{"id":3469,"date":"2024-10-04T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T04:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2025-05-13T19:27:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T23:27:43","slug":"the-popes-and-a-dawning-new-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-popes-and-a-dawning-new-age\/","title":{"rendered":"The Popes and the Dawning Era","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said:
\n“<\/strong><\/span>Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning<\/strong><\/span>
\nand shown the dawn its place<\/strong><\/span>
\nfor taking hold of the ends of the earth,<\/strong><\/span>
\ntill the wicked are shaken from its surface?”
\n<\/strong>(Job 38: 1, 12-13)<\/span><\/p>\n

We thank you because your Son is to come again in majesty to
\njudge those who have refused to repent and acknowledge you;
\nwhile to all who have acknowledged you,
\nworshiped you, and served you in penitence, He will
\nsay: Come, you blessed of my Father, take possession<\/em>
\nof the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning<\/em>
\nof the world.<\/em>
\n<\/strong>\u2014St. Francis of Assisi,The Prayers of Saint Francis<\/em>,
\nAlan Name, Tr. \u00a9 1988, New City Press
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/strong>T<\/span>here can be no doubt that the pontiffs of the last century have been exercising their prophetic office so as to awaken believers to the drama unfolding in our day (see Why Aren’t the Popes Shouting?<\/a><\/em>). It is a decisive battle between the culture of life and the culture of death… the woman clothed with the sun\u2014in labor\u00a0<\/em>to give\u00a0birth to a new era\u2014versus<\/em>\u00a0the dragon who seeks to destroy <\/em>it, if not attempt to establish his\u00a0own kingdom and “new age”\u00a0(see Rev 12:1-4; 13:2). But\u00a0while we know Satan will fail, Christ will not. The great Marian saint, Louis de Montfort,\u00a0frames it well:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Your divine commandments are broken, your Gospel is thrown aside, torrents of iniquity flood the whole earth carrying away even your servants\u2026 Will everything come to the same end as Sodom and Gomorrah? Will you never break your silence? Will you tolerate all this for ever? Is it not true that your will must be done on earth as it is in heaven? Is it not true that your kingdom must come? Did you not give to some souls, dear to you, a vision of the future renewal of the Church?<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014St. Louis de Montfort,<\/span> Prayer for Missionaries<\/em>, n. 5;\u00a0www.ewtn.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Speaking in an informal statement given to a group of German Catholics in 1980, Pope John Paul spoke of this\u00a0coming renewal of the Church:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to<\/span><\/strong><\/span>alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise.<\/strong> \u2014Regis Scanlon, “Flood and Fire”, Homiletic & Pastoral Review<\/em>, April 1994<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” said early Church Father, Tertullian. [1]<\/sup><\/a>160-220 A.D., Apologeticum<\/em>, n. 50<\/span><\/span>