This Prodigal Hour

Not a day has gone by this past month that I have not been pondering the “now words” of the past regarding a coming “prodigal hour” for humanity (see Related Reading below). I will summarize them below…

The Prodigal Generation

Our generation is very much like the prodigal son (Luke 15). We have taken our inheritance — the Divine Will that Adam once possessed to order all creation toward perfection (see True Sonship) — and squandered it on our own human will.

The younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. (Luke 15:13)

After many long centuries, we are now spending that will, as it were, in order to manipulate life itself. Our politicians have spent the “inheritance” on redefining the family; scientists on redefining life; and some members of the Church on redefining God. As such, humanity is reaching a breaking point where our collective choices are bringing civilization to its knees.

…he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. (Luke 15:16)

The global awakening that happened in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death is but one sign of how ripe the harvest is for the return of lost sons and daughters to the Father’s House.

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

While every sign and metric points to the Hour of Justice rapidly approaching the entire face of the earth, first, there is the Hour of Mercy — the opportunity for a Great Return Home. As 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

Really, it is the approach of the Day of the Lord (see Faustina and the Day of the Lord). It’s kind of a big deal — which is why God has pulled out all the stops in the past century sending prophet after prophet (Our Lady chief among them) to call this generation to return home. Many may think the Heavenly Father is seething with anger, eager to crush the wicked. Like Jonah in today’s first Mass reading, they may be angry that God has not struck down the Nineveh of this generation. But Jesus paints a different picture….

The Prodigal Moment

The Prodigal Son eventually began the return home after having exhausted evil…

When he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want… (Luke 15:14)

Our world indeed seems plunged into a great famine — a famine of truth, as vast portions of the Church have apostasized, become lukewarm, or paralyzed in silence cowardice.

Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. (Amos 8:11)

It is this which has brought our generation to the end of the age, to the moment of harvest, just as Our Lord and the Scriptures predicted:

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matt 13:27-30)

And now we are clearly seeing a separation of the weeds from the wheat, the darkness from the light. It could be summarized as such:

And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. (John 3:19)

Is this not the case that many today are calling evil “good” and good “evil”? This, too, is a fulfillment of Scripture as it unfolds now on a global scale:

…they have not accepted the love of truth so that they may be saved. Therefore, God is sending them a deceiving power so that they may believe the lie, that all who have not believed the truth but have approved wrongdoing may be condemned. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)

Given such a grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception. In this regard, the reproach of the Prophet is extremely straightforward: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Is 5:20). —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Evangelium Vitae, “The Gospel of Life”, n. 58

This “deceiving power” (NAB) or “strong delusion” (RSV) comes, in part, through “signs and wonders that lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9), which is clearly emerging as technology, particularly, artificial intelligence.

If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness, then all other “lights”, that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Easter Vigil Homily, April 7th, 2012

The Prodigal Son’s return began through suffering, culminating in an “illumination of conscience” where he suddenly questioned the insanity of having left his father’s house. So too, this generation seems intent on coming to the point of being up to its knees in the pig slop of sin where, according to saints and mystics alike, God is going to likewise grant an “illumination of conscience.”

Write: before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice… Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day. —Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary of St. Faustina, n. 1146, 83; cf. The Doors of Faustina

Coming Home

Let this be an urgent call to every reader to put themselves right with God. The Father is awaiting your return… He is, in fact, watching for your return.

While he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)

You have nothing to fear — except yourself, and rejecting God’s grace while we are still in this time of mercy, as Jesus called it. Let me repeat the powerful word I received one day while sitting before the Blessed Sacrament many years ago…

To those lost souls bound in mortal sin:

THIS IS YOUR HOUR OF MERCY!

To those enslaved by pornography,

Come to Me, the Image of God

To those who are committing adultery,

Come to Me, the Faithful One

To prostitutes, and those who use or sell them,

Come to Me, your Beloved

To those engaging in unions outside the bounds of marriage,

Come to Me, your Bridegroom

To those who worship the god of money,

Come to Me, without paying and without cost

To those in witchcraft or bound in the occult,

Come to Me, the Living God

To those who have made covenant with Satan,

Come to Me, the New Covenant

To those drowning in the abyss of alcohol and drugs,

Come to Me, who am Living Waters

To those enslaved in hatred and unforgiveness,

Come to Me, Fount of Mercy

To those who have taken the life of another,

Come to Me, the Crucified One

To those who are jealous and envious, and murder with words,

Come to Me, who am jealous for you

To those who are enslaved by love of self,

Come to Me, who has laid down His life

To those who once loved me, but have fallen away,

Come to Me, who refuses no soul….and I will blot out your offences, and forgive your transgressions. I will remove your sins, as far as the east is from the west.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I command the chains which hold you to be broken. I command every principality and power to release you.

I open my Sacred Heart to you as a hiding place and refuge. I will refuse no soul who returns to Me trusting in My infinite Mercy and Love.

THIS IS YOUR HOUR OF MERCY.

Run home to Me, my beloved, run home to Me, and I will embrace you as a Father, clothe you as My child, and protect you like a Brother.

To the one in mortal sin,

Come to Me! Come, before the last few grains of Mercy fall through the hourglass of time…

THIS IS YOUR HOUR OF MERCY!

What do you need to do? Well, the parable of the Prodigal Son tells us:

I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you…” (Luke 15:18-19)

And so he did, and the father restored his dignity. The normative way that God brings about this miracle of Divine Mercy is through the Sacrament of Confession.

Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy! —Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 1448

But what about your sons and daughters and grandchildren who are still far off?

We are at the end of the age and a great purification of the earth is rapidly approaching — the Day of Justice. Now, when God was about to purify the earth the first time by a flood, He looked the world over to find someone, somewhere who was righteous.

When the Lord saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil, the Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved… But Noah found favor with the Lord. (Gen 6:5-7)

But here’s the thing. God saved Noah and his family:

Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. (Gen 7:7)

God extended the righteousness of Noah over his family, shielding them from the rains of justice, even though it was Noah alone who held the umbrella, so to speak.

Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Pet 4:8)

So, here’s the point: you be Noah in your family. You be the “righteous” one, and I believe that through your prayers and sacrifice, your faithfulness and perseverance — that is, by participating in Jesus and the power of His Cross — God will extend the ramp of mercy to your loved ones in His way, His time, even if at the very last moment…

God’s mercy sometimes touches the sinner at the last moment in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it seems as if everything were lost, but it is not so. The soul, illumined by a ray of God’s powerful final grace, turns to God in the last moment with such a power of love that, in an instant, it receives from God forgiveness of sin and punishment, while outwardly it shows no sign either of repentance or of contrition, because souls [at that stage] no longer react to external things. Oh, how beyond comprehension is God’s mercy! —St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 1698

Okay, I have said a lot today! If you want to go deeper, see the Related Reading below… As I mentioned recently, I have felt led to run for Councillor in our County — a strange twist even for me! The election is in less than two weeks, so I apologize that my time may be limited until then. Peace!