On April 12th, Divine Mercy Sunday, I gave the following talk in Winnipeg, Canada. It is a summary of the over 1900 writings on this website, condensed into under 2 hours.
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Transcript
The following transcript is automated and, therefore, may contain errors.
Gilbert Vielfaure • 00:18
Good evening everyone. How are you? It’s Divine Mercy Sunday and you’re only good. Isn’t that a great feeling to know that there’s no sin so great that we can commit that God in His endless mercy cannot forgive? St. Faustina pray for us. My name is Gilbert Vielfaure. For those of you who do not know me, This evening’s presentation is being brought to you by the Catholic School of Evangelization and in partnership with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of Manitoba. I am a board member of the CSE, and this is a very happy time for us to collaborate with the renewal, which are definitely my roots in my spiritual walk. So this evening’s presentation follows, as many of you know, a men’s conference that was held on starting Friday night and on Saturday. Quite a few men are here actually this evening again. And as I was reflecting and we had planned this men’s conference, we had some ideas of what was going to evolve. And Leonel, you’re with me here. And then I guess the Holy Spirit took over. And it became something powerful that I don’t think we had quite envisioned. And at the end of the conference yesterday when I chatted with a half dozen guys or so, a couple of them couldn’t even really, couldn’t explain what they were sensing. They had been touched profoundly. And I say that because I believe, I believe that we’re going to see fruit from that. And many of the men who avail themselves to the work of the Holy Spirit, I believe are going to be touched in the days to come, and we’re going to see good fruit from that. It was a very powerful movement. Amen. Okay. Our speaker. Singing and playing guitar since the age of nine. Mark Mallett is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and Catholic evangelist. Since leaving his career as a successful television journalist in 2000, Mark has been touring extensively throughout North America and abroad, giving parish missions and concerts and speaking and ministering at retreats, conferences, and Catholic schools. He had the privilege of singing at the Vatican and presenting his music to Pope Benedict XVI. Mark has appeared on EWTN’s Life on the Rock, as well as on a number of other television and radio broadcasts. While singing a song he had written for the Liturgy of the Mass, Mark felt drawn to go to the church and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. It was there that he heard the Lord calling him to become a watchman for this generation, as Pope John Paul II asked at World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada. With that and under the care of his spiritual director, Mark began to publish meditations on the internet and to prepare the church for the dramatic times we live in. The Now Word is now reaching thousands around the world. Mark also recently published a summary of those writings in the fall of 2009 in a book called The Final Confrontation, which received a Neil Upstat in 2020. And when he has spare time, Mark and his wife have eight beautiful children together and make their home in Western Canada. So you guys get to listen to him for a couple hours tonight. I’ve had the pleasure of having him at my house most of the weekend. So I can’t help but notice there are a lot of women here tonight. And I told myself I wouldn’t say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. So I picked up Mark at the airport at about half past midnight on Thursday, that was. And as I always said at the men’s conference, those who know me, I’m usually in bed snoozing by 10 p.m. So that was a sacrifice of praise. I got home about one-ish. And of course my wife is pumped. So, you know, I’m going, it’s 1.34 and I’m going, I’ve got to get to bed. Like, this is not going to be good tomorrow morning. Anyways, 3.30. I think she forgot that she could come tonight to listen to him. Please welcome Mark Mallett.
Mark Mallett • 05:47
Good evening. Well, it’s a joy to be with you here tonight. And we started a couple minutes late tonight. I wanted to get a chance for the Catholics to get here. for some of you tonight this will be the beginning of the rest of your life i know it because we’re seeing it everywhere i’m going i’m seeing is as you bear said some of the men couldn’t speak after the conference because god had shaken them in a good way so much tonight i’m going to speak to you as best i can with god’s help the truth some of the truth is going to be hard tonight but some of the truth is we fill with hope it will challenge you and I and as I prayed today believe it or not I didn’t write my talk until about an hour ago finished it and because I was praying the whole time what do you want to say Lord to my brothers and sisters here as my Bible would say and the Lord just I just felt today to share with people the journey of how I went from being a musician to what I’m doing today because I never saw that coming. I always hoped I would be able to do a John Michael Pell that did, which is travel to churches and play my guitar and sing the songs that I’ve written. And God had a different plan for me, and I’ll share that with you tonight. As Gilbert said, my wife and I have eight children. I’ve met five of them. And, you know, I’m just kidding. And we used to travel. So this is what I was hoping to do. I was hoping to travel. And we did. So we bought a tour bus, a 40-foot diesel pusher. And we came right through. We traveled all over North America. My kids say those are the best memories in the world. And we used to pull up to churches and we’d pull up in this big, tall Monaco diesel pusher. And often the organizer would be there to greet us and they’d go, my, this thing’s big. And then my wife and all my children would get out and they’d go, oh boy, this is small. How do you do it? And we’d say, we just do it. We actually changed the couches so we could fold all the couches and the kids. We used to travel sometimes in absolutely frigid Canadian weather. One time we went through Ontario. It was minus 31. And when we finally pulled over in the evening to rest and stop driving, I went to the bathroom, turned on the taps, and it was slush coming out. I was like, thank you, Lord. I almost froze the pipes. But it was, no, we had absolutely wonderful memories with our children. And it’s been an absolute blessing for me. As it says in scripture, that the father with many children, it’s like his quiver is full. And I remember one time we were riding bikes in Vegreville, Alberta, where we lived. And I had the baby on the back of my bike and then all the other seven kids in front of me and my wife at the front. And as we drove by these two teenage girls in the sidewalk, I heard one of them exclaim, Oh, look, a family. i mean i thought we were like a flock of herons going by something really unique right but i thought it was funny but i also thought it was sad because only a generation before people were having 14 or 15 kids and we look small compared to them i remember i remember one time we were traveling and i accidentally took an off-ramp uh in new york state and i ended up on on Manhattan Island. And as I passed by this huge sign that said, no, no motorhomes with propane tanks, I thought for a bloody bomb right now going in and I couldn’t turn around and cars are honking at me. And anyway, here we were. So we found, we parked under the Brooklyn bridge by this restaurant and here we were on Manhattan Island. I remember at that time it was close to 9-11 and we were at this one stoplight and I looked over and I said oh kids look and it was a huge hole on the ground from where the two towers were and but anyway we went through somehow through New York City we ended up in Times Square now you want to understand Times Square all there is is people and yellow cabs and all of a sudden here comes this big diesel pusher and I’m telling you the heads were turned and as they looked up I could see their jaws dropping and and I looked back and I realized they were looking and all the kids had their faces plastered the window and these New Yorkers are like what is this going by and anyway that was it was wonderful our tours and we actually ended up in World Youth Day in 2002 and I was excited because I was used to playing in churches where there were like 12 people, 20 people. I mean, I was a Catholic musician. And it was really hard playing to more pews than people. So I was excited about World Youth Day. I mean, some 800,000 kids or something or more would be there. And I got to Lansdowne Park, this huge park by the lake. And I’m like, this is awesome. And they called me and announced me. And I got up to play, or I was about to get up to play. And I peeked out at the crowd. I grabbed my cell phone. I called my mom. I said, Mom, I said, I’m playing to a packed field. She goes, oh, that’s incredible. No, I said, Mom, literally, the grass is packed. There’s nobody here. They all left. It was like eight people out there, and they were the other musicians who were to play after me. It was such a humbling experience. And the Lord continued to do that because I think he was calling me to a special ministry at that point. In fact, right there at World Youth Day, I didn’t know it at the time, but at World Youth Day in Toronto and in speeches surrounding it, he said this to us young people.
He said, dear young people, it’s up to you to be the watchman of the morning who announced the coming of the son who is the risen Christ.
Mark Mallett • 12:32
It would be years later that I would read those words. And he said again, watchman who proclaim to the world a new dawn of hope, brotherhood and peace. But let’s go back to that other quote. He said, dear young people, it’s up to you to be the watchman of the morning who announced the coming of the son who is the risen Christ. I want to tell you something. Words that I hope will set your heart on fire. Jesus is coming. And he’s coming soon. And I’ll explain this tonight, later in the evening, what I mean by that. Because it’s not the end of the world that’s coming, but it is the end of an era. We are at the end of an age. And you can see the signs. Many of you, I think most of us can. You see them because you turn on your computer. You see the headlines. I’m going to talk about that tonight. But before I saw these words of John Paul II, it was three years later. I was still doing my music, still touring. One day I was sitting at the piano. And I had written a Mass part for the Holy Mass. It was the Sanctus. And I was just sitting at the piano playing it. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of hosts Heaven and the earth Are full of your glory And I was just, as I was singing, the Holy Spirit was just, it was dropping on me Hosanna I might as well finish it Hallelujah Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hold on now in the highest Let’s sing that Hold on now in the highest Hold on now in the highest Holy, holy, holy And all of a sudden, within my heart, I had, I don’t know how to explain it, I had this hunger, this holy hunger rise up to me to go before the blessed sacrament. And I literally leapt up from the piano bench. Grab my liturgy, the hours, the keys in the wall. I didn’t even say a word to my wife or my kids. And I got in the car and I went to the local Ukrainian church. And I started to pray. And out of me came this tongue that wasn’t my own. St. Paul speaks in Holy Scripture about the gift of tongues. In fact, the catechism of the Catholic Church, rather, speaks about these, calling them charisms, mentioning miracles and the gift of tongues. It’s right in your catechism. And it’s right in the scriptures. And it’s a real gift. I shared with the man the other night about how, you ever heard of Father Chris Allar? Some of you know him on TV. Wonderful priest. This is a beautiful story. Just to give you an example, but real quick. He was in Medjugorje. hearing confessions. And Medjugorje is an apparition that’s been happening since the 1980s. The church just last year, I believe, gave the apparition now its meal obstet. So saying there’s nothing in the apparitions that is against. That’s the highest level of approval that the church will now give to apparitions under their new guidelines. Father Chris saw this young woman sitting there. And she was crying. She looked upset. And so Father was moved to go. So he went and sat down beside her. And he said, you know, you look sad. What’s wrong? And she began to explain to her that she was lost in her life. And she was actually contemplating suicide. And father said to her, well, he says, I’m looking at you, he said. And you’re a beautiful young woman. He says, you’re young. You have a future. God doesn’t want you to take your life. He says, you have a whole future in front of you. Where are you from? She said, I’m from the Ukraine. He said, wow, beautiful. He said, you speak such perfect English. And she looked at father and she said, I don’t speak English. She says, you’re speaking perfect Ukrainian. And father said, I don’t speak any Ukrainian. And they suddenly realized that they were speaking to each other through the gift of tongues. That’s one form, one form of the gift of tongues. So anyway, I’m walking through the church and I’m praying in a tongue. It sounded like Hebrew to me. And I was crying out to God. I really didn’t know what I was saying, except I knew it was a heart cry. It says in Romans chapter 8 that the Holy Spirit groans within us, crying out to the Father, Abba, Father. And I was experiencing this groaning. And after 5, 10 minutes, I don’t remember. It’s like this little storm calmed down. and I began to speak to the Lord in my heart. And I honestly think in that moment, the Lord gave me an interpretation of what I had just prayed. And I began to cry out to God and say, Lord, here I am. Here I am, Lord Jesus, send me. But Lord, don’t just cast my net a little ways. Send me to the nations, Lord. Send me, let my voice reach the nations, Lord God. Here I am, send me. Well, after this little fire finally settled down, I looked down, there was the Liturgy of the Hours, and I hadn’t done my morning prayer, so I opened it up, and I began to pray. And to him that day was holy, holy, holy. I thought, oh, cool. That’s what got me here. And then I began to read the readings, and the reading was Ezekiel, and the prophet was crying out, Here I am, Lord, send me. And all of a sudden I’m going, my conversation that I just had is in black and white in front of me. I turned the page. I started reading the patristic reading from St. John Chrysostom. And it was Jesus speaking and saying, I’m going to send you to the nations. But if you’re not up to the task, to the insults, the mockery, then don’t accept it because it’s a dangerous task. But I will be with you. Heavens, today, I got my first death threat for something I’ve been preaching from a Canadian. It’s dangerous, but what a glorious thing. What a glorious thing to be able to proclaim God’s word, his truth. What a gift it is. Thank you, Jesus, that I’m here with my brothers and sisters. Thank you, Lord. So I’m sitting here going. And the readings are saying God calling Ezekiel to be a watchman. That’s what it was saying. And I got home and I was stunned by what just happened. And I was sitting at the bench at our kitchen and I thought, you know, Lord, you have to confirm this. Maybe I’m just crazy. And I looked over and there was the catechism sitting there. It’s a thousand pages. I thought, well, this will be good. There won’t be anything in here. So I opened it up. I cracked it open and my eyes fell straight down to the passage on the call of the prophets. God says in their one-on-one encounter with God, the prophets proclaim the word, his will for his people in that moment. I closed the book and I realized what was going on. I shared it with my spiritual director. I’ve shared it with my bishops. And thanks be to God, I’ve had their blessing and their help and their guidance. But again, the Lord wanted me to share with you tonight my journey. This terrified me. Because it was shortly after then that I read what John Paul II said. Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchman of the morning who announce the coming of the Son who is the risen Christ. And so I began to think about this. And of course, at that time already, because of my parents and wonderful discussions we had, I was already alive to the signs of the times. I was already alive to the fact that Our Lady was appearing in an extraordinary way around the world in telling us to prepare for these times. And as I pondered those words, announced the coming of the risen Christ, I realized this includes everything that leads up to the risen Christ. Lord, are you calling me to talk about the end times? Because I tell you back then, you just said end times and people would roll their eyes. right? It’s funny because St. Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 3, he said, know this first of all, that in the last days scoffers will come to scoff, living according to their own desires and saying, where is the promise of his coming? From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation. I’ve heard bishops say this, oh, things are just going to keep going. It’s a blip that we’re going through. But that’s not what the popes have been saying. That’s not what the saints have been saying. And the mystics in our church whom God speaks through. In fact, in a sermon in the late 1800s, St. John Newman, he said this very thing. And I hear this from people all the time. Everybody says their time is the end times. You ever heard that? you’ve probably said it. We’ve all said it. Everybody says that, right? So St. John said, I know that all times are perilous and that in every time serious and anxious minds alive to the honor of God and the needs of man are apt to consider no time so perilous as their own. Still, I think ours has a darkness different in kind from any that has been before it. The special peril of the time before us is the spread of that plague of infidelity that the apostles and our Lord himself have predicted as the worst calamity of the last times in the church. St. Paul called it apostasy, a falling away. And St. John Cardinal Newman concluded, he said, at least a shadow, a typical image of the last times is coming over the world. Well, I had a writing and I was talking about these things early in my apostolate. The woman wrote me. She goes, wait a minute. If these are the end times, she said, why aren’t the Pope shouting? Well, at that time, I was starting to study and trying to learn what God was asking me to say. And one of the things John Paul II said to us at World Youth Day, he says when he called us, he said, I’m calling you youth to a stupendous task, he said. And I know that you will be with Rome and with the church. And I knew that my task was not to sit here and read the Bible and give you my interpretation tonight. It was my job, I felt, was to listen to what the church is teaching, what the early church taught, and how the church interprets these scriptures. And then second of all, listen to the voice of the magisterium. Because Jesus said in Luke to the apostles, whoever listens to you, listens to me. Whoever rejects you, rejects me and the one who sent me. You see, this is the basis of apostolic succession. Christ gave his authority to the apostles. He said to them in Matthew 28, go to the nations and make disciples of them, teaching them everything I’ve commanded you. Whoever listens to you, listens to me. this is why it’s wrong for us as Catholics to ignore the magisterium to cherry pick our Catholic faith oh I agree with the church on our social teachings but on contraception or on this or that or euthanasia I disagree the church needs to just pick up on the times but that’s the plague of infidelity spreading through the church where I’m no longer listening to God I’m no longer listening to Jesus through his shepherds who are weak, infallible men, but who are teaching infallible truth. And so I wrote this woman back. Why aren’t the Pope shouting? And I said, I’m glad you asked that because they are. We’re just not listening. Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19th century said, he who resists the truth through malice and turns away from it sins grievously against the Holy Spirit. In our days, this sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come, which were foretold by St. Paul. And I’ll get to that in a moment. But apostasy. I said to her, Benedict the 15th in 1914 said, Those days seem to have come upon us which Christ foretold. You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. I don’t know. What do you think tonight? the Pope said we are pretty much in World War III. We’re fighting it piecemeal. I mean, right now, Canada and the U.S. and other countries are funding and giving instruments of war to Ukraine. Ukraine’s giving them to Iran. China’s supporting Iran. Russia’s giving intelligence to Iran. And then America’s attacking Iran, Israel. And we’re all pretty much in World War III. Pius XI said, thus against our will. Because you’ll notice, what is the effect all this is having? You see it on social media, how divided we are, right? And everybody’s feeling, they have to take a stand. I stand with Ukraine. I stand with Russia. I stand with Iran. I stand with Palestine. I stand with Israel. And we’re fighting over each other. earth. And that’s a trap. What Jesus wants you to do is stand with every human being on earth who is made in his image and love them. He wants you to stand in the truth, wherever that truth is found. That’s what we need to do. But we’re getting sucked into division and this is creating a climate of hatred, just outright hatred, where you’re seeing Christian podcasters dropping F-bombs on each other. It’s incredible. And thus, Pope Pius XI, decades ago, said, Against our will, the thought rises in the mind that now those days draw near of which our Lord prophesied. Because sin has abounded, the love of many shall grow cold. I think that’s one of the chief signs of the times. That the love of many has grown cold. We’re even afraid to shake hands now in church. Give each other the peace of Christ. We’re scared. We haven’t recovered from COVID. The young people now were affected. There’s studies coming in and out and showing the sociological effects of keeping our kids at home. Masking them so they couldn’t see faces. It’s all part of this. Thus Pope Paul VI, now this is more in our times. Now, in the 1960s, he said, there’s a great uneasiness at this time in the world and in the church and that which in question is the faith. I sometimes read the gospel passage of the end times, and I attest that at this time, some signs of this end are emerging. There’s another chief sign. And it came to me in a way I didn’t expect. And it was on a concert tour, 2005. I just got back from Fort Nelson, B.C. My wife talked me into a trip up there two weeks ago. Who goes to Fort Nelson, B.C. in the middle of winter? It’s crazy. It’s like it was 14 hours to drive from where we are in Alberta. And probably like five, six, seven, eight feet of snow in the ditches. And I was suggesting Arizona. But nonetheless, I was driving on a concert tour roughly this time of year in 2005. And it was beautiful. It was springtime at that time. And the sun was shining. I had the radio on. I was listening to some country music. And heading to my next concert, when all of a sudden, I felt something like a shockwave go off. I don’t know how else to explain it to you. And it felt like a shockwave, like a ripple going through water all around the world. And I suddenly heard in my heart these words. I have lifted the restrainer. Now keep in mind, this is the year the Lord called me to the church. And I think this happened right before that. I have lifted the restrainer. I didn’t know what that meant. So I got to my hotel that night and I got some Chinese food and it was so bad I just put it outside the door. Sat on the bed. Kind of perplexed and hungry. And I said to the Lord, I said, restrainer, is that in the Bible? And so I decided to do crack the Bible. Have you ever done crack the Bible? You know, you take your Bible and go, Lord, speak to me. You just take your Bible and you just crack it open. Oh, not that word. Maybe there’s something else here for me. Oh, yeah. God is love. He loves me. This is good. so I cracked the Bible opened that night and it’s been amazing sometimes when I do this I ask the Holy Spirit and sometimes I open the Bible and I think I’m in the Old Testament I’m in the New Testament or vice versa and what the Lord says just jumps so that night I opened my Bible and this is what my eyes fell upon let no one deceive you in any way about the coming and the return of Jesus. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first. And the man of lawlessness, who we call the Antichrist, is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. As I’m reading this right now, I’m just thinking about one of the other signs of our times the focus on self Benedict XVI said individualism we’ve come to a point from moral relativism to individualism even our devices iPhone, iPad me, myself, I everything is about me selfies and then St. Paul continues. Do you not remember that when I was with you, I told you this, and you know what is restraining him, that is restraining the lawless one, restraining, and I stopped and my jaw dropped. And you know what is restraining him so that he may be revealed in his time, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he’s out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed. And of course, I’m at the beginning of this. 21 years ago, I’m perplexed. Are you saying, Lord, that we’re in a time of lawlessness and the Antichrist could be revealed? Isn’t that crazy talk, Lord? That fall, Our Supreme Court justices went into the court and redefined marriage, which has been held for thousands of years. From culture to culture, almost universally, is between a man and a woman. And we redefined it. You see, when we look on TV and we see kids running around, like in America, storming buildings, robbing stores, burning down buildings. We see protests and barricades. That’s anarchy. Lawlessness. Lawlessness is when our Supreme Court judges put on their robes, go into the court, and redefine the natural moral law. That is lawlessness. And we continue to do it. We’ve now passed a law in this country that you can kill yourself with the help of a doctor. and this year 100,000 people will have killed themselves in our country. 100,000 people who contribute to our economy, who contribute to the wisdom, to the life of our culture. You know, I have been debating at times. Once in a while I get on social media and I’ll make a comment or I’ll add a quote. I tell you, it’s tough what I’m telling you. I just saw some people walk out as soon as I mentioned gay marriage. This is the time we’re living in. And I debated. She said, who are you to judge that this woman shouldn’t kill herself on Facebook? And I thought about her comment. Because I knew what she was saying. She thought this was compassionate. I said the audience. I said, we’re made in the image of God. And the sixth commandment is, thou shalt not kill. That includes ourselves. But then I said to her, who are you to judge that her life is so disposable and worthless that she can just take it? And she never replied. You see, we’ve lost… This is what John Paul II was warning about, that our culture right now is going through an immense battle over the dignity of the human person. This was one of his central messages. The inherent dignity. We’re all made in the image of God. And this Easter, we celebrated and Jesus showed us the value of suffering. And we need to repeat this message over and over again to this culture. That your suffering can purify you. Your suffering can make us holy. And our suffering can even, when we unite it to Jesus, help to save souls. St. Paul said, I make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ by sharing in his sufferings, uniting my sufferings to him. Because we’re the body of Christ and God takes that and he applies it and he uses it. This is why it’s so grave that the church has lost her mission, which Paul VI said is to evangelize, to share in bringing people to Christ. Bill C9 is about to pass on our government that will make it illegal for me to stand at this pulpit and quote certain scriptures. Did you know that? This is where we’re at in our country. Okay, but still, still. Man, the Antichrist? And I get it. I know this isn’t the kind of thing that you’re used to hearing from the pulpit. I had a young man come up to me yesterday at the men’s conference. He was a very young man. He said to me, shook my head. He said, thank you for talking about things that nobody wants to talk about. But I tell you, you just heard the popes talking about it. Our lady’s talking about it. So let’s just quote the popes, because I really don’t want you to walk away tonight and go, you know, whatever that was his opinion. Because in 1903, Pius X, looking out at the world, said this. Who can fail to see that society at the present time, more than in any past age, is suffering from a terrible and deep rooted malady. Eating into its innermost being, dragging it to destruction. He said, you know what this disease is, brethren. Apostasy from God. And then he said, listen, this is in an encyclical. There may already be in the world the son of perdition of whom the apostle speaks. In 1903, Pope Pius X thought the Antichrist could be on earth already. What would he say today when he looks at our news? If he were to walk down our malls and see 10 foot high posters of women in lingerie. When he would see the young men of our generation over 70% addicted to pornography. and women too? Chained. I don’t know a young man. I don’t know a young faithful Catholic man striving to follow Christ who has not wrestled with this plague of infidelity, of pornography. It’s a terrible thing happening to our young men. And I want you to know tonight, Jesus, if you’re struggling with that, Jesus loves you. He wants you to know His mercy, His forgiveness. and that goes for everything. There’s women here tonight who’ve probably had an abortion and dad’s here too and God wants you to know his mercy is so infinite he is ready to forgive you everything. In fact, today Jesus said those who go to confession and to the Eucharist that he will wipe away all punishment for our sins including purgatory which is the final stage of our purification that some of us need because we’re not perfect in love by the time we get to heaven. Thanks be to God. Who else? Well, in 1976, Cardinal Caro Vojtiva, who two years later would become John Paul II, stood at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia and he looked at them and he said this, we are now facing the final confrontation between the church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. It is a trial which the whole church must take up, but it lies within the plans of divine providence. That is to say, God’s in charge. And that’s why when he became pope, he stood on St. Peter’s balcony and he looked out into your eyes and mine and you remember what he said? Be not afraid.
Open wide your hearts to Jesus Christ. And then turning to the young people, he said, give Christ a chance.
Mark Mallett • 41:54
And I say to you tonight, give Christ a chance. I don’t know who you are, where you’ve come from. If you’re here out of curiosity or if you’re a faithful Catholic, but you also might be a faithful Catholic, but you’re still clinging to some sin that you don’t want to let go. And I’m saying, give Christ a chance to show you the power of truth that sets you free. For it says in Galatians 5, 1, Christ set us free for freedom. Do not return again to the yoke of slavery. And this is the problem today. His church is falling again into slavery. All of us, all of us are struggling with this culture. All of us are staring into these things and wasting our time and shopping and doing things that we know. Oh, there I go again. I doom scrolled for an hour looking at my Facebook readers, right? And Jesus, he’s not condemning us, but you know what he’s doing? He’s calling us out of Babylon because Babylon is going to collapse. And Benedict XVI said, Babylon is basically the irreligious cities of the world. But I think Babylon is primarily the Western cities that have now, the Western nations that have fallen from Christendom and are about to collapse. And I’ll explain that in a moment. In fact, brothers and sisters, this I read later on in 2023. This was in a letter in German that Pope Benedict sent to a friend. And it was published in the American Conservative, which is a Catholic publication. And Pope Benedict said this. We see how the power of the Antichrist is expanding. And we can only pray that the Lord will give us strong shepherds who will defend his church in this hour of need from the power of evil. And now you understand why Our Lady has been appearing, repeatedly saying, stop judging your shepherds and pray for them. Pray for your shepherds. Pray for your folk. Pray for them. Pray for them. Because they’re on the front line. And when you strike the shepherd, the sheep are scattered. And in many respects today, the sheep are scattered. We are scattered. We don’t hear from the pulpits in many places the truth being proclaimed. We aren’t called to repentance and conversion, which is the path to freedom. Jesus said the truth will set you free. And we don’t hear and know the truth. And yet we see the world proclaiming it every single day. I sat down at the table today with some three beautiful girls. And listen to them talk about what’s happening in their universities. And the woke ideology that they’re being forced to follow. Why are we not hearing our church proclaim what the truth of the gospel is. That Christ has given us to teach. This is why we need to pray for our shepherds. But you heard. I want to go back to that. You heard. What is restraining the Antichrist? St. Paul actually says. I already told you what it was, unfortunately for us. So the Thessalonians knew what he was talking about in this letter, but we don’t know. And God has designed it that way for purpose. But here’s what the church fathers said. They thought the restraining power holding back the Antichrist was the Roman Empire. Now, understand this. Rome went from persecuting the Christians to being completely converted. and when that happened, when the Roman Empire was converted and Christ was embraced, well, how many of you have been to Europe? When you go through the streets of France and Italy, you see it everywhere. Glorious churches that were built on homes, statues built into the corner of their walls. You can go through France and you can drive by a parking lot and if you blink, you’ll miss it. But if you go into this chapel and come around the corner, there’s Saint Bernadette Subaru. Lying there, completely incorrupt, like she’d just fallen asleep. A miracle right there before our eyes. And the world still does not believe. I’m told, blessed Vesiv, here in Winnipeg, is incorrupt. And when he’s canonized, because he’s going through the process, we don’t know when that will be, of course. then they’ll probably expose his body. They’ll probably open the casket again and we’ll see. Was it St. Rose de Lima? They opened their casket and the smell of roses flooded out. Have you ever left milk on the counter in the summer for just a few hours? Yeah. Or hamburger for overnight by accident? It doesn’t smell good. So when you exhume a body 100 years later and it smells like roses, that’s a miracle. And we don’t believe. Oh, how hard our hearts have become. you can google everything I’m saying and we still don’t believe euchristic miracles I know a priest who told me in his little chapel in New Boston, Michigan he opened the tabernacle door and the host had turned into flesh and blood these kinds of miracles are happening all over the world because Jesus said my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has new life within him And the word eat in Greek means to chew. Whoever chews my body and drinks my blood is eternal. He meant it. And that’s why they left him. Many disciples went back to their way of life because they said, this guy’s nuts. And yet here Jesus is 12 feet from my shoulder, looking out at you and smiling. Now, let me get back to this. The Novara Bible commentary says some commentators think that the mystery of lawlessness is the activity of the man of lawlessness, which is being restrained by the rigid laws enforced by the Roman Empire. Now, today, what holds back the tide of evil? So far, it was our laws, our system of laws in the West, in Europe, in Canada, in the United States was based on the gospel. So this is why we say our nations are civilized. We’re not barbarians. Iran is shooting to death young men who are protesting as we speak, hanging them in the squares, pushing homosexuals off of the top of buildings. We have laws that don’t do that kind of thing because it’s based on the gospel. But what’s happening now? Oh, boy. Now the mystery of lawlessness is entering our country. and we’re literally cutting the genitals off of little boys and giving them hormone pills and taking the lives from the womb to the tomb. This is lawlessness. The second aspect, though, of Christendom is this. You’ve got Christendom, which is Christianity spreading in primarily the West. And at the head of Christendom is who? The Pope. he’s the rock on which Christ has built the church and Benedict XVI said this Abraham was the one who by his faith held back the chaos the primordial flood of destruction by his faith and then he says Simon the first to confess Jesus as the Christ now becomes by virtue of his Abrahamic faith the rock that stands against the impure tide of unbelief and its destruction of man. This is why there has been an agenda to completely undermine the papacy and our laws. These are hard things, I’m telling you. But let me put it in perspective right now. I want to put this in perspective for you right now so that you don’t lose hope and despair. Because for some of you, this is hard to hear this stuff. But you know what Jesus described all this stuff as? He called them labor pains. Now what comes after labor? A new birth. And that’s what’s coming. What did John Paul II say in 2002 to youth? He said, I want you to announce the coming of the risen Christ and proclaim to the world a new dawn of hope, brotherhood, and peace. What is coming is not the end of the world, but an era of peace. and I’m going to explain this to you in a moment. But before I do that, I want to explain to you a little bit more about the storm that is coming upon the world. And all of this is so that you understand and know because you know what? When Jesus was asked by the apostles, Lord, what will be the signs before you return? You know what he said to them? Oh, you don’t need to know. That’s just doom and gloom. That’s just end time stuff. No, don’t worry about what he says. Just focus on the gospel. But this is what we hear in the church today. Ah, this is doom and gloom. I’ve been told that by people, some people, who don’t want to be shaken. As Benedict XVI said recently, before he died, he said, we don’t want to face evil because we’re asleep. We don’t want to face it and we fall asleep like the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane. We don’t want to face it. What’s going on? The passion. And it says in the catechism that the church will follow her Lord in her own passion, death, and resurrection. Did you know that? And so we’re going to follow Christ. But what comes at the end? Resurrection. A new dawn. Hope. He said to Benedict XVI, John Paul said when he was a cardinal, Cardinal Ratzinger said that the Pope expects that after this millennial, of tears, there will come a millennium of hope and joy. That’s why he wrote his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope. We are crossing to hope. But we have to go through these labor pains. And in 1917, things were so dire, we were on the verge of the Second World War, First and Second World War. We were there. But even worse than that, even worse, believe it or not, was something else. it was communism. And in 1970, one month before Lenin stormed Moscow and the bloody revolution of communism began, many of the, I’m looking at the people of the age here and many of you all know what the Soviet Union did and what happened in China and Spain and other countries, how communism spread. Tens of millions died. And Our Lady warned, though, this. She asked for us to repent. She asked for Russia to be consecrated to her heart by the Pope in communion with the bishops and for the first Saturday devotions. And she said this, if you do this, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she said, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the church. the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. Now, many think this might be just about war, and it’s not. You see, what are the errors of Russia? Well, these errors of Russia, where the communism is the culmination of everything that happened in the centuries before, from the Enlightenment period. It was called the Enlightenment period. But the Enlightenment period is where philosophers began to, they began to depart and interpret the world completely in natural terms. And they started to disbelieve in the supernatural. So from that came atheism, Darwinism, rationalism, materialism, again, practical atheism, Marxism, and communism. And these were the errors that were coming. And Our Lady warned, if you don’t repent, these will spread to the world. Well, we didn’t listen to Our Lady. In fact, it’s arguable that it wasn’t until Pope Francis three years, four years ago, can’t remember which year it was, consecrated Russia to her heart with all the bishops. What Our Lady was warning about was something all the popes had been warning about prior. And you may not know this. But the popes were warning about secret sex. The Freemasons, namely. And this is not a conspiracy theory. We’ve got several papal documents condemning it. Because, as Pope Leo XIII said in 1884, that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view. Namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world, which the Christian teaching has produced. Christentum. And the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere naturalism. Naturalism is saying that we can arrive at peace on earth and a utopia on earth without God. And the catechism of the Catholic Church says, this is the Antichrist deception. This messianic hope, which will only fully be realized in heaven. But that’s what communism tried to do. What you heard today at mass, what did you hear? They sold everything, right? And they gave and they distributed their goods and they were in community together. And they broke bread together. They were in communion together. but Satan’s ape is not community but communism. Instead of loving and sharing and giving, the state coerces and controls what we give. It’s the state who takes from us our private property, our wealth, and distributes it so everyone is equal. And the church has condemned this. But brothers and sisters, it’s coming upon us again. and many don’t know. And this is part of my message tonight to wake you up. It’s here again. And they’re calling it the Great Reset. One of the chief architects of it, now put on your seatbelt and don’t throw stones at me. I’m not giving you politics tonight. I’m telling you about people. One of the chief architects of this is Prime Minister Mark Carney. He’s a chief advisor to the World Economic Forum. You can read on the World Economic Forum’s websites their goals. It literally says, by 2030 you will own nothing and you will be happy. In one of their working papers they say that the carbon footprint of everybody is too big. We need to eat less meat. We need to drive less. We need to stay at home and work more. We need to let artificial intelligence take care of everything. We need to develop libraries where instead of you owning all your tools and appliances, you go and you rent it. And all of this to reduce our carbon footprint. It’s communism with a green hat, brothers and sisters. It’s nothing short of that. Peter Foster of the National Post did a book review on Mark Carney’s own words in his book. You could read it. I’ve read passages from it. It’s full on communism. But it’s different. It’s not the communism with jackboots in the street, at least not yet. This communism is a blend of capitalism and the old communism. And it’s called stakeholder capitalism. And so therefore, the private sector will own everything. You’ll have major corporations. They’re meeting right now in Washington and Davos in the Bilderberger meetings. This is where they’re planning and plotting all this. Davos is planned by the World Economic Forum, whom Mark Carney has advised, one of the chief advisors. And their goal, do you guys remember hearing during COVID, all of a sudden, these world leaders all started saying the same thing, including Trudeau. We need a reset. We need to have a great reset. And I remember thinking, listening and going, I didn’t vote for this. Now, did you vote for that? And they were telling us, we’re going to reset and how to reset. I didn’t vote for it. And then they said another thing, we’re going to build back better. Well, I’ll tell you this, brothers and sisters, you can’t build back better until you tear it down. And when you look at the news tonight, does it make sense to you what’s going on? Why is there this war that’s drying up our fuel, that’s wrecking our supply chains? Why did we close all our businesses in the last labor pain when on the CDC’s own website, it said the survival rate of COVID was 99.9%. I went on and looked at it three days ago, and it says the same thing it did four years ago. And we closed our churches, we closed our businesses, and we’ve never recovered. You see, the goal is to take down Christendom, exactly what the Pope says, and rebuild it according to their ideas of a new utopia. We will build back better. But without God. Without God. Bill C9. Without God. Without the sacred scriptures. And how are they going to do this? okay I’m getting I’m getting there I’m going to leave you with great hope tonight but you’ve been a really good audience this is tough to hear but God called you here and you need to hear this by the way what I shared with you about the restrainer I did that because a Canadian bishop heard me talk about this and he said you need to write it down or put it in the teaching and share it with Canadians and I did tonight in obedience to that bishop. But many years ago, again in 2005, that was the year the Lord was calling me to be a watchman among other young people. I felt the Holy Spirit again driving me, this time into a field in Alberta where there was a storm rolling in. And the word I got in my heart was this, there’s a great storm coming upon the world like a hurricane. I heard it in my heart, not audibly, but clearly. A voice from outside of myself, but within. And I went home, and that week, or the week after, I picked up my Bible, and I did crack the Bible again. That’s not the way I always do things, but I did again. And I opened straight to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation is not a book I really go into and try and figure it out, because it’s so complex and full of symbols, and it bounces between eternity and the temporal. but as our lady said to servant of God Stefano Gobi this book is now unsealed and being revealed and I think we are getting insights and so I picked up the Bible and I opened it to Revelation chapter 6 and as I began to read that voice came back and said this is the great storm so now I’m starting to read it and I’m thinking well a great storm like a hurricane that means the winds are going to get picked up The closer you get to the eye of the storm, the more ferocious the wind. And then there’s this eye of the storm, the calm. So I had that in mind as I started reading. And what we read, and I’m going to go through this really quick. I don’t want to do a full teaching on this. I did one recently in a webcast. It’ll be on my website at thenowword.com. But I began to read, and Jesus opened seven seals. The first seal is a rider on a white horse who comes forth. He was given a crown and he rode forth victorious to further victories. And Pope Pius XII said this, because the next seals to follow are pretty tough. They’re pretty dire. But he says this, this rider on the white horse, he said, I think is Jesus Christ. He said he is Jesus Christ. The inspired evangelist St. John not only saw the devastation brought about by sin, war, hunger and death. He also saw in the first place the victory of Christ. so in other words remember what I said John Paul II said he said this trial lies within the plans of divine providence Jesus is in charge when Jesus was on the Sea of Galilee sleeping in the boat there was a storm he’s the Lord of the storm and Christ is the Lord of this storm so as I read it be not afraid but pay attention because you know Jesus when he talked about the signs of the times to the apostles what did he say He said, I have told you these things so that when they happen, you remember that I told you. In other words, be chill. Because when it happens, you’ll go, Jesus is the Lord of the storm. He knew it was coming. Because what I’m talking about here right now is about the simple principle of sowing and reaping. We’ve been sowing an abortion in our country in the West. We’re sowing in death by euthanasia. And now the reaping is here, the harvest. and so then he opens the second seal and another horse comes out it’s a red one given power to take peace away from the earth so the people would slaughter one another and he was given a huge red sword typically in the old testament the sword means war but already with covid we’re seeing many many deaths it was a biological weapon and i’ve been looking at as i’m an old news reporter I used to work with CTV Edmonton and I’ve done a documentary on this all. And I, you know, let me just leave it at that. People are dying suddenly still today from the whole fallout of what is going on with that. The third seal is opened and there was a black horse, but let me just go back because we’re seeing war. We’re seeing war about to break out. And what’s the effect of it already? hyperinflation. I was reading today an article. We haven’t come down yet from COVID, from the supply chains. We’re still in a place of hyperinflation and now fuel’s going up. And if fuel goes up, that means all the deliveries and the goods are going to cost more. And it’s going up and it’s going up. And nation leaders are saying this is catastrophic if this war continues. It’s hyperinflation, but listen to the third seal. I looked and there was a black horse. Its rider held the scale in his hand and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It said, a ration of wheat costs a day’s pay. A ration, a day’s pay only buys a ration of wheat, a quart of wheat. You know what that is? That’s hyperinflation. So peace is taken away from the world. War. Hyperinflation. Do you remember during the pandemic seeing the clip of Bill Gates talking about the pandemic? And he was talking about COVID. And then he looked in the camera with this grin. A very strange grin. And he said, oh yeah, this pandemic, he said, but the next one will get their attention. And he grinned. Do you remember seeing that? Listen, he knows what he’s talking about. I have no reason not to believe him. It says, a pale green horse came forth, and it was given authority over a quarter of the earth to kill with sword, famine, and plague. Because it seems to me that what comes next after war and hyperinflation is economic collapse, and then you have everything starting to go into chaos. They’re already doing another pandemic assimilation, like they’re expecting it. And let me just stop and say why. Because these people whom the popes have condemned, the Freemasons, these globalists, for one, they believe the population of the world is too much. It’s too high. And they have said it openly. Openly. The second thing is they believe this order needs to come down and they need to redo it with stakeholder capitalism, neocommunism. And this is very convenient what’s happening. Because if you look, it makes no sense. It makes no sense what’s happening in the news. Who would do this? Who would destroy everything? Then he broke open the fifth seal. Now we’re getting brothers and sisters to near the eye of the storm. When he broke open the fifth seal, he saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered. Because of the witness they bore to the word of God. And they cried out, how much longer, Lord, before you avenge our blood. And they were given a white robe and told to wait a little bit longer and be patient. until the full number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers. Brothers and sisters, here in Canada, this storm is just beginning to touch us. But in Nigeria, as I speak, tens of thousands of Christians, their homes are being burnt. They’re being beheaded and killed. Priests are being put to death. Tens of thousands. It’s beginning in India. And now with Bill C9, the first beheading is the voice of our church. And then we come to the outer wall, the most fierce winds, because this seems to unleash God stepping in and saying, okay, now I’m stepping in for a moment because humanity is bringing itself to the brink of destruction. And now I’m going to step in and give you a choice. and this is what happens. Listen. I watched while he broke open the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake. The sky was divided up and torn like a scroll in the sky and every mountain and island fled. The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military officers, the prime ministers, the presidents, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among mountain crags. They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb because the day of their great wrath has come and who can withstand it? They think it’s the judgment. What’s going on here that they want to hide? Because I have to tell you, I took my Bible and I read ahead and I started to peek. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not the final judgment. What’s going on here? and I tell you I believe this is what it is from the 1960s and several seers we’ve heard them speak of a coming warning in Garibaldi, Spain the seers saw this thing and they said God’s going to grant an illumination of conscience to the entire world all at once we will see our souls as if we were standing before God in judgment to servant of God, Stephano Gobi our lady said that it will be like a judgment in miniature. To Saint Faustina, she said, before the great day of justice, because right now we’re living in the day of mercy, right? This is what we celebrate today, the feast of mercy. But in Fatima, remember the vision of the kids? I don’t know if you know this, but there was an angel that appeared with a flaming sword about to strike the earth with chastisement. And then suddenly light came from Our Lady and stopped the angel. And so the angel turned to the earth and cried out three words, Penance, penance, penance. And with that, we were granted a time of mercy. How do we know? Because Jesus appeared to St. Faustina and said, I am prolonging now the time of mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to those who do not recognize this time. Those who refuse to pass through the door of my mercy must pass through the door of my justice. Before the day of justice I’m giving you, he said, the day of the Lord. I believe what I’m reading here right now in Revelation 6. This is the door of mercy closing in the door of justice. And people are experiencing this. They want to hide from God as they see themselves. You’ve heard people have near-death experiences. Their life flashes before them in a moment, like a movie. You’ve heard this. We’ve all heard that. That is what I’m talking about. So I’m reading this in 2005 now, and God’s got my attention. But I’m sitting here going, okay, but if this is a great storm like a hurricane, Lord, where is the eye of the storm, the calm? Well, I kept reading and I read that God now is telling the angels to hold back from touching the earth, from doing any damage to this land, the sea, the trees. And I realize, oh, God’s now about to act because up to this point, everything I’ve read to you, I believe this is man. In fact, I believe it’s deliberate. It’s a deliberate global revolution that you are going through. It sounds insane, doesn’t it? But it’s not. we’ve lived through communism tens of millions this is why Our Lady is appearing in mourning this is why icons of Our Lady are weeping all over the world blood why Jesus is weeping we hear about these statues weeping and the first thing we do is someone’s faking it scientists have studied it we can’t explain it so I read on and it says that first of all the angels are to go and to mark the foreheads of the seal of the heads of all the servants of God. And I’m realizing this seems to be a moment where the people who are wanting the rocks to fall on them are having to make a choice. Why? Because God is going to purify the world, and what is coming is an hour of peace. And so then I read, there’s seven seals, and I turn the page and I read. It says, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, There was silence in heaven for about half an hour. The eye of the storm. Heaven is silent. Heaven is giving humanity one last chance. And this time for the prodigal sons and daughters to come home. Now, I know many of you tonight, you’re listening to me. And some of you, because you love your kids and your grandkids so much, you’re thinking, what about them? Okay, Mark, I understand what you’re saying. And I’m doing what I can to get my life ready. But what about my kids? My kids don’t even go to church anymore. My grandkids don’t even know the faith. Jesus said these days would be like the days of Noah. They were buying and selling, giving and marriage, and all so on, right up until the day that God closed the door of the ark, and then the rains fell. And we’re like that today. We talk about the markets. We’re buying and selling, blah, blah, blah, right? Well, God said to us, he said, our lady said at Fatima, my immaculate heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God. Later on to Elizabeth Kindleman and in a revelation approved by the church, Jesus said, my mother is Noah’s ark. God is giving us an ark for this storm. And it’s the heart of Our Lady. It’s what God has chosen. Our Lady is not the end. No, she said, I will lead you to God. We see this primordial battle already in Genesis 3.15. The woman who the serpent strikes at her heel and she crushes his head. It says there will be a battle between her offspring and Satan’s offspring. We see this come back again in Revelation 12. The woman clothed with the sun, laboring to give birth, labor pains. Laboring to give birth to what? She’s already given birth to the head, Jesus. But now she’s laboring to give birth to us, the rest of God’s children and above all the Jews. who it says when the full number of Gentiles comes in in Romans, then the Jews will come in and embrace Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. It’s coming. It’s coming. So we have an ark and it’s our lady. And tonight I want to close this night. We’re going to do a prayer. And we can renew or do if you’ve never done, we’re going to consecrate ourselves to our lady. If you’ve never done it, we’re going to get in the ark so that you can leave here tonight not only knowing that you’re in the heart of Jesus through divine mercy, but you’re in God’s plan, which is to be in Our Lady’s heart. Look, God could have taken Moses and just floated him above the floodwaters, just held him in the clouds for 40 days. He didn’t. He decided to have Noah build an ark and then fill the ark and then get in the ark and then have enough faith that he wasn’t going to sink. now if I had built the ark I would have been terrified but Noah must have known what he was doing what I want to say to you about your children and your grandchildren is this you be Noah in your families what do I mean by this when God looked over the whole earth he said to Noah you’re the only righteous one I can find but God saved Noah and his family Noah got on that ark with his kids and their wives and his wife so what I’m saying to you if your kids have left the faith if your grandchildren are practicing if your kids do this I don’t want to hear it don’t tell me about Our Lady don’t send me Mark Malice writings I want to hear it don’t worry you be Noah by the way I remember a nun did send her nephew one of my writings left the church. He wrote her back and said, Auntie, she said, Auntie, don’t ever send me that garbage again. A year later, he entered the church. She asked him, she says, what happened? He said, Auntie, that writing you sent me started it all. Tonight, somebody, you’re going to go home. You’re going to be mad at me. You’re going to be frustrated because you don’t want to hear this. You’re thinking retirement right now. You’re thinking about that new car you’re buying. You want to think. You know what? We don’t know the God’s timeline. So, you know, here’s the thought, the thing though. Whether I say this or not tonight, you’re going to die. And are you living for heaven right now? Are you living for the kingdom now? What does it profit a man to gain his whole life and yet lose it? For those who lose their lives for my sake, Jesus said, will gain an eternal life. what a cheap exchange we do when we exchange it for the temporal things of this world. Therefore, St. Paul says, I consider all things rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ. Do you know Jesus tonight? Do you know him? You know what? We Catholics were baptized and Mother Church, wisely so, tells us we are obligated to come to Mass every Sunday. And so we come to Mass because we’re obligated. We did it with our parents. We feel in our hearts the right thing. We have a sense of our faith, but we keep God over here. And we’ve never really, truly opened our hearts to Jesus. And I want to know tonight, I want to ask you, have you truly opened your heart to Jesus? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Now, some of you are probably looking at me going, Oh Lord, he just sounds like Billy Graham up there tonight. You know what? I don’t. You know what I sound like? I sound like the catechism of the Catholic Church. Want me to quote it for you? Great is the mystery of our faith. The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed, celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy, so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit. This mystery then requires that the faithful, that we believe in it, that we celebrate it and that we live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. Have you, my brother, tonight, have you really opened your heart to Jesus and said, I want you to be my personal Lord and Savior? Remember what Jesus said to the apostles? I no longer call you slaves. I call you friends. Jesus says that to you tonight, the baptized. You’re my friend. You’re my brother. You’re my sister. But you know what? Some of us, we come to Mass and we put our two bucks in the basket like it’s a country club. And I’ve done my duty. In fact, I even joined the Knights. I help out. I raise a little bit of money. I’m good. But don’t ask me to open my heart to Christ. That’s too religious. Someone once said to me, no, no, no, no, no. They said, I don’t talk about my faith. I said, that’s private. She said, that’s private. Isaiah, no, it’s not. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. Nobody hides his light beneath a bushel basket. No, no, your faith is personal, but it ain’t private. It’s personal. It’s meant to be personal, that Jesus wants you to open your heart. But John Paul II said, sometimes Catholics have lost, have never had the chance to experience Christ personally. Not Christ as a mere paradigm or a value or a doctrine, but as the living Lord, the way, the truth, and the life. How do you experience Jesus as a living Lord? Revelation 3. Behold, I stand at the door of your heart and I knock. Whoever opens the door, I will enter and I will dine with him. it’s that simple Jesus I’ve been a Catholic for five decades six decades seven decades but I have never opened that door I am comfortable with you just outside that door but you can’t live like that anymore this great storm is bursting upon the world and Christ is forcing us lovingly forcing us using this storm to make a choice. And tonight, I’m inviting you to make a choice. Before you, it says in Sarak chapter one, God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice. If you choose, you can keep the commandments. Loyalty is doing the will of God. Jesus said, if you love me and keep my commandments and I will abide in you as I abide in the Father. Sarak continues and says, Set before you are fire and water. To whatever you choose, stretch out your hand. Before everyone are life and death. Whichever they choose will be given them. I believe that’s the sixth seal ultimately, but that’s right now, right tonight, right here. We don’t have to wait. I think that’s going to be a collective thing in the future. We don’t know how soon. We don’t know when. But right now, Jesus tonight is saying to you, I want you to open your heart to me because I love you. I died for you. And I forgive you of every sin if you simply ask me. If you say to me, Jesus, come in my heart, I will come. I will enter and I will dine with you. You know, the good thing about Jesus is that whenever he comes, he says, I will enter and dine with you. It’s always take out with Jesus. He always brings the food. he does he just brings it i don’t know how many times i have not felt like praying and i sit down and i pray and jesus brings the takeout and oh my the dryness turns to water the thirst turns to satiation come to me all you who thirst without money without having to pay come to me it says in isaiah as you well know said john paul ii our faith is not a matter of passing on a doctrine, but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Savior. Have you met Jesus, brother and sister? I suspect most of you have. You wouldn’t be here. It’s a remnant coming out to these things now. But I can tell you tonight, I stand here, and I want to say to Jesus, Lord, I want to open my heart wide. John Paul II said, he didn’t say, open your heart. No, he said, open wide your hearts to Jesus. and if you’re afraid tonight of the things I’m saying to you that’s why you need to open your heart because it says in 1 John perfect love casts out all fear and I can tell you tonight that man made a death threat to me and I’m not afraid because I feel Jesus living in me and I love that man and I pray for him Jesus said bless your enemies bless those who curse you pray for them I pray God tonight would you join me in this prayer all you got to say amen Lord for that man who made a death threat to me today we pray for him we pray for his salvation for his healing that we will all see him in heaven today amen amen where two or three or anything in my name Jesus said I’m listening and don’t worry if you’ve screwed up your past don’t worry if you’ve messed things up because some of you are you’re thinking right now you’re struggling with your past you need to let go that’s the accuser of the brethren if you went to confession for this divine feast this divine mercy God has forgiven you whenever you go to confession and you sincerely confess everything that you can remember and you honestly confess God wipes it all and God can still use your broken past. Some of you are sitting here going, I’ve screwed up. I was not a good parent. I’ve messed up. And believe me, I’m a father of eight kids. I’ve not been a perfect father. I’ve made mistakes. I remember driving through the field, the farm field, my father-in-law’s field, and we were going through this pasture and there were these mounds. And I noticed on these mounds, there’s flowers. And I asked, I said, Dad, what’s with all these mounds through this field? He said, oh, years ago, my brother-in-law, Eric, was cleaning the corrals and he dumped manure in all these piles. And we were going to come back and spread them. But we forgot. We just never got to what he said. You know what I noticed? Everywhere there was a pile, the grass was greenest. Wildflowers growing out of them. You see, God can make something beautiful come out of the pile of crap that you’ve made of your life. He can. He makes all things work to the good for those who love Him. But do you love Him? Do you love Jesus? If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. You know, that’s just simple. You’re seeing creation love God every day. When those geese fly in, they are following the will of the Creator. Every day the sun rises because the planet is obeying the laws of the creator. And water melts and the trees give forth their life and the plants grow. You see, you and I, we’re like that. We’re like, we’re supposed to be like planet earth circling the sun. But when we sin, especially mortally sin, we fall out of our orbit and we’re in absolute chaos. Did you know that if the earth was off its tilt by half a degree, it would throw our seasons into chaos? The world would probably collapse. God is so refined. And this is why Jesus wants you to keep his commandments. It’s not about keeping rules. It’s about love. Which commandment of Christ isn’t about love? Do not commit adultery. Is that about love of your bride? Do not steal. Is that not love about respect for your neighbor? I can’t think of one commandment that you break that we don’t wake up the next morning and go, oh, man, if not with a hangover. Right. God’s commandments are like guardrails on a mountain. They’re there to keep you from going off the mountain into catastrophe. But we think it’s to keep us from freedom, from flying. Oh, to heck with God and his rules. And what do you mean I can’t sleep with my girlfriend? We’re in love. You don’t even wait till marriage. Are you kidding? We get in the car and we go to the drive to the guardrail and. And over the guardrail we go and we’re like, we’re free. I’m exercising my freedom. I’ve thrown off the shackles of the church. And to the bottom of the valley. And all of a sudden her heart’s broken or she’s pregnant. or you have a venereal disease or whatever. Often it’s just your heart’s broken and scarred because you know you used somebody or you were used. God’s laws are there to lead us to heaven. And this is the fulfillment of the law, Jesus said. Love God with all your heart, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the commandments. Do that. Love. It was a Saint Augustine who said, love and do as you will. One of the saints. Love and do as you will. Because if you love, you will never hurt. Hurt people hurt people. And that’s why Jesus wants us to follow him. In closing, just a few more little tips for you for this great storm. Did you know that in 2 Corinthians, after Saint Paul talks about the restrainer, when he talks about the Antichrist, did you know that he actually gives the antidote what to do? He says this. Let me turn to it. At the very end of the chapter, after telling and warning about all the temptations that are going to come, the deceptions, false signs and wonders of Satan, like artificial intelligence, he gives the antidote. And I’ve just been talking about it. He says this. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. Follow my church. Some of you tonight, you’re struggling. You’re struggling with Pope Francis. You’re struggling now with Pope Leo. You see it all over the media. Look, did not Jesus tell us a parable in Matthew 6? He said, who’s the wise one who builds his house and rock? That’s the wise one. When the storms come and the floods and the winds, the house stands because it was built on rock. Now, do you think Jesus is a wise builder? He is. And he built his house and rock. Peter, you are rock. And on this rock, I will build my church. Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean our popes are personally infallible. They’re not. Peter denied Christ. We’ve had popes that sold their papacy, that slept with women, that fathered children, that were all about money. Ah, the storms came and the winds blew, but the house stands today. The house stands today. The church is here today. And it will be here when you’re gone and when Pope Leo’s gone and we’re all gone. it will still be here until the end of time. So that’s the first thing. If you struggle with the teaching of the church, the answer is this. Humble yourself before the teachings. Get on your knees and say, Holy Spirit, come now and lead me into all truth and help me to understand what our mother church is teaching. I had to do that with birth control when I first got married. Oh, would I have to abstain? But I followed what the church taught. and in exchange God gave me eight babies. The other thing is this. I just said to you, we need to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me, I will remain in you and you will bear fruit because without me, you can do nothing. You need to remain in Jesus and to have a personal relationship with Christ. But this is what the catechism says. prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Prayer is. So if you’re not praying from day to day, spending time with the Lord, you don’t have a relationship with God. Because I’m looking at you, ma’am, in the front row. I don’t have a relationship with you. The reason is we don’t talk to each other. I don’t know you. But you know, after tonight, if we go to Boston Pizza, we spend an hour together. And you’ll buy, of course. But if we spend an hour together, we’ll start to know each other. It would be beautiful. Sit down with all three of these women of Jerusalem in the front row. I don’t know them. I don’t have a relationship. Same thing with God. Same thing with you married couples. some of you aren’t talking to each other and you’re letting Satan get into your marriage stop it humble yourself begin to listen and love one another prayer is the life of the new heart it says in the catechism did you hear me prayer is the life of the new heart this is why some of us Catholics who go to mass Sunday after Sunday month after month year after year are dying because we’re not praying with Jesus. And prayer is the living relationship. That is the personal relationship. And St. Teresa of Avila said this. What is prayer? It’s simply a close sharing between two friends. It means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who loves us. Beautiful. So tonight, before you leave, I want you to make a commitment in your heart that you will spend time every day with Jesus. You can carve out time for supper. And as you carve out time for supper, you need to carve out time for prayer. In fact, you can miss supper, you can fast, but you can’t miss prayer. You need to remain in Jesus. For without me, you could do nothing. And when you’re praying, read your Bible. This is God’s word to you. It’s his love letter to you. I pray in Jesus’ name tonight, Lord, may your Holy Spirit stir in my brothers and sisters a new thirst and hunger for the Word of God, which Scripture says is a living sword. A living sword. I don’t know how many times I can read the Bible and it’s like the first time. It’s amazing because it’s living. Jesus is the Word made flesh. So read your Bibles so that you can hear God talk to you. It’s good when you pray, pour out your heart before the Lord, talk to him as a friend, but make sure you listen to his answer. And when you fall, and you will fall, return to him. The church teaches that we ought to go to confession, even with our venial sin. Did you know that? Now, when you and I sin venially, mortal sin, you know the big serious sins, you know what they are, murder, adultery, that type of thing. They’re very grave, because they’re such a grave sin. They break grace with God. But did you know that our venial sins don’t break with God? It says in the catechism, they don’t break friendship with God. So listen, when you go home tonight or you get in the car tonight to drive home and your wife knocks over that cold cup of coffee you got sitting in there and you get mad at her, and you’re like, oh, I shouldn’t have lost my patience. Those are sins out of weakness. They don’t break friendship with God. And I’m saying this, why am I saying this? Because some of you here tonight are scrupulous. and you feel if you sin after confession, you can’t be at peace, that you’ve got to go back to confession now and you can’t have peace until you… That’s a lie from the pit of hell. Your venial sins, God will forgive them when you kneel by your bed. But the Catechism says, if we confess our venial sins regularly, it helps us form our conscience to fight against evil tendencies and let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. Sometimes I have gone to confession deeply oppressed and I have walked out like a deer, just full of joy, bounding. You know what I’m talking about, yeah. It’s beautiful. I love this sacrament. But some of you are sitting there going, I don’t want to go, I don’t want Father to know. I don’t want Father to know my sins. You are depriving yourself of so much grace. You know what? Father has heard everything. Ask Father. Ask your priest. Father, have you heard everything? I’ve heard everything. They don’t care. They’ve heard it all. They just want to set you free. In fact, many priests say they are so blessed when you come. And it moves their hearts to deeper conversion. St. Pio said, I don’t want to keep my spiritual children away for more than eight days. Eight days. Weekly confession. Our Lady of Medjugorje recommended once a month. John Paul said, it would be an illusion to seek after holiness according to your vocation without partaking frequently of this sacrament. Before we take a moment now to make a choice tonight for Jesus, for Christ, and to get in the ark, I want to close with this word. tonight’s a cold shower i know it i have no pleasure in speaking about things that i know can be fearful but saint francis de sales wrote this very beautiful thing he said do not fear what may happen tomorrow the same loving father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. 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. Amen. Jesus said the woman who labors, she’s caught in her pains and that’s what she’s thinking about. But when the baby comes, she forgets her pain and she’s full of joy. I want you to see when you turn on your TV and you see the news and all this, you and your family, you step back. And with a grin on your face, in a certain way, you say, these are the labor pains. There’s a new birth coming. Hallelujah, Jesus. And pray. Pray for all the people who are suffering. because that’s terrible. We don’t want to see this. Pray for this, that God will use this to save their souls. But what is coming? Our Lady said this at Fatima, in the end, my immaculate heart will triumph and the world will be granted a period of peace. And I think we might see that even in our lifetimes.
So grateful for your prayers and support.
Thank you!
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