Dear Holy Father… He is Coming!

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TO His Holiness, Pope Francis:

 

Dear Holy Father,

Throughout the pontificate of your predecessor, St. John Paul II, he continually invoked us, the youth of the Church, to become “morning watchmen at the dawn of the new millennium.” [1]POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millennio Inuente, n.9; (cf. Is 21:11-12)

…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 Ukraine to Madrid, Peru to Canada, he beckoned us to become “protagonists of the new times” [2]POPE JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, International Airport of Madrid-Baraja, May 3rd, 2003; www.fjp2.com 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)

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millennio Inuente, n.9; (cf. Is 21:11-12)
↑2 POPE JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, International Airport of Madrid-Baraja, May 3rd, 2003; www.fjp2.com

Two New Albums… Sneak Preview!

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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.

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Jesus is Here!

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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”…

 

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Prophecy, Popes, and Piccarreta

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Prayer, by Michael D. O’Brien

 

 

SINCE the abdication of Peter’s seat by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, there have been many questions surrounding private revelation, some prophecies, and certain prophets. I will attempt to answer those questions here…

I. You occasionally refer to “prophets.” But didn’t prophecy and the line of prophets end with John the Baptist?

II. We don’t have to believe in any private revelation though, do we?

III. You wrote recently that Pope Francis is not an “anti-pope”, as a current prophecy alleges. But wasn’t Pope Honorius a heretic, and therefore, couldn’t the current pope be the “False Prophet”?

IV. But how can a prophecy or prophet be false if their messages ask us to pray the Rosary, Chaplet, and partake in the Sacraments?

V. Can we trust the prophetic writings of the Saints?

VI. How come you do not write more about Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta?

 

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So, What Time is It?

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Nearing Midnight…

 

 

ACCORDING to the revelations Jesus gave to St. Faustina, we are on the threshold of the “day of justice”, the Day of the Lord, after this “time of mercy”. The Church Fathers compared the Day of the Lord to a solar day (see Faustina, and the Day of the Lord). A question then is, how close are we to midnight, the darkest part of the Day—the advent of Antichrist? Although the “antichrist” cannot be restricted to one single individual, [1]As far as the antichrist is concerned, we have seen that in the New Testament he always assumes the lineaments of contemporary history. He cannot be restricted to any single individual. One and the same he wears many masks in each generation. —Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI), Dogmatic Theology, Eschatology 9, Johann Auer and Joseph Ratzinger, 1988, p. 199-200 as St. John taught, [2]cf. 1 John 2:18 Tradition holds that there will indeed come one central character, “the son of perdition,” in the “end times.” [3] …before the Lord’s arrival there will be apostasy, and one well described as the “man of lawlessness”, “the son of perdition” must be revealed, who tradition would come to call the Antichrist. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, “Whether at the end of time or during a tragic lack of peace: Come Lord Jesus!”, L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 12th, 2008

Of the coming of Antichrist, Scripture tells us to watch for essentially five chief signs:

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 As far as the antichrist is concerned, we have seen that in the New Testament he always assumes the lineaments of contemporary history. He cannot be restricted to any single individual. One and the same he wears many masks in each generation. —Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI), Dogmatic Theology, Eschatology 9, Johann Auer and Joseph Ratzinger, 1988, p. 199-200
↑2 cf. 1 John 2:18
↑3 …before the Lord’s arrival there will be apostasy, and one well described as the “man of lawlessness”, “the son of perdition” must be revealed, who tradition would come to call the Antichrist. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, “Whether at the end of time or during a tragic lack of peace: Come Lord Jesus!”, L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 12th, 2008

Faustina, and the Day of the Lord

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Dawn…

 

 

WHAT does the future hold? That’s a question nearly everyone is asking these days as they watch the unprecedented “signs of the times.” This is what Jesus said to St. Faustina:

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. —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 848 

And again, He says to her:

You will prepare the world for My final coming. —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 429

At first glance, it would appear that the message of Divine Mercy is preparing us for the imminent return of Jesus in glory and the end of the world. When asked if this is what St. Faustina’s words meant, Pope Benedict XVI answered:

If one took this statement in a chronological sense, as an injunction to get ready, as it were, immediately for the Second Coming, it would be false. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Light of the World, A Conversation with Peter Seewald, p. 180-181

The answer lies in understanding what is meant by “the day of justice,” or what is commonly referred to as “the Day of the Lord”…

 

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