{"id":26773,"date":"2017-03-17T14:06:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T20:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=26773"},"modified":"2020-03-26T01:50:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T07:50:04","slug":"turn-on-the-headlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/turn-on-the-headlights\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn On the Headlights","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
\nfor March 16\u201317th, 2017
\nThursday-Friday of the Second Week of Lent<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

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JADED. <\/b>Disappointed. Betrayed\u2026 those are some of the feelings many have after watching one failed prediction after another in recent years. We were told the \u201cmillenium\u201d computer bug, or Y2K, would bring the end of modern civilization as we know it when the clocks turned January 1st,\u00a02000\u2026 but nothing happened beyond the echoes\u00a0of Auld Lang Syne. Then there were the spiritual predictions of those, such as the late Fr. Stefano Gobbi, that foretold the climax of the Great Tribulation around the same period. This was followed by more failed predictions regarding the date of the so-called \u201cWarning\u201d, of an economic collapse, of no 2017 Presidential Inauguration in the U.S.,\u00a0etc..<\/p>\n

So you might find it odd for me to say that, at this hour in the world, we need prophecy more than ever. <\/i>Why? In the Book of Revelation, an angel says to St. John:<\/p>\n

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Witness to Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Rev 19:10)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY<\/p>\n

A celibate priest, a monk, a nun, consecrated virgins, etc\u2026 they are \u201cprophets\u201d by virtue of their intrinsic vocation, which essentially says they are forsaking something of this world for the next. Their lives become a \u201cword\u201d that points to the Transcendent. So too with parents who generously open their hearts to life, thus proclaiming values beyond the material. And last are the men, women, and young people who not only proclaim and defend the truth, but abide in He-who-is-Truth through a real and living relationship with God, deepened by contemplative prayer, sustained by the Sacraments, and evidenced through their lives.<\/p>\n

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The Church needs saints. All are called to holiness, and holy people alone can renew humanity.<\/b> \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, World Youth Day Message for 2005, Vatican City, Aug. 27th, 2004, Zenit.org<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But this is only one aspect of prophecy. The other is to convey \u201cwhat the Spirit is saying\u201d to the Church: the word of God. These “prophetic revelations,” says Pope Benedict,<\/p>\n

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\u2026help us to understand the signs of the times and to respond to them rightly in faith.<\/b> \u2014”Message of Fatima\u201d, Theological Commentary, www.vatican.va<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although in Jesus “the Father has spoken the definitive word about mankind and its history,\u201d [1]<\/sup><\/a>POPE JOHN PAUL II, Tertio Millenio<\/a>, <\/i>n. 5<\/span><\/span>