{"id":8325,"date":"2012-04-12T12:41:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T18:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=8325"},"modified":"2017-09-15T00:23:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T04:23:40","slug":"entering-the-prodigal-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/entering-the-prodigal-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"Entering the Prodigal Hour","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

THERE<\/strong> is much on my heart to write and speak about in the days ahead that is serious and important in the big scheme of things. In the meantime, Pope Benedict continues to speak lucidly and candidly about the future the world faces. It is no surprise that he is echoing the warnings of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, in her person, is a prototype and mirror<\/em> of the Church. That is, there should be a consistency between her and Sacred Tradition, between the prophetic word of the body of Christ and her authentic apparitions. The central and synchronous message is one of both warning and hope: warning<\/em> that the world is on the very precipice of disaster due to its present course; and hope<\/em> that, if we turn back to God, He can heal our nations. I want to write more about Pope Benedict’s powerful homily given this past Easter Vigil. But for now, we cannot underestimate the seriousness of his warning:<\/p>\n

The darkness that poses a real threat to mankind, after all, is the fact that he can see and investigate tangible material things, but cannot see where the world is going or whence it comes, where our own life is going, what is good and what is evil. The darkness enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence<\/em> and to the world in general. If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness, then all other \u201clights\u201d, that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk<\/em>.<\/strong> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Easter Vigil Homily<\/a>, April 7th, 2012 (emphasis mine)<\/span><\/p>\n

And thus, the world has arrived at The Prodigal Hour<\/em>: a period of both hope and warning…<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First published March 15th, 2011:<\/em><\/p>\n

EVEN<\/strong> after he was completely broke having blown his entire inheritance, the prodigal son would not come home. Even after\u00a0a famine swept\u00a0through the land, he would not come home. Even after he\u2014a jewish boy\u2014could only find a job feeding pigs<\/em>, he would not come home. It wasn’t until he was up to his knees in the pig slop of sin that the prodigal son finally had an “illumination of conscience<\/a>” (cf. Luke 15:11-32). It was only then, when he was utterly broken, that he was finally capable of looking inward<\/em>… and then homeward<\/em> again.<\/p>\n

And it is this place of poverty that leads to self-knowledge where the world must now go before it too can receive its “illumination”…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NIGHT MUST FALL<\/p>\n

This morning in prayer, I sensed the Father say:<\/p>\n

\n

My child, brace your soul for the events which must take place. Do not be afraid, for fear is a sign of a weak faith and impure love.\u00a0Rather, trust wholeheartedly in all that I will accomplish upon the face of the earth. Only then, in the “fullness of night,” will My people be able to recognize the light…<\/em> \u2014diary, March 15th, 2011; (cf. 1 John 4:18)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is not that God wants us to suffer. He never created us for suffering. Through sin, mankind has brought suffering and death into the world… but through the Cross of Jesus, suffering can now be used as an instrument of purification and correction to bring about a greater good: salvation<\/em>. When mercy fails to convince, justice will.<\/p>\n

\"\"The tears flow readily when one begins to ponder the suffering taking place in Japan,\u00a0New Zealand, Chile, Haiti, China, etc. where terrible earthquakes have struck. But then, as I minister to souls throughout the world in my travels\u00a0and correspondence, there is another suffering taking place in nearly every region, but especially in Western cultures. It is the sorrows from a spiritual<\/em> earthquake which began with the errant philosophies of the Enlightenment period \u2014ultimately shaking faith in God’s existence\u2014and that has swept like a moral tsunami <\/a><\/em>through our times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. (Rev 12:15)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That first<\/em> tsunami<\/a> is now receding, leaving in its wake the carnage of a “culture of death<\/a>,” where even the value of a human life is now openly debated, openly attacked, openly killed\u2014and then such actions openly celebrated <\/a>as a “right” by the truly\u00a0deaf and blind prodigal sons and daughters of our times.<\/p>\n

And so, The Prodigal Hour<\/a><\/em> has come. For it is impossible for a humanity that has turned upon itself to survive. And thus, the environment, resources, freedoms, and peace of the nations are at stake.\u00a0Could the Holy Father have been any clearer in his most recent encyclical letter?<\/p>\n

\n

…we must not underestimate the disturbing scenarios that threaten our future, or the powerful new instruments that the \u201cculture of death\u201d has at its disposal. To the tragic and widespread scourge of abortion we may well have to add in the future\u2014 indeed it is already surreptiously present \u2014 the systematic eugenic programming of births. At the other end of the spectrum, a pro-euthanasia mindset is making inroads as an \"\"equally damaging assertion of control over life that under certain circumstances is deemed no longer worth living. Underlying these scenarios are cultural viewpoints that deny human dignity. These practices in turn foster a materialistic and mechanistic understanding of human life. Who could measure the negative effects of this kind of mentality for development? How can we be surprised by the indifference shown towards situations of human degradation, when such indifference extends even to our attitude towards what is and is not human? What is astonishing is the arbitrary and selective determination of what to put forward today as worthy of respect. Insignificant matters are considered shocking, yet unprecedented injustices seem to be widely tolerated. While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich, the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer hearing those knocks, on account of a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human.<\/strong> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate “Charity in Truth”<\/em>, n. 75<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The shaking of nature, one could say, is the consequence of the shifting and separation between the spiritual and moral tectonic plates; for creation and morality are intrinsically tied to one another: [1]<\/sup><\/a>Rom 8:18-22<\/span><\/span>