{"id":34440,"date":"2018-05-31T18:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=34440"},"modified":"2018-06-04T11:37:12","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T17:37:12","slug":"challenging-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/challenging-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging the Church","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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IF\u00a0<\/strong>you are looking for someone to tell you that everything’s going to be okay, that the world is simply going to go on as it is, that the Church is not in a serious crisis, and that humanity is not facing a day of reckoning\u2014or that Our Lady is simply going to appear out of the blue and rescue us all so that we won’t have to suffer, or that Christians will be “raptured” from the earth… then you have come to the wrong place.<\/p>\n

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AUTHENTIC HOPE<\/p>\n

Oh yes, I have a word of hope to give, incredible hope: both the popes<\/a> and Our Lady<\/a> have proclaimed that there is a “new dawn” coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ!<\/strong> \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World, XVII World Youth Day, n. 3; (cf. Is 21:11-12)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But dawn is preceded by night, birth preceded by pangs, springtime preceded by winter.<\/p>\n

True Christians are not blind optimists who have once and for all put the Cross behind them. Nor are they pessimists who see nothing but \"\"suffering ahead. Rather, they are realists who know that three things always remain:\u00a0faith, hope,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0love\u2014<\/em>even when Storm clouds gather.<\/p>\n

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But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit. On razed land life breaks through, stubbornly yet invincibly. However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world beauty is born anew, it rises transformed through the storms of history. Values always tend to reappear under new guises, and human beings have arisen time after time from situations that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the resurrection, and all who evangelize are instruments of that power<\/strong>. \u2014POPE FRANCIS,Evangelii Gaudium<\/em><\/a>, n. 276<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, some things I write can be a bit “scary.” Because the consequences of turning against God are themselves scary and no trifle. They can not only shatter our personal lives but entire nations and generations to come.<\/p>\n

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SOAPBOX… OR SENTINEL?<\/p>\n

Some think this website is a mere soapbox for personal rantings. If you only knew how often I have wanted to\u00a0run\u00a0<\/em>from this apostolate. In fact, the Lord knew<\/em> such would be the case\u2014that like Jonah of old, I would prefer to be thrown overboard into the depths of the sea than face a hostile crowd (ah, The Temptation to be Normal.<\/a><\/em>)\u00a0And thus at the beginning of this writing ministry twelve years ago, He gave me a few Scriptures to challenge my self-love and “commit” me to His work. They came from the thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel, who was himself a “watchman” for the Lord.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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You, son of man \u2014 I have appointed you as a sentinel for the house of Israel; when you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them for me. When I say to the wicked, \u201cYou wicked, you must die,\u201d and you do not speak up to warn the wicked about their ways, they shall die in their sins, but I will hold you responsible for their blood. If, however, you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, but they do not, then they shall die in their sins, but you shall save your life. (Ezekiel 33:7-9)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I remember that day clearly. There was a strange peace in that word, but it was also firm and convicting. It has kept my hand to the plow all these years; either I was to be a coward, or to \"\"be faithful. And then I read the end of that chapter, which made me chuckle:<\/p>\n

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My people come to you, gathering as a crowd and sitting in front of you to hear your words, but they will not act on them… For them you are only a singer of love songs, with a pleasant voice and a clever touch. They listen to your words, but they do not obey them. But when it comes \u2014 and it is surely coming! \u2014 they shall know that there was a prophet among them. (Ezekiel 33:31-33)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Well, I claim to neither have a pleasant voice nor to be a prophet. But I got the point: God is going to pull out all the stops; He’s going to send not only prophetic voice after voice, seer after seer, mystic after mystic, but also His very Mother<\/em> to warn and call humanity back to Himself. But have we listened?<\/p>\n

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Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. <\/em><\/strong>\u2014Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul<\/em>, Diary, n. 848\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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AWAKE OR ASLEEP?<\/p>\n

As the Pope also said, we are no doubt “living in a time of mercy.”[1]<\/sup><\/a>cf.\u00a0Opening Wide the Doors of Mercy<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span>