{"id":6722,"date":"2011-10-06T11:22:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T17:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/surprised-by-love\/"},"modified":"2019-03-14T15:57:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T21:57:34","slug":"surprised-by-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/surprised-by-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprised by Love","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe Prodigal Son, the Return <\/span><\/em>by Tissot Jacques Joseph, 1862<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE <\/strong>Lord has been speaking non-stop since I arrived here in Paray-le-Monial. So much so, that he has been waking me up to converse in the night! Yes, I would think I was crazy too if it were not for my spiritual director ordering<\/em> me to listen!<\/p>\n

As we watch the world descend into unprecedented paganism, the gap between rich and poor continue to grow, and the innocence of children increasingly endangered by hedonistic ideologies, there is a cry rising from the Body of Christ for God to intervene. I hear more frequently these days Christians calling out for the fire of God to fall and purify this earth.<\/p>\n

But God has always surprised His people with mercy <\/em>when justice was deserving, both in the New and Old Testaments. I believe the Lord is preparing to surprise us again in a most unprecedented way. I hope to share more of these thoughts with you over the next few days as the World Congress of the Sacred Heart begins this evening here in this little French town where the Sacred Heart was revealed to St. Marguerite-Mary.<\/p>\n

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SURPRISED BY LOVE<\/p>\n

The Mass readings the past few days have been about Nineveh which God threatened to destroy if the city would not repent. The prophet Jonah was sent to warn them, and the people, in fact, did repent. This frustrated Jonah who thought this might happen, thus leaving his prophecy unfulfilled\u2014and egg on his face.<\/p>\n

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I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish. And now, LORD, please take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the LORD asked, “Have you reason to be angry? …should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left…?” (Jonah 4:2-3, 11)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There are several things I want to point out. First, Nineveh is a symbol of today’s “culture of death.” It was described by the Jews as ‘the bloody city, full of lies and robbery.’ [1]<\/sup><\/a>The Destruction of Nineveh, <\/em>David Padfield<\/span><\/span>