HE looked at me intensely and said, “Mark, you have a lot of readers. If Pope Francis teaches error, you must break away and lead your flock in truth.”
I was stunned by the clergyman’s words. For one, “my flock” of readers do not belong to me. They (you) are Christ’s possession. And of you, He says:
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 24th, 2017
Friday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Andrew Dũng-Lac and Companions
Liturgical texts here
PRAYING
IT takes two legs to stand firm. So too in the spiritual life, we have two legs to stand on: obedience and prayer. For the art of beginning again consists in making sure that we have the right footing in place from the very start… or we’ll stumble before we even take a few steps. In summary thus far, the art of beginning again consists in the five steps of humbling, confessing, trusting, obeying, and now, we focus on praying.Continue reading
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 23rd, 2017
Thursday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial of St. Columban
Liturgical texts here
OBEYING
JESUS looked down upon Jerusalem and wept as He cried out:
If this day you only knew what makes for peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. (Today’s Gospel)
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 22nd, 2017
Wednesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Cecilia, Martyr
Liturgical texts here
TRUSTING
THE first sin of Adam and Eve was not eating the “forbidden fruit.” Rather, it was that they broke trust with the Creator—trust that He had their best interests, their happiness, and their future in His hands. This broken trust is, to this very hour, the Great Wound in the heart of each of us. It is a wound in our inherited nature that leads us to doubt God’s goodness, His forgiveness, providence, designs, and above all, His love. If you want to know how serious, how intrinsic this existential wound is to the human condition, then look at the Cross. There you see what was necessary to begin the healing of this wound: that God himself would have to die in order to mend what man himself had destroyed.[1]cf. Why Faith?Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Why Faith? |
|---|
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 21st, 2017
Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Liturgical texts here
CONFESSING
THE art of beginning again always consists in remembering, believing, and trusting that it is really God who is initiating a new start. That if you are even feeling sorrow for your sins or thinking of repenting, that this is already a sign of His grace and love at work in your life.Continue reading
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 15th, 2017
Wednesday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial St. Albert the Great
Liturgical texts here
“FAITHFUL AND TRUE”
EVERY day, the sun rises, the seasons advance, babies are born, and others pass away. It is easy to forget that we are living in a dramatic, dynamic story, an epic true tale that is unfolding moment by moment. The world is racing toward its climax: the judgment of the nations. To God and the angels and saints, this story is ever-present; it occupies their love and heightens holy anticipation toward the Day when the work of Jesus Christ will be brought to completion.Continue reading
Sunset in the eye of a hurricane
SEVERAL years ago, I sensed the Lord say that there was a Great Storm coming upon the earth, like a hurricane. But this Storm would not be one of mother nature, but one created by man himself: an economic, social, and political storm that would change the face of the earth. I felt the Lord ask me to write about this Storm, to prepare souls for what is coming—not only the Convergence of events, but now, a coming Blessing. This writing, so as not to be too lengthy, will footnote key themes that I’ve already expanded elsewhere…
The following is written by Mark Mallett, a former television journalist in Canada and award-winning documentarian.
THE Ruini Commission, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to study the apparitions of Medjugorje, has ruled overwhelmingly that the first seven apparitions were “supernatural”, according to the leaked findings reported in Vatican Insider. Pope Francis called the Commission’s report “very, very good.” While expressing his personal skepticism of the idea of daily apparitions (I’ll address this below), he openly praised the conversions and fruits that continue to flow from Medjugorje as being an undeniable work of God—not a “magic wand.” [1]cf. usnews.com Indeed, I’ve been getting letters from all over the world this week from people telling me about the most dramatic conversions they experienced when they visited Medjugorje, or how it is simply an “oasis of peace.” Just this past week, someone wrote to say that a priest who accompanied her group was instantly healed of alcoholism while there. There are literally thousands upon thousands of stories like this. [2]see cf. Medjugorje, Triumph of the Heart! Revised Edition, Sr. Emmanuel; the book reads like the Acts of the Apostle on steroids I continue to defend Medjugorje for this very reason: it is achieving the purposes of Christ’s mission, and in spades. Really, who cares if the apparitions are ever approved so long as these fruits blossom?
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. usnews.com |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | see cf. Medjugorje, Triumph of the Heart! Revised Edition, Sr. Emmanuel; the book reads like the Acts of the Apostle on steroids |
AFTER writing Medjugorje… Truth You May Not Know, a priest alerted me to a new documentary with an explosive alleged revelation regarding Bishop Pavao Zanic, the first Ordinary to oversee the apparitions in Medjugorje. While I had already suggested in my article that there was Communist interference, the documentary From Fatima to Medjugorje expands on this. I have updated my article to reflect this new information, as well as a link to the diocese’s response, under the section “Strange Twists….” Just click: Read More. It’s well worth reading this brief update as well as seeing the documentary, as it is perhaps the most important revelation to date regarding the intense politics, and thus, ecclesial decisions that were made. Here, the words of Pope Benedict take on particular relevance:
…today we see it in truly terrifying form: the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies, but is born of sin within the Church. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, interview on flight to Lisbon, Portugal; LifeSiteNews, May 12th, 2010