{"id":16902,"date":"2016-12-21T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T06:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=16902"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:57:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:57:35","slug":"our-compass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/our-compass\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Compass","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
\n for Wednesday, December 21st, 2016<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts\u00a0here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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IN<\/strong>\u00a0the Spring of 2014, I went through a terrible darkness. I felt tremendous doubts, surges of fear, despair, terror, and abandonment. I began one\u00a0day with prayer as usual, and then\u2026 she came.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Our Lady\u2019s presence was so beautiful, so powerful, so gentle, so in control, so reassuring, so consoling\u2026. The effects of that afternoon still linger on. I fell in love with our Mother even more that day because I felt how in love she is with Jesus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,\u00a0cried out in a loud voice and said…\u00a0how does this happen to me,\u00a0that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (Today’s Gospel)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As I lingered in the moment, I felt a strange\u00a0urge to play a song I had just downloaded from the band Rascal Flatts. It is the soundtrack from the movie Heaven is for Real<\/em>\u00a0(below). <\/em>As I listened to the words, I could hear Our Mother speaking these words to my heart! I was moved to tears.<\/p>\n

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For see, the winter is past,\u00a0the rains are over and gone.\u00a0The flowers appear on the earth… (Today’s first reading)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since then, I cannot listen to that song without getting chills… without hearing Mama.<\/p>\n

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Blessed are you who believed\u00a0that what was spoken to you by the Lord\u00a0would be fulfilled. (Today’s Gospel)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As Christmas draws near,\u00a0I have sensed the Lord tell me again that every day counts, every writing counts… time is short. <\/em>I don’t fully understand what that means, but the urgency of it is unmistakable. I believe we\u00a0are now entering a\u00a0most painful\u00a0part of the Storm for the Church and the world. Would I write such a thing to scare you? Of course not… only to prepare you, to awaken you, to urge you on, to tell you to grab Mother’s hand and get up again, to not be afraid, to be a light and comfort to others, and to trust in Jesus with all your heart\u2014despite the trials that will assail the world\u2014trials which He permits through His sovereign will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But the plan of the LORD stands forever;\u00a0the design of his heart, through all generations…\u00a0Our soul waits for the LORD,\u00a0who is our help and our shield,\u00a0For in him our hearts rejoice;\u00a0in his holy name we trust. (Today’s Psalm)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Our Lady says to you and me this in this night:\u00a0I’ll be the one to guide you. My love will be your compass\u2014I will lead you home…<\/em><\/p>\n

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Listen below…<\/p>\n

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