Fill the Earth!

 

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them:
“Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth… Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it.” 
(Today’s Mass reading for February 16, 2023)

 

After God cleansed the world by Flood, He once again turned to man and wife and repeated what He had commanded at the very beginning to Adam and Eve:Continue reading

Antidotes to Antichrist

 

WHAT is God’s antidote to the spectre of Antichrist in our days? What is the Lord’s “solution” to safeguard His people, the Barque of His Church, through the rough waters ahead? Those are crucial questions, particularly in light of Christ’s own, sobering question:

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)Continue reading

These Times of Antichrist

 

The world at the approach of a new millennium,
for which the whole Church is preparing,
is like a field ready for the harvest.
 

—ST. POPE JOHN PAUL II, World Youth Day, homily, August 15th, 1993

 

 

THE Catholic world has been abuzz recently with the release of a letter written by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI essentially stating that the Antichrist is alive. The letter was sent in 2015 to Vladimir Palko, a retired Bratislava statesman who lived through the Cold War. The late pope wrote:Continue reading

The Thousand Years

 

Then I saw an angel come down from heaven,
holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain.
He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan,
and tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss,
which he locked over it and sealed, so that it could no longer
lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed.
After this, it is to be released for a short time.

Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment.
I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,
and who had not worshiped the beast or its image
nor had accepted its mark on their foreheads or hands.
They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

(Rev 20:1-4, Friday’s first Mass reading)

 

THERE is, perhaps, no Scripture more widely interpreted, more eagerly contested and even divisive, than this passage from the Book of Revelation. In the early Church, Jewish converts believed that the “thousand years” referred to Jesus coming again to literally reign on earth and establish a political kingdom amidst carnal banquets and festivity.[1]“…who then rise again shall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnished with an amount of meat and drink such as not only to shock the feeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure of credulity itself.” (St. Augustine, City of God, Bk. XX, Ch. 7) However, the Church Fathers quickly kiboshed that expectation, declaring it a heresy — what we call today millenarianism [2]see Millenarianism — What it is and is Not and How the Era was Lost.Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 “…who then rise again shall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnished with an amount of meat and drink such as not only to shock the feeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure of credulity itself.” (St. Augustine, City of God, Bk. XX, Ch. 7)
2 see Millenarianism — What it is and is Not and How the Era was Lost

Stay the Course

 

Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
(Hebrews 13:8)

 

GIVEN that I am now entering my eighteenth year in this apostolate of The Now Word, I carry a certain perspective. And that is that things are not dragging on as some claim, or that prophecy is not being fulfilled, as others say. On the contrary, I cannot keep up with all that is coming to pass — much of it, what I have written over these years. While I have not known the details of how exactly things would come to fruition, for example, how Communism would return (as Our Lady allegedly warned the seers of Garabandal — see When Communism Returns), we now see it returning in the most astonishing, clever, and ubiquitous manner.[1]cf. The Final Revolution It is so subtle, in fact, that many still do not realize what is unfolding all around them. “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”[2]cf. Matthew 13:9Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 cf. The Final Revolution
2 cf. Matthew 13:9

You Were Loved

 

IN the wake of the outgoing, affectionate, and even revolutionary pontificate of St. John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was cast under a long shadow when he assumed the throne of Peter. But what would soon mark the pontificate of Benedict XVI would not be his charisma or humor, his personality or vigor — indeed, he was quiet, serene, almost awkward in public. Rather, it would be his unswerving and pragmatic theology at a time when the Barque of Peter was being assailed from both within and without. It would be his lucid and prophetic perception of our times that seemed to clear the fog before the bow of this Great Ship; and it would be an orthodoxy that proved time and again, after 2000 years of often stormy waters, that the words of Jesus are an unshakeable promise:

I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)

Continue reading

Love Comes to Earth

 

ON this eve, Love itself descends to earth. All fear and cold is dispelled, for how could one be afraid of a baby? The perennial message of Christmas, repeated each morning through every sunrise, is that you are loved.Continue reading

God is With Us

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow.
The same loving Father who cares for you today will
care for you tomorrow and everyday.
Either he will shield you from suffering
or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings
.

—St. Francis de Sales, 17th century bishop,
Letter to a Lady (LXXI), January 16th, 1619,
from the Spiritual Letters of S. Francis de Sales,
Rivingtons, 1871, p 185

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
(Matt 1:23)

LAST week’s content, I’m sure, has been as difficult for my faithful readers as it has been for me. The subject matter is heavy; I am aware of the ever-lingering temptation to despair at the seemingly unstoppable spectre that is spreading across the globe. In truth, I am longing for those days of ministry when I would sit in the sanctuary and just lead people into God’s presence through music. I find myself frequently crying out in the words of Jeremiah:Continue reading