{"id":39426,"date":"2020-03-05T02:59:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T08:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=39426"},"modified":"2020-03-05T12:39:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T18:39:05","slug":"dear-sons-and-daughters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/dear-sons-and-daughters\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Sons and Daughters","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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THERE<\/strong> are many young people who read\u00a0The Now Word <\/em>as well as families who’ve told me that they share these writings around the table. One mother wrote:<\/p>\n

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You have changed my family’s world because of the newsletters I read from you and pass on. I believe your gift is helping us live a “holier” life (I mean that in the way of praying more often, trusting Mary more, Jesus more, going to Confession in a more meaningful way, having a deeper desire to serve and live a saintly life…). To which I say “THANK YOU!”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a family who has understood the underlying prophetic “purpose” of this apostolate:\u00a0<\/p>\n

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…prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future…\u00a0this is the point: [private revelations] help us to understand the signs of the times and to respond to them rightly in faith.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI),\u00a0\u201cMessage of Fatima\u201d, Theological Commentary, www.vatican.va<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, many prophecies from saints and mystics alike do<\/em> speak of the future\u2014if only to call us back to God in the present moment, impelled as it were by the “signs of the times.”<\/p>\n

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The prophet is someone who tells the truth on the strength of his contact with God\u2014the truth for today, which also, naturally, sheds light on the future. <\/strong>\u2014Cardinal Joseph\u00a0Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI), Christian Prophecy, The Post-Biblical Tradition, <\/em>Niels Christian Hvidt, Foreword, p. vii<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So, reading The Now Word\u00a0<\/em>is admittedly sobering from time to time as we appear closer to the fulfillment of many prophecies that speak of “chastisement”, “tribulation”, etc. As such, many young people are wondering what the future is bringing: Is there hope or just desolation? Is there a purpose or just pointlessness? Should they make plans or just hunker down? Should they go to college, get married, have children… or just wait out the Storm? Many are beginning to fight tremendous fear and disillusionment, if not depression.<\/p>\n

And so, I want to speak from the heart to all my young readers, to my little brothers and sisters and even my own sons and daughters, some whom have now entered their twenties.<\/p>\n

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TRUE HOPE\u00a0<\/p>\n

I can’t speak for you, but the approach of Spring, the trickling of melting snow, the warm touch of my wife, the laughter of a friend, the sparkle in my grandchildren’s eyes… they daily remind me of what a great gift life<\/em> is, despite any suffering. That, and there is the joy of the realization that I am loved<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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The Lord\u2019s acts of mercy are not exhausted, his compassion is not spent; they are renewed each morning \u2014 great is your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, never forget this: even when you fail, even when you sin, it can no more impede God’s love for you than a cloud can stop the sun from shining. Yes, it’s true that the clouds of our sin can make our souls overcast with \"\"sadness, and selfishness can plunge the heart into deep darkness. It is also true that sin, if serious enough, can completely negate the effects <\/em>of God’s love (i.e. grace, power, peace, light, joy, etc.) the way a heavy rain cloud can steal away the warmth and light of the sun. Yet, just as that same cloud cannot snuff out the sun itself, so too, your sin can never<\/em> extinguish God’s love for you. Sometimes this thought alone makes me want to cry for joy. Because now I can quit trying so darn hard to get God to love me (the way we try so hard to win another’s admiration) and just rest and trust <\/em>in His love (and if you forget how much <\/em>God loves you, just look at the Cross). Repentance or turning from sin, then, is not about making myself lovable to God but becoming who He created me to be so that I have the capacity to love Him, <\/em>who already loves me.<\/p>\n

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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us<\/span>. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In fact, St. Paul reveals that his happiness in this life wasn’t based in having things, fulfilling worldly pursuits and dreams, gaining wealth and notoriety, or even living in a country free of war or persecution. Rather, his joy came from knowing that he was loved<\/em> and pursuing the One who is Love itself.<\/p>\n

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Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)
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Therein lies true <\/em>hope for your future: no matter what happens, you are loved. <\/em>And when you accept that Divine Love, live by that Love, and seek above all else that Love, then everything else on earth\u2014the best foods, adventures, and even holy relationships\u2014pales in comparison. Total abandonment to God is the root of eternal happiness.<\/p>\n

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Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence<\/span>…<\/strong><\/span> \u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church, <\/em>n. 301<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That, too, is the testimony of countless saints and martyrs who’ve gone before you. Why? Because they weren’t fixated on what this world has to offer and were even willing to lose everything in order to possess God. Thus, some of the saints even longed to live in the days that you and I are now living because they knew it would involve heroic love. And now we’re getting down to it\u2014and why you were born for these times:<\/p>\n

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Listening to Christ and worshipping Him leads us to make courageous choices, to take what are sometimes heroic decisions. Jesus is demanding, because He wishes our genuine happiness.<\/em> The Church needs saints. All are called to holiness, and holy people alone can renew humanity. <\/strong>\u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, World Youth Day Message for 2005, Vatican City, Aug. 27th, 2004, Zenit.org<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But is there even a future to look foward to?<\/p>\n

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THE REALITY OF OUR TIMES<\/p>\n

Several years ago, a distraught young man wrote me. He was reading about the coming purification of the world<\/a> and was wondering why he should even bother to publish a new book that he was working on. I replied that there are a few reasons why he absolutely should<\/em>. One, is that none of us knows God’s timeline. As St. Faustina and the popes have said, we are living in a “time of mercy.” But God’s Mercy is like an elastic band that stretches to the point of breaking… and then some little nun in a convent in the middle of nowhere<\/a> gets on her face before the Blessed Sacrament and gains for the world another decade of reprieve. You see, that young man wrote me about 14 years ago. I hope he published that book.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, what is coming upon the earth is not the end of the world but the end of this era. Now, I didn’t lie to that young man; I didn’t give him false hope and tell him that there’s nothing to be concerned about or that there wouldn’t be difficult times ahead. Rather, I told him that, like Jesus, the Body of Christ must now follow its Head through her own passion, death and resurrection<\/em>. As it says in the Catechism<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.<\/span> <\/strong><\/span>\u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church, <\/em>n. 677<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Still, the thought of this bothered him. It may even make you sad and apprehensive: “Why can’t things just stay the way they are?”<\/p>\n

Well, I want to ask you a question: do you really<\/em> want this world to continue as it is? Do you really want a future where in order to get ahead, you have to go into debt? A future of barely getting by, even with a college degree? A world where robots will soon eliminate tens of millions of jobs? A society where fear, anger, and violence dominates our daily news? A culture where tearing others down on social media has become the norm? A world where the planet \"\"and our bodies are being poisoned<\/a> by chemicals, pesticides and toxins resulting in new and horrific diseases? A place where you cannot feel safe walking in your own neighborhood? A world where we have madmen in control of nuclear missiles? A culture where sexually transmitted diseases and suicide are epidemic? A society where drug use is escalating and human trafficking spreading like a plague? A milieu where pornography is degrading and entrapping your friends and family if not yourself? A generation that says there are no moral absolutes, while reinventing “truth” and silencing those who disagree? A world where political leaders believe in nothing and say anything just to stay in power?<\/p>\n

I think you get the point. St. Paul wrote that in Christ, “all things hold together.”<\/em> [1]<\/sup><\/a>Colossians 1:17<\/span><\/span>