Charlie Johnson was asked on his blog if this Supreme Court ruling on Gay marriage is "it" with the storm, etc.....his answer: I am traveling through Florida today and getting extremely slow Internet. My phone has been going off like crazy from all of this. I have had several people tell me “it is finished now.” Well, no…not yet. We have a few more big shocks coming before all is ready…but it is very close now. I will have a piece up late tonight or early tomorrow after I have gotten to my son’s. We are almost there – so God is almost ready to take the wheel from us…thanks be to God! Can't wait to read his upcoming post.
I hope CJ is right.., I'm physically tired but I think I'm ready- spiritually. This ruling has accomplished one great thing at least for me and I think fir others who maybe were a bit "blinded" - it laser focuses me on the mission of trusting God, placing my hope in HIM alone, and through his grace helping myself, my family and anyone who want to listen to look toward our true home - heaven. God help us, Mary, our Mother cover us in your Mantle.
Same here - physically tired - but in good shape spiritually because our Lady wants me ready. I know not what for but I am ready to meet my maker should he call me home. But I think I am needed during the storm though so my time may not be soon. I think this is where we need to be in these times, converted and ready for martyrdom living by Divine Grace. Our Lady has been getting her army ready for many years and this forum is just one piece of her jigsaw. She knows how to mould and shape her children into the image of her Divine Son. She is the Major-General for the end times and will outwit satan and crush his head. He is in for the most humiliating of defeats. Ave Maria.
miler I have been feeling exactly as you do since the referendum went through in Ireland. I feel a complete disconnect from my country and when I now hear of tragedies that affect Irish people I say a prayer for all affected but I feel no emotion. My heart is broken.
Speaking of being physically tired. Why is this? Some afternoon's I struggle with tiredness badly. Then it came to me that it is the evil one. So I pray my way out of it. I think much of what we will experience henceforth will be resolved only by prayer. It is just one more lesson taught to me in this time of preparation.
Mary Rose, I have to say thank you for mentioning the 24 hour passion of the Lord prayer. I finished it yesterday amidst the sad news in our country. Our Lord suffered so much and the details of the prayers and meditations made me more aware of how very much He loves the sinner and wants everyone to come back to Him before they take their last breath. In gratitude, Mary
Is this Luisa Picaretta? I just attended an entire day retreat on the Divine Will.....holy cow, it was amazing.....really speaks to my heart....Jesus, may I always live in your Divine Will.
Personally I see these political changes as normal Christian fare and business as usual. There always has been an eternal conflict of interest between the children of light and those of the world. "John 15:18-21New International Version (NIV) The World Hates the Disciples 18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. " We naturally feel that the more momentous and starkly visible political/economic decisions of history are the manifest condensations of such evil but I think there are other perspectives. This conflict is a war in every heart and it begins in the small things. Every small selfishness given into means a joy to others lost, every luxury at the expense of the unseen disadvantaged slowly turns into a personal right that is deserved. Political evil to me is a visible, external coalescing and darkening of a great world-wide haze of white whispery clouds into a mist and then a dark cold rain of our own deserving as a race. As Christians we should not be surprised. Do political decisions, whether pro or anti, are the main driving force in making the world a better or worse place before God? I suspect God does not look upon the world in this way. If hearts are already trained in malice what difference does a political law make? If hearts are disciplined in good, what difference will a law otherwise make? Good laws restrain the worldly bad effects of evil hearts and might even guide the confused to uprightness. Yet still I think God and his prophets are first concerned with the inward dedication of many persons than the outward conduct and laws of nations. What is the point of a nation having "Christian" laws but indifferent hearts. Christians can still do what is right even when a nation's laws allow what is wrong. It seems to me that the role of Christians is to continuously purify the nations they dwell amongst as pilgrims by accepting persecution when the world is at its worst. This appears to me to happen in cycles. It might even be that we need the persecutions of the world to purify the Church which in these cycles (at their best) sometimes becomes so identified with the State that wet forget our God and that we are always pilgrims. We cannot settle down in any earthly dwelling because no State is ever so good that it is a City of God on earth. That would seem to include Ireland and the good old US of A. Why be surprised when the cracks show more clearly now than they have previously. It has ever been so. Perhaps we should be shocked not so much because the world has become so evil but because we Christians ourselves have lowered our eyes and attached our hearts and minds a little too strongly to the things of the world, to good politics, to "Christian nationhood" ... do these expressions alone fully express or realise the personal "upward calling" of God. I would miss the beautiful churches of Europe if they were ever destroyed, but deep down I know they are only buildings and howsoever they might beautify the experience of prayer and God's presence...in the end God wants to dwell in tabernacles not made by human hands .. and one day that may mean returning to metaphorical caves and the loss of christian nations. If that is so then the rot set in many decades ago. If we feel the spiritual struggle tiring us now, as many of us do, perhaps this is itself a sign that our own hearts need more purification still rather than that the world has suddenly grown more evil than it has always been. Back to the rosary beads and "thy will be done".
Yes it is from luisa. I am doing it again and it is amazing to realize how much Jesus loves each sinner.
Me too! So tired from the new job and joints aching and I begin to question did I make the right choice? But, in prayer , rosary and meditation in front of the tabernacle I find peace! And no it is not just old age!
Great to hear! I hope this link works to the prayers, it is a pdf file and they start on page 21 The 24 Hours of the Passion Of Our Lord Jesus Christ www.quies.org/hours_of_passion.pdf
I know the feeling Dennis, sometimes I think to myself that I wish God would hit the pause button and leave off whatever He's gotta do till I have a long and prayerful retirement and then I can watch events down here from a seat in the stalls up above. I also often catch myself day dreaming about the things , the wonderful things I am going to do in the future and then I catch myself on by realising that none of them, not one of them are ever going to happen. That life is going to take a highly unpredictable course. In other words God is going to take over the driving wheel and drive me off to only He knows were. This greatly irritates me as nowadays I love the predictable and steady in way that would have bored the socks off me when I was younger. But Jesus warned us about being to stuck in our ways. Matthew 6:19 Treasures in Heaven 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;… View attachment 3125 But still I find that somewhere inside myself is a much wilder and a feisty me. For I recall it was the times of greatest challenge grace raced me towards the Lord, when folks were shooting at me, when I was in prison , when guys were beating me or trying to kill me, when I was hungry and in fear for my life, when I was in combat....these times when life kicked me hardest on my fat lazy ass where the times when I found myself up and not so much walking as running full gallop towards and into the arms of the Good Lord I t was for instance in prison on the point of committing suicide I met Mary and converted and it was in long months of solitary confinement she taught me how to pray. So an old and tired part of me says, 'No way, leave me alone , I don't want to do this again'. Another younger feisty Padraig, still with a glint in his eye says, 'Bring it on! We can do this together Lord, with your Mother by my side! Bring it on Lord!!' There is still a young War Horse inside me somewhere kicking about there yet. Raring to go. So bring it on, Lord. Bring it on. I am not so tired I cannot do thy Will.
BH said ...As Christians we should not be surprised. Do political decisions, whether pro or anti, are the main driving force in making the world a better or worse place before God? I suspect God does not look upon the world in this way. If hearts are already trained in malice what difference does a political law make? If hearts are disciplined in good, what difference will a law otherwise make? Good laws restrain the worldly bad effects of evil hearts and might even guide the confused to uprightness. Yet still I think God and his prophets are first concerned with the inward dedication of many persons than the outward conduct and laws of nations. What is the point of a nation having "Christian" laws but indifferent hearts. Christians can still do what is right even when a nation's laws allow what is wrong. I will be off the forum till the weekend so cant give time to this one . Just have to say BH ,the angle you come from is strange to me.As usual. ''Christians can still do what is right even when a nation's laws allow what is wrong.'' Are you talking about Christian nations? What is the point of a nation having "Christian" laws but indifferent hearts. More important , how could a Christian nation get to this point BH?
It's just a reflection on an alternative perspective Mac. If it's unhelpful just ignore me, if it resonates spiritually then it wasn't in vain .
When we reject God in our own lives, I think he withdraws to an extent and let's us be- in that sense perhaps his protective Grace is no longer present. When a nation rejects him, like has been done in the US and Ireland does not his protection leave as well ? I saw this warning and I must say for the first time since 9/11, I am genuinely concerned about this. Not because these terrorists are "better" now at what they do, but that God may have decided that since you rejected and mocked me (I.e. Rainbow lit WH), I will leave you to your own selves. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...fbi-warn-of-possible-july-4-attacks/29389963/
I think the way it works is this. Each of us had a Guardian Angel who is given us by heaven to guard and protect us. However if we enter into sin, particularly Mortal Sin, we, 'switch off', our Guardian Angel like a light switch and although he is still there his gaze so to speak is averted and he cannot act to guard us. So we are undefended. This is one of the terrible effects of Moratl Sin; that we are so exposed. As for people , so with Nations, as St Thomas Auinas explained. All Nations have their own great angel to guard and protect them. The USA and Ireland have their Great National Guardian Angels. However through National choice we have switched of these angels through the choice of choosing perversion and so too we are unprotected. Not only from physical attack but from natural dangers , such as the weather, seismic events and so on. I do not believe we will have long to see this switching off of angelic protection taking effect. 22. Do individual countries and nations have their own Guardian Angel? It is taught by St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as many Fathers and Doctors of the Church, that every country has its own Guardian Angel. In fact, St. Clement of Alexandria goes so far as to state that whole "regiments of angels are distributed over nations and cities" (cf. Fr. Pascal Parente, The Angels, p. 119). It should be noted in particular that Portugal has had a strong and deep devotion to its Guardian Angel for centuries. In fact, that nation was given approval by Pope Leo X in the sixteenth century to introduce a special feast day in order to honor its Guardian Angel. The feast day falls on June 10th of each year. France, similarly has consecrated itself over the centuries to St. Michael the Archangel as her patron. This consecration goes back to King Charlemagne in the early years of the 9th Century. What's more, all Americans should be aware of the fact that a statue has been erected at the National Shrine of the World Apostolate of Fatima in Washington, NJ, in honor of the Guardian Angel of the United States. The statue stands ten feet tall and weighs five tons. It is carved out of carrara marble by a world famous Portuguese sculptor. It was consecrated on July 4th, 1982. Prayer to the Guardian Angel of the United States O Glorious Guardian Angel of the United States, to whom God has entrusted the care of our beloved country, we honor you and thank you for the care and protection you have given to this great nation from the first moment of its inception. O Powerful Angel Guardian, whose watchful glance encompasses this vast land from shore to shore, we know that our sins have grieved you and marred the beauty of our heritage. Pray for us. O Holy Angel, before the throne of God. Obtain for us, from the Queen of Heaven, the graces we need to overcome the forces of evil so rampant in our beloved land. Help us, our God-given protector and friend, to respond wholeheartedly to the urgent pleas of the Mother of God at Fatima. Assist us to offer the prayer and sacrifice necessary to bring peace and goodness to our nation. We want to make you known and loved throughout our land, so that with your help we may become once more "a Nation under God"! Amen. Imprimatur: Most Rev. Patrick O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, May 8, 1959 https://opusangelorum.org/English/2104_2.html
It was for instance the Guardian Angel of Ireland, Victor, who appeared to Patrick in a dream and called him to return to Ireland to preach the Gospel. St Patrick tells us this himself in his, 'Confessions.'
Greek banks will not open on Monday. The first domino to fall ? Is this the beginning of the economic collapse? http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/06/28/greek-banks-will-not-open-monday/
