of peace” is also contrary to the Faith. Until such a pronouncement is made, if ever, one can also ask, “What if—what if an “era of peace” is not part of the “end times”?
FOOTNOTES:
TO His Holiness, Pope Francis:
Dear Holy Father,
Throughout the pontificate of your predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, he continually invoked us, the youth of the Church, to become “morning watchmen at the dawn of the new millennium.”1
…watchmen who proclaim to the world a new dawn of hope, brotherhood and peace. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Address to the Guanelli Youth Movement, April 20th, 2002, www.vatican.va
From the Ukraine to Madrid, Peru to Canada, he beckoned us to become “protagonists of the new times”2 that lay directly ahead of the Church and the world:
Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ! —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World, XVII World Youth Day, n. 3; (cf. Is 21:11-12)
FOOTNOTES:
AT long last, my two new albums are complete! They are being sent off for manufacturing shortly, meaning they will be available toward the end of May. It’s been such a long and challenging road with so many unexpected delays, costs, and long, long nights. In the end, there are fifteen brand new songs recorded from Virginia to Vancouver, Edmonton to Nashville. The first album is called “Vulnerable”, songs I wrote over the years from a place of vulnerability in the face of the inevitable losses that we all experience from time to time. Judging by the reactions I have seen to those who have had a chance to hear the songs, I believe people are going to be deeply moved by this music.
WHY do our souls become tepid and weak, cold and sleepy?
The answer in part is because we often do not stay near the “Sun” of God, most especially, near to where He is: the Eucharist. It is precisely in the Eucharist that you and I—like St. John—will find the grace and strength to “stand beneath the Cross”…
Dear friends, I am preparing a meditation for tomorrow, and in the process, the Lord led me back to this writing. It is truly the “now word” in my heart, in the hearts of many. There are several elements in this single writing which I will unfold in days to come. We have now begun to live the Time of times, the Sorrow of sorrows… but do not forget, it will lead us to the Joy of joys!
This was first written on February 13th, 2007…
TEARS of sorrow. They have been welling up in me the past week, as the Lord has taken me through a series of understandings which I will try to unfold here, with His grace.