Yes Praetorian, coming to grips of the storm that's been on the horizon for many years now. Knowing that if we don't shutter the windows in this moment we will be flattened in this hurricane of chaos, kinda puts a click in my throat. I find myself praying constantly for those who refuse to see.
Padraig, Thank you but your intuition is probably telling you that the priest and the rector are not persuadable unless God intervenes; and you're probably correct. At times, it is difficult to believe that we are where we are. I look to myself and I can't help but feel some responsibility, responsibility for every action, thought, or inaction that I have ever had which was not in alignment with what God expected from me. I am thankful that we have a merciful God and I pray that my penance, sacrifice and prayers will be enough to warrant God's forgiveness.
Padraig, Everything you stated in this post appears to be correct except maybe we have not, "entered the End Chapters of the book of Revelation." Well, hopefully we have not entered chapter 13, the chapter of the False Prophet and the Antichrist. Recently, I started reading Desmond A. Birch's book, "Trial, Tribulation and Triumph: Before, During and After Antichrist". I am providing an abbreviated timeline that Birch states in this book to help us determine where we might be in this timeline: 1. The Minor Chastisement will occur if not enough people convert by turning to prayer, sacrifice and penance, it will be mostly a man-made tribulation: the church will be afflicted by heresy and schism civil wars break out in France and Italy at the same time, a sign that the minor chastisement has begun this spreads to general wars resulting in famine and pestilence civil wars break out in most of the world, total chaos, including in England earthquakes, tidal waves, floods and other natural disasters Moslems will cause great trouble for the Church and Europe in general an army of Russians will invade Western Europe, just when everyone thinks this is impossible the Pope flees Rome with several Cardinals and is found cruelly murdered a man who will be later known as a great saint will be elected as Pope near the end of the minor chastisement the new pope will have great influence on the acceptance of a new great leader, a Great King, by the French this Great King will lead his army to a victory in Cologne and a final victory in Westphalia against Russian and Prussian forces, it will be apparent that Christ through the intercession of his Blessed Mother took direct miraculous intervention in this victory at some point the Great King will chase an invading Moslem army back to the Holy Land near the end of the minor chastisement God sends the Three Days of Darkness 2. The Age of Peace the time of the renewal of Christian culture in the West; the time of the Great King and the new Pope the Great King establishes peace and civil justice in the world; protects the Church; and defends the poor the new Pope calls for the greatest ecumenical council in the history of the Church the world is spiritually and materially prosperous as never before and many Jews, Mohammedans, heathens and heretics will enter the church eventually this increased prosperity causes many people to grow lax in the faith; wars and bad economic times break out again after the death of the last Holy Roman Emperor, the Great King, ten kings divide up his empire (Birch states there is a possibility that this division of the empire occurs after several successors of the Great King and this is dependent on the grace of the people) 3. The Major Chastisement - Antichrist the precursor for the Antichrist is the False Prophet, during the time of the Antichrist the Two Witnesses will preach to the people against the Antichrist and the Jews will convert during this time also. the ten kingdoms of the Roman Empire will be dismantled by an evil leader, the Antichrist, three of the ten kings will not follow the Antichrist the Antichrist begins his rise to power at around the age of thirty and after he rises to total power his bestial persecution of the church lasts 3.5 years the Antichrist then kills the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem, their bodies lay in the streets for 3.5 days until to everyone's amazement they are resurrected by God the Antichrist will unsuccessfully attempt to ascend to heaven and Saint Michael will cast him down to his death 4. The Four Last Things Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell; when Jesus comes in glory to judge the living and the dead. * Birch does, of course, state that some of these things are conditional. I remain a believer in Garabandal and I am providing this link http://www.1260.org/Mary/Apparitions_Garabandal/Garabandal_Apparitions_Communism_Comes_again_en.htm which includes the Garabandal's seers description of the Minor Chastisement which is referred to as the great tribulation. So based on the description of the Minor Chastisement (great tribulation) from both Birch's book and the statements of the Garabandal seers, it does not appear that this time period has completed as of yet.
I used to be baffled by Pope Francis, sadly I am less baffled now as I have a much better sense of where he is coming from. I sadly because I don;t think it is from a very good place. One thing I do notice at the present time is that people is that people inspired by the Spirit of the World talk the greatest load of hogwash. I listened to a BBC commentator talking to a person from Houston. The unfortunate Texan told a sad tale of the most awful circumstances they found themselves in. At the end of the interview the BBC reporter wished the poor person from America, 'The very best of luck'. this of course is goobledegook. What does it mean to wish some , 'Gook luck'? It is nonsense. I think the reason why we find ourselves struggling to understand Pope Francis is that he basically often talks nonsense. There is a huge poster of him in Clonard Monastery with a quote from him. 'Families would be better with three little words, please , thank you and sorry'. I have been staring at the darn thing for days now at mass. I think to myself 2,000 years of Catholic religious culture. All scripture, the writings of the Fathers, the greatest religious minds and saints the world has ever known and this is what we get, 'Please, thank you and sorry'. ..and I think to myself , is this it? Is this the best he can come up with? Plus these words are so profound I have to see them every day on a massive banner right next to the altar in a Church? Is this it? Is this as good as it gets? Apparently so.
They say you know that a person who is smiling actually uses less facial muscles than someone who does not. So when we are not smiling we actually have to work at it. I have even noticed with dogs the way their face is constructed them seem to be constantly smiling.
Sadly there are real signs that the rot is universal. There are always good apples in every barrel but I think the signs are there. For instance the former Master of the Dominicans, Timothy Radcliffe. The Order elected this guy. I think this is the kind of sign I mean. 'The Vatican Bollettino for today reports that Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, has been appointed by Pope Francis as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The former Master General of the Dominican Order is a prominent supporter of the Kasperite proposal in favor of communion for the "divorced and remarried". He has also spoken out in favor of the ordination of women, if not to the priesthood, then at least to the diaconate (see this.) However he is more famous for his frequent public interventions pushing for greater acceptance of homosexuality, having been a frequent celebrant of the infamous "gay Masses" in Soho, London. Rorate has noted his blatant support for homosexuality a couple of times (see this and this - scroll to the bottom of each post). It is true that Radcliffe has "opposed" "gay marriage", but his farcical "opposition" rests on grounds entirely contrary to those of the Church: Radcliffe opposes it because, in his words: "'gay marriage' ultimately, we believe, demeans gay people by forcing them to conform to the straight world." His support for civil "same sex unions" and his lavish praise of homosexual "love" are a matter of public record, and led to repeated attempts last year by good and devout Catholics to prevent him from talking at the Divine Mercy Conference in Ireland (see this and this) and in San Diego, California (see this report on the Wanderer), as well as in the Flame 2 Youth Conference this year in London (read this). All these attempts failed -- and Radcliffe's acceptability has just received a major upgrade with this latest appointment. A tremendous slap to the face of so many good Catholics who had opposed him out of fidelity to the faith... Radcliffe is not the only Dominican liberal and dissident riding high these days. Today's appointment comes only 4 days after Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez OP starred as the main speaker at a Vatican press conference. Another rising Dominican dissident is Bishop Jean Paul Vesco of Oran (Algeria), a young bishop (53 years old) who was provincial of the French Province of the Order of Preachers from 2010 to 2012 and a high-profile supporter of the Kasper proposal since last year; he is set to be a delegate to the 2015 Synod of Bishops.' https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/05/good-times-for-dissident-dominicans.html
But what tops it all off is this: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=32479 August 28, 2017 The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has not taken disciplinary action against dissident theologians since the election of Pope Francis, the National Catholic Reporter remarks. The Reporter contacted several theologians whose work had come under scrutiny by the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation in the past. None had heard from the CDF since Pope Francis was elected in March 2013. At least one priest who was disciplined by the CDF in the past, the Irish Father Tony Flannery, revealed that he had expected further disciplinary action after he defied a Vatican order by celebrating Mass despite his suspension from ministry. No steps have been taken, however, he said; he has not heard from Rome. (By the way the Fr Flannery mentions here is an Irish Redemptorist priest)
Looking on the bright side, Padraig, they're all old men. Pope Francis is in his eighties and it looks like most of the people in that BBC video aren't far behind him. The Holy Spirit has spared us seminaries full of younger versions of them. The Anglicans are bemoaning the shortage of ministers willing to work in rough areas. One reason given is that priests don't want to raise their families in such areas. Heterosexual marriage didn't solve their vocations problem. Female priests didn't solve it. Homosexual marriage hasn't solved it for the Lutherans. Those poor old men who joined the priesthood in better times are too insular to see the wood for the trees. Celibacy is not the problem. Apostasy is the real problem. We have a serious crisis of apostasy in the priesthood and religious orders. It takes a special type of young man to survive amid such a den of vipers - the type who won't be easily swayed. Such young men will be few in number but trust that the Holy Spirit has them in place to pick up the pieces. We might get some small increase in vocations with the current hierarchy signalling to them that a Lutheran type ministry is on the cards but it will be a short lived boost. We need to pray that the few faithful young priests we have will hang in there despite being marginalised, ridiculed and shouted down by the false mercy darlings of the secular media. They will preserve the Deposit of Faith and you won't see them on BBC other than in years to come when they are standing trial for preaching the faith having been accused of hate crimes by some Fr. False Mercy quoting Pope Francis and his entourage of false mercy bishops, cardinals and superiors general. Jesus didn't promise us that all would be plain sailing.
A poster of this sort would never be placed next to the altar of the Tridentine Mass! What a distraction, when our only focus should be on Our Lord and the great sacrifice. I was at a prayer vigil a couple years ago and a women in the group made a comment about the Mass and stated "I don't like to think of the Mass as a sacrifice but more of a celebration" I wonder what God the Father thinks???
I have noticed many beautiful things about the Tridentine Mass, but one caught my attention was the reference to St Michael the Arcangel as always standing beside the altar of sacrifice. I take it from that that it is St Michael himself who brings the mass to he Father in Heaven. Perhaps this is why St Michael got the title, 'Minister of Heaven' ? Anyway I love the richness of things like this in the liturgy.
Dolores I have taken a great notion to retire to Spain in four years time and have been torturing St Philomena and Padre Pio about it. But of course I understand the bottom may vey well have fallen out of the whole world by then, but I guess I can still dream. Concerning the Church , my own belief is that there will not be a city of Rome soon and that Italy will be an occupied country. I believe the Church as we know it is about to come to an end. The nearest to what it is to become only existed in the catacombs. So in a sense all is passing. In a strange kind of way this gives me great, great hope.
Yes, the sadness I have when I consider the things happening is buttressed by the hope I have in what is yet to come. Philippians 4 Rejoice 4 in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! 5 Your kindness 5 should be known to all. The Lord is near. 6 Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. 7 Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 6 9 Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.
St Paul also reminds us: Romans 5:4 The Triumph of Faith …3Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.… The devil is really like a lion totally off the leash at the moment; he has been granted great freedom because of our sins. The scales of justice so to speak blow in his direction. But as St Paul reminds us this need not throw us for this trial works towards our Salvation and so in the course of our pilgrimage he actually works as an agent of God in our life. Amazing thought. None of us are going to get into heaven unless we are 100% pure gold. Satan just happens to be part of the refiners fire. '.....hope does not disappoint us' Now isn't that just wonderful?
Pope Francis, PLEASE stop wrecking the Holy Catholic Church THANK YOU for not allowing 2,000 years of the Magisterial teachings to be changed I'M SORRY to see what is happening to my beloved Church under your Papacy Please thank you and I'm sorry
I wouldn't lay it all on Pope Francis, we all of share a collective guilt in this. I know I do. God have mercy. I am a great sinner...and Christ is a Great Saviour
This is wishful thinking but I keep hoping that all this is simply to bring the church back together in unity. Both the Protestant as well as the Eastern Orthodox. After this has been accomplished the doctrine of the Faith will correct the errors with Truth and drive out evil in our midst.
When I had lunch last October at a friend's home with Bishop Athanasius Schneider he said exactly the same thing as that in bold above. The bishops and cardinals who are awake to the reality we're facing fully grasp the prophetic aspect of our times.
