THE explosion of division, divorce, and violence this past year is striking. The letters I’ve received of Christian marriages disintegrating, children abandoning their moral roots, family members falling away from the faith, spouses and siblings caught in addictions, and startling outbursts of anger and divisiveness among relatives is grievous. And when you hear of […]
Jesus Calms the Storm—Artist Unknown FEAST OF THE BIRTH OF MARY IT has been an overwhelming week of encouragement for many of you, as well as me. God has been banding us together, confirming our hearts, and healing them too—calming those storms which have been raging in our minds and spirits. I have been […]
Sacred Heart of Jesus by Michael D. O’Brien I HAVE been overwhelmed with a tremendous number of emails the past week from priests, deacons, layman, Catholics, and Protestants alike, and nearly all of them confirming the "prophetic" sense in "Trumpets of Warning!" I did receive one tonight from a woman who is shaken and […]
Artist Unknown LETTER from a reader: Hi Mark, Mark, I feel we need to be careful when we talk about mortal sins. For addicts who are Catholic, fear of mortal sins can cause deepened feelings of guilt, shame, and hopelessness which exacerbate the addiction cycle. I’ve heard many recovering addicts speak negatively of their Catholic […]
AFTER Mass this morning, my heart was burdened again with the grief of the Lord. MY LOST SHEEP! Speaking about the shepherds of the Church last week, the Lord began to impress words on my heart, this time, about the sheep.
SO few, it seems, understand the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church. I want to share with you two true stories to shed light on this most honored member of the Body of Christ. One story is my own… but first, from a reader… WHY MARY? A CONVERT’S VISION… The Catholic […]
PENTECOST WE PRAY “Come Holy Spirit!” So when the Spirit comes, what does it look like? The icon of this coming is the Upper Room: an infusion of grace, power, authority, wisdom, prudence, counsel, knowledge, understanding, fortitude and fear of the Lord. But we see something else as well… something the Church has often failed […]
Helix Nebula THE destruction is, what one local resident described to me as of "biblical proportions". I could only agree in stunned silence after seeing the damage of Hurricane Katrina first hand. The storm occurred seven months ago–only two weeks after our concert in Violet, 15 miles south of New Orleans. It looks like […]
PERHAPS it’s just the mild winter, and so everyone’s outside instead of following the news. But there have been some disturbing headlines in the country which have barely ruffled a feather. And yet, they have the ability to influence this nation for generations to come: This week, experts are warning of a "hidden epidemic" […]
HOPELESS? What can stop the world from plunging into the unknown darkness which threatens peace? Now that diplomacy has failed, what is left for us to do? It seems almost hopeless. In fact, I have never heard Pope John Paul II speak in such grave terms as he has lately.