{"id":23998,"date":"2016-05-13T00:47:21","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T06:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=23998"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:57:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:57:43","slug":"more-on-our-trials-and-triumphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/more-on-our-trials-and-triumphs\/","title":{"rendered":"More on Our Trials and Triumphs","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two“Two Deaths”<\/em>, by Michael D. O\u2019Brien <\/span><\/p>\n

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IN<\/strong> a response to my article Fear, Fire, and a “Rescue”<\/a>?<\/em>,\u00a0Charlie Johnston wrote At Sea<\/a> <\/em>with his perspective on future events, thereby sharing with readers more\u00a0of the private dialogues we’ve had\u00a0in the past. This\u00a0provides, I think, a crucial opportunity to underscore some of the most important aspects of my own mission and calling that newer readers may not be aware of.<\/p>\n

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I did not wake up one morning and say, “Ah, this would be a good day to scuttle my music career and reputation.”\u00a0For among the topics I have been compelled to address, namely, the “signs of the times”\u00a0in the context of the “end times”, they do not win one popularity contests. In fact, they have earned me many adversaries. And to be honest, this contention has always puzzled me since eschatology (the study of the “last things”) is a central aspect of Sacred Tradition. Why we avoid it like a leprous colony is an interesting topic in itself. For the New Testament writings of the early Church were often set in the context of the anticipated return of Jesus\u00a0and the signs that would precede it; that is, they lived with the constant expectation of Christ’s return.<\/em> Why do we, then, not “watch and pray” as they did and as the Lord commanded, especially <\/em>when these signs are emerging all around us without precedence? I suspect it is precisely because, as Pope Benedict put it…<\/p>\n

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…the disciples\u2019 sleepiness is not a problem of that one moment, rather of the whole of history, \u2018the sleepiness\u2019 is ours, of those of us who do not want to see the full force of evil and do not want to enter into his Passion. <\/span><\/strong>\u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Vatican City, Apr 20, 2011, General Audience, Catholic News Agency<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sometimes people use the excuse that we are called to live in the “present moment”, so that they may avoid\u00a0having to “look up” and confront the tide of evil that is sweeping over the earth. Conversely, some also allow the signs of the times to carry them away from the duty of the moment and abandonment to God. There is a middle ground; for the one who ignores the encroaching evil will suddenly be overtaken by a “present moment” void of freedom; and the one who acts in fear will only multiply fear, instead of becoming a light in the darkness. My dear friend and mentor, Michael D. O’Brien, put it this way:<\/p>\n

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The widespread reluctance on the part of many Catholic thinkers to enter into a profound examination of the apocalyptic elements of contemporary life is, I believe, part of the very problem which they seek to avoid. If apocalyptic thinking is left largely to those who have been subjectivized or who have fallen prey to the vertigo of cosmic terror, then the Christian community, indeed the whole human community, is radically impoverished. And that can be measured in terms of lost human souls<\/em>.<\/span><\/strong> \u2013Author, Michael D. O\u2019Brien, Are We Living In Apocalyptic Times?<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, that is what this apostolate is all about: saving human souls<\/em>. And thus, the Lord “interrupted” my television and music career to draw me into this writing apostolate so as to prepare readers for “the Passion of the Church.” This ministry is just one sliver in the big scheme. I mean, I am addressing a fraction of the English-speaking world, who are a fraction of the seven\u00a0billion inhabitants of the earth. I am just one tiny helper among many\u00a0assisting Our Lord and Our Lady. Moreover, the Lord warned me from the very\u00a0beginning that many would not welcome the\u00a0message. So I am speaking to a true remnant of the remnant.<\/p>\n

Still, I want\u00a0to be as faithful as I can to the Lord’s invitation, which began in 2002 when Pope John Paul II called us youth\u00a0to become “protagonists of the new times” [1]<\/sup><\/a>POPE JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, International Airport of Madrid-Baraja, May 3rd, 2003; www.fjp2.com<\/span><\/span>