WHENEVER we see someone suffering, we often say “Oh, that person’s cross is heavy.” Or I might think that my own circumstances, be they unexpected sorrows, reversals, trials, breakdowns, health issues, etc. are my “cross to carry.” Moreover, we might seek out certain mortifications, fasts, and observances to add to our “cross.” While it is true that suffering is part of one’s cross, to reduce it to this is to miss what the Cross truly signifies: love. Continue reading
FRANKLY, I feel unworthy of writing on the present subject, as one who has loved the Lord so poorly. Everyday I set out to love Him, but by the time I enter an examination of conscience, I find that I have loved myself more. And the words of St. Paul become my own:Continue reading
WALKING along the Sea of Galilee one morning, I wondered how it was possible that Jesus was so rejected and even tortured and killed. I mean, here was One who not only loved, but was love itself: “for God is love.” [1]1 John 4:8 Every breath then, every word, every glance, every thought, every moment was imbued with Divine Love, so much so that hardened sinners would simply leave everything at once at the mere sound of his voice.Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | 1 John 4:8 |
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To repent is to not just acknowledge that I have done wrong;
it is to turn my back on the wrong and start incarnating the Gospel.
On this hinges the future of Christianity in the world today.
The world does not believe what Christ taught
because we do not incarnate it.
—Servant of God Catherine Doherty, from Kiss of Christ
THE Church’s greatest moral crisis continues to escalate in our times. This has resulted in “lay inquisitions” led by Catholic media, calls for sweeping reforms, an overhaul of alert systems, updated procedures, the excommunication of bishops, and so forth. But all of this fails to recognize the real root of the problem and why every “fix” proposed thus far, no matter how backed by righteous indignation and sound reason, fails to deal with the crisis within the crisis.Continue reading
Mark Mallett by the Sea of Galilee
Now is above all the hour of the lay faithful,
who, by their specific vocation to shape the secular world in accordance with the Gospel,
are called to carry forward the Church’s prophetic mission
by evangelizing the various spheres of family,
social, professional and cultural life.
—POPE JOHN PAUL II, Address to the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Indianapolis, Chicago
and Milwaukee on their “Ad Limina” visit, May 28th, 2004
I want to continue to reflect on the theme of evangelization as we move forward. But before I do, there is a practical message I need to repeat.Continue reading
St. John resting on the breast of Christ, (John 13:23)
AS you read this, I am on a flight to the Holy Land to embark on a pilgrimage. I am going to take the next twelve days to lean upon the breast of Christ at His Last Supper… to enter Gethsemane to “watch and pray”… and to stand in the silence of Calvary to draw strength from the Cross and Our Lady. This will be my last writing until I return.Continue reading
WHILE praying before the Blessed Sacrament twelve years ago, I had a sudden, strong and clear impression of an angel hovering above the world and shouting,
…the Church is in such a state of crisis, such a state of needing massive reform…
—John-Henry Westen, Editor of LifeSiteNews;
from the video “Is Pope Francis Driving the Agenda?”, Feb. 24th, 2019
The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover,
when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 677
You know how to judge the appearance of the sky,
but you cannot judge the signs of the times. (Matt 16:3)
Against the Wind, by Liz Lemon Swindle, 2003
WE have entered the decisive struggle with the powers of darkness. I wrote in When the Stars Fall how the popes believe we are living the hour of Revelation 12, but especially verse four, where the devil sweeps to the earth a “third of the stars of heaven.” These “fallen stars,” according to biblical exegesis, are the hierarchy of the Church—and that, according to private revelation as well. A reader brought to my attention the following message, allegedly from Our Lady, that carries the Magisterium’s Imprimatur. What is remarkable about this locution is that it refers to the falling of these stars in the same period that Marxist ideologies are spreading—that is, the underpinning ideology of Socialism and Communism that are gaining traction again, especially in the West.[1]cf. When Communism Returns Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. When Communism Returns |
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POPE FRANCIS and bishops from around the world have gathered this week to face what is arguably the gravest trial in the history of the Catholic Church. It is not just a sexual abuse crisis of those entrusted with Christ’s flock; it is a crisis of faith. For men entrusted with the Gospel ought not only preach it, but above all live it. When they—or we—don’t, then we fall from grace like stars from the firmament.
St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and St. Paul VI all felt that we are presently living the twelfth chapter of Revelation like no other generation, and I submit, in a startling way…Continue reading
Mary of the Shroud, by Julian Lasbliez
EVERY morning with the sunrise, I sense the presence and love of God for this poor world. I relive the words of Lamentations:Continue reading
By
Mark Mallett
FR. GABRIEL was unvesting after Mass when a familiar voice interrupted the silence.Continue reading
Be Not Afraid, Liz Lemon Swindle
…has it not been thus throughout the history of the Church that the Pope,
the successor of Peter, has been at once
Petra and Skandalon—
both the rock of God and a stumbling block?
—POPE BENEDICT XIV, from Das neue Volk Gottes, p. 80ff
IN Last Call: Prophets Arise!, I said that the role of all of us at this hour is simply to speak the truth in love, in season or out, without attachment to the results. That is a call to boldness, a new boldness… Continue reading
AS the weekend Mass readings rolled by, I sensed the Lord saying once again: it is time for the prophets to arise! Let me repeat that:
It is time for the prophets to arise!
But don’t start Googling to find out who they are… just look in the mirror.Continue reading
THERE are serious seismic changes occurring in the world and our culture almost on an hourly basis. It doesn’t take a keen eye to recognize that the prophetic warnings foretold over many centuries are unfolding now in real time. So why have I focused on the radical conservatism in the Church this week (not to mention radical liberalism through abortion)? Because one of the foretold events is a coming schism. “A house divided against itself will fall,” Jesus warned.Continue reading
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
THERE is a collective gasp rising from America, and rightly so. Politicians have begun to move in several States to repeal restrictions on abortion that would then allow the procedure up until the moment of birth. But more than that. Today, the Governor of Virginia defended a proposed bill that would let mothers and their abortion provider decide whether a baby whose mother is in labor, or a baby born alive through a botched abortion, can still be killed.
This is a debate on legalizing infanticide.Continue reading
TWENTY years ago or so, I was given a glimpse of something coming that sent chills down my spine.Continue reading
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
FAITH is the key, which unlocks the door of hope, that opens to love.
Continue reading
AS we begin this new year together, the “air” is pregnant with expectation. I confess that, by Christmas, I wondered if the Lord was going to be speaking less through this apostolate in the coming year. It has been the opposite. I sense the Lord almost eager to speak to His beloved ones… And so, day by day, I will continue to strive to let His words be in mine, and mine in His, for your sake. As the Proverb goes:
Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint. (Prov 29:18)
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea,
but the encounter with an event, a person,
which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.
—POPE BENEDICT XVI; Encyclical Letter: Deus Caritas Est, “God is Love”; 1
I AM a cradle Catholic. There have been many key moments that have deepened my faith over the past five decades. But the ones that produced hope were when I personally encountered the presence and power of Jesus. This, in turn, led me to love Him and others more. Most often, those encounters happened when I approached the Lord as a broken soul, for as the Psalmist says:Continue reading
IT is no longer a fringe notion that the world is plunging into a deep crisis. All around us, the fruits of moral relativism abound as the “rule of law” that has more or less guided nations is being re-written: moral absolutes have been all but abolished; medical and scientific ethics are mostly ignored; economic and political norms that maintained civility and order are rapidly being abandoned (cf. The Hour of Lawlessness). The watchmen have cried that a Storm is coming… and now it’s here. We are heading into difficult times. But bound in this Storm is the seed of a coming new Era in which Christ will reign in His saints from coastland to coastland (see Rev 20:1-6; Matt 24:14). It will be a time of peace—the “period of peace” promised at Fatima:Continue reading
Embracing Hope, by Léa Mallett
OVER Christmas, I took time away from this apostolate to make a necessary reset of my heart, scarred and exhausted from a pace of life that has hardly slowed since I began full-time ministry in 2000. But I soon learned that I was more powerless to change things than I’d realized. This led me to a place of near despair as I found myself staring into the abyss between Christ and I, between myself and the needed healing in my heart and family… and all I could do was weep and cry out.Continue reading
DEAR friends, my recent post Off Into the Night ignited a flurry of letters unlike anything in the past. I am so deeply grateful for the letters and notes of love, concern, and kindness that have been expressed from all over the world. You have reminded me that I am not speaking into a vacuum, that many of you have been and continue to be deeply affected by The Now Word. Thanks be to God who uses all of us, even in our brokenness.Continue reading
AS renovations and repairs have begun to wind up at our farm since the storm six months ago, I find myself in a place of utter brokenness. Eighteen years of full time ministry, at times living on the verge of bankruptcy, isolation and trying to answer God’s call to be a “watchman” whilst raising eight children, pretending to be a farmer, and keeping a straight face… have taken their toll. Years of wounds lie open, and I find myself breathless in my brokenness.Continue reading
IN previous ice ages, the effects of global cooling were devastating on many regions. Shorter growing seasons led to failed crops, famine and starvation, and as a result, disease, poverty, civil unrest, revolution, and even war. As you just read in The Winter of Our Chastisement, both scientists and Our Lord are predicting what seems to be the onset of another “little ice age.” If so, it may shed a new light on why Jesus spoke of these particular signs at the end of an age (and they are virtually a summary of the Seven Seals of Revolution also spoken of by St. John):Continue reading
There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay….
(Luke 21:25)
I heard a startling claim from a scientist nearly a decade ago. The world is not warming—it is about to enter a cooling period, even a “little ice age.” He based his theory on examining past ice ages, solar activity, and the natural cycles of the earth. Since then, he has been echoed by dozens of environmental scientists from around the world who posit the same conclusion based on one or more of the same factors. Surprised? Don’t be. It’s another “sign of the times” of the approaching multi-faceted winter of chastisement…Continue reading
The Capture of Christ, artist unknown (c. 1520, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon)
SEVERAL readers have been taken aback by the recent alleged messages of Our Lady around the world to “Pray more… speak less” [1]cf. Pray More… Speak Less or this:Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Pray More… Speak Less |
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Jesus condemned by Michael D. O’Brien
THIS week, the Mass readings begin to focus on the Book of Revelation. I am reminded of a stunning turn of events for me personally back in 2014.Continue reading
The Vatican across the Tiber
A significant element of the ecumenical conference here was the tours we took as a group throughout Rome. It became immediately apparent in the buildings, architecture and sacred art that the roots of Christianity cannot be separated from the Catholic Church. From St. Paul’s journey here to the early martyrs to the likes of St. Jerome, the great translator of the Scriptures who was summoned to the Church of St. Laurence by Pope Damasus… the budding of the early Church clearly sprung from the tree of Catholicism. The idea that the Catholic Faith was invented centuries later is as fictitious as the Easter Bunny.Continue reading
WE opened up this morning’s ecumenical sessions with a song. It reminded me of an event several decades ago…Continue reading
St. Peter’s Basilica, the view from EWTN’s Rome studios
AS various speakers addressed ecumenism at today’s opening session, I sensed Jesus say interiorly at one point, “My people have divided Me.”
••••••
Continue reading
St. John Lateran Basilica of Rome
DAY TWO
AFTER writing you last night, I managed only three hours of rest. Even the dark Roman night couldn’t fool my body. Jet lag wins again.Continue reading
I arrived in Rome today for the ecumenical conference this weekend. With all of you, my readers, on my heart, I took a walk into the evening. Some random thoughts as I sat on the cobblestone in St. Peter’s Square…
STRANGE feeling, looking down on Italy as we descended from our landing. A land of ancient history where Roman armies marched, saints walked, and the blood of countless many more was shed. Now, highways, infrastructure, and humans bustling about like ants without the fear of invaders gives the semblance of peace. But is true peace merely the absence of war?Continue reading
I am travelling to Rome this week to attend an ecumenical conference with Cardinal Francis Arinze. Please pray for all of us there that we may move toward that authentic unity of the Church that Christ desires and the world needs. The truth will set us free…
TRUTH is never inconsequential. It can never be optional. And therefore, it can never be subjective. When it is, the result is almost always tragic.Continue reading
When natural law and the responsibility it entails are denied,
this dramatically paves the way
to ethical relativism at the individual level
and to totalitarianism of the State
at the political level.
—POPE BENEDICT XVI, General Audience, June 16th, 2010
L’Osservatore Romano, English Edition, June 23, 2010Continue reading
DEAR brothers and sisters, four months have now passed since the storm that wreaked havoc on our farm and our lives here. Today, I am doing the last repairs to our cattle corrals before we turn toward the massive amount of trees that still remain to be cut down on our property. This is all to say that the rhythm of my ministry that was disrupted in June remains the case, even now. I have surrendered to Christ the inability at this time to really give what I desire to give… and trust in His plan. One day at a time.Continue reading
The six seers of Medjugorje when they were children
Award-winning television documentarian and Catholic author, Mark Mallett, takes a look at the progression of events to the present day…
AS division and toxicity increase in our times, it is driving people into corners. Populist movements are emerging. Far-left and far-right groups are taking their positions. Politicians are moving toward either full-on capitalism or a new Communism. Those in the broader culture who embrace moral absolutes are labeled intolerant while those who embrace anything are considered heroes. Even in the Church, extremes are taking shape. Disgruntled Catholics are either jumping from the Barque of Peter into ultra-traditionalism or simply abandoning the Faith altogether. And among those who are staying behind, there is a war over the papacy. There are those who suggest that, unless you publicly criticize the Pope, you are a sellout (and God forbid if you dare quote him!) and then those who suggest any criticism of the Pope is grounds for excommunication (both positions are wrong, by the way).Continue reading
SINCE the election of two men to the most influential offices on the planet—Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States and Pope Francis to the Chair of St. Peter—there has been a marked shift in public discourse within the culture and the Church itself. Whether they intended it or not, these men have become agitators of the status quo. All at once, the political and religious landscape has suddenly changed. What was hidden in the darkness is coming to light. What could have been predicted yesterday is no longer the case today. The old order is collapsing. It is the beginning of a Great Shaking that is sparking a worldwide fulfillment of Christ’s words:Continue reading
Since writing this follow-up to Mystery Babylon, I am stunned to see how America continues to fulfill this prophecy, even a few years later… First published August 11th, 2014.
WHEN I began to write Mystery Babylon in 2012, I was taken aback at the remarkable, mostly unknown history of America, where the forces of darkness and light had a hand in her birth and formation. The conclusion was stunning, that despite the forces of good in that beautiful nation, the mysterious foundations of the country and its present state seem to fulfill, in dramatic fashion, the role of “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” [1]cf. Rev 17:5; for an explanation as to why, read Mystery Babylon Again, this present writing is not a judgment upon individual Americans, many whom I love and have developed deep friendships with. Rather, it is to shed light on the seemingly deliberate collapse of America that continues to fulfill the role of Mystery Babylon…Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Rev 17:5; for an explanation as to why, read Mystery Babylon |
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HUMAN relations—whether marital, familial, or international—have seemingly never been so strained. The rhetoric, anger, and division are moving communities and nations ever closer to violence. Why? One reason, for certain, is the power that lies in judgments. Continue reading
Ocean Avenue by phyzer
First published March 20th, 2015. The liturgical texts for the referenced readings that day are here.
THERE is a new sign of the times emerging. Like a wave reaching the shore that grows and grows until it becomes a huge tsunami, so too, there is a growing mob mentality toward the Church and freedom of speech. It was ten years ago that I wrote a warning of the coming persecution. [1]cf. Persecution! … and the Moral Tsunami And now it’s here, on Western shores.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Persecution! … and the Moral Tsunami |
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