Acts 7 52“Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” Stephen Put to Death 54Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. Rembrant , 'The Martydon of Saint Stephen' Our Lady has been sent from heaven as Queen of Heaven and Queen of Prophets to lead us to Repentance of our sins, to show us the Signs of the Times and to indicate how we might, thorugh the rosary and fasting find healing and to turn away God's wrath. Yet in my 56 years of being a Catholic I only recall one occasion when I heard priests or Bishops speak of this and that was during a pilgrimage to the Bosnian Marian Site of Medugorje. Nor is a deep silence only amongst are Shepherds, whom one would expect to be most open to Prophecy, it lies in our whole culture, our fellow Catholics, our leaders, our media, artists , writers it is as though nothing is happening , or if it is it appear to be considered at best the cancern of th eccentric or, at worst the concern of religious, right wing zealots who are thought God obbssesed zealots who need , 'Managing'. Why is this? I think we can see much of the answer in the life of the Prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah has entered into common parlence and so we say, 'he is a right Jeremiah', speaking of someone who preaches doom and gloom. But Jeremiah was speaking of waht would happen if folks DID NOT REPENT. In other words it was, as it is today an either way situation, Either we repent and believe the Good News, bring forth fruits of holiness in are lives or...So it is a message of not gllom and doom but great hope, if we only... "Peace, peace, when there is no peace."—Jeremiah 6:14. I think to see how Jeremiah's message was recieved we can look at different sectors of society. The King did not outright reject Jerermiah, in fact there is evidence that Jeremiah intrigued and instilled dread in him. Despite huge pressure to have the Prophet killed the King never did so, though he ignored his message and had him imprisoned. We see echos of this in herod with John the Baptist, Herod did not want to have John killed and was interested in his meassge, neither would he juge Jesus in fact again he was intrigued. The same with Pilate the Roman Ruler with Jesus he wanted to realease Jesus and was clearly fascinated with Him and His message, but Jesus stayed quiet in the presence of Pilate and Herod knowing that both would simply not listen to the Gospel Message. All rulers met bad deaths, Herod eaten by worms, King Zedekiah had his sons killed before him , was blinded and turned into a human footstool and Pilate rumour says was murdered by his own troops in Gaul. So translate this into our own times. Our Leaders ignore the Propehsies in pratical terms, and are all of course due to face bad deaths unless they repent. But there does seem to be a fascination with Prophecy and the Prophets. For instance the welcome Goeorge Bush gave to the Pope when he visited the USA, the President of the Phillipines asked the Pope to proclaim the last Marian Dogmas, the British PM ,Tony Blair became a Catholic as soon as he resinged. I think the reason for this is our prayers for our leaders and the huge lakes of grace being poured on their heads. But the ture source of opposition came to Jeremaiah from the priests, just as the strongpoint of opposition to Prohecy in our own times comes from our own Catholic Clergy. Why is this? I think Michael Voris hit on a reason for this in a recent broadcast. The priests are very much buried into the Sataus Quo with assured pay, sick benefits, retirement care , houses , prestige etc. the last thing they want is the Staus Quo to be over turned. they are in fact Careerists, professional Catholics. Any attack o nthe way things are could only be taken on themselves. Which is why the Religious Establishment killed Christ. It goes without saying too that much of the Religious Establishment at the time of Jeremiah , at the time of Christ and in our own times is thoroughly evil and corrupt. But the most interesting segment are the Anawem, the Faithful Remant who did and do here Prohesy in a properly Repentant and open spirit. Meet the Anawim: The Poor in the Old Testament The term “anawim” in Hebrew means “the poor seeking the Lord for deliverance.” Although the term is only used some 23 times in the plural, the idea of God’s people being poor and delivered by Him is found throughout the Scripture. God has always taken the ones in the position of powerlessness, and placed them in the position of strength. In that, he displayed his strength all the greater. We could come up with our own “hall of faith” and discover that salvation history is just filled with losers. The last interesting segment are the false prophets. These are the people , pretending to be from God who tell the King and everone who will listen that everythings alright and we don't have to change. "They (the false prophets) have spoken falsehood and divined a lie; they say, ‘Says YAHWEH,’ when YAHWEH has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Have you not seen a delusive vision, and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Says YAHWEH,’ although I have not spoken?" Therefore thus says YAHWEH God: "Because you have uttered delusions and seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, says YAHWEH GOD. My hand will be against the prophets who see delusive visions and who give lying divinations; they shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am YAHWEH GOD ... Therefore thus says YAHWEH GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath; and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to destroy it. And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare; when it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it; and you shall know that I am YAHWEH. Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who have daubed it with whitewash; and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it." (Ezekiel Chapter 13 verse 6) The fasle prophets of our own time , I think come in two forms. Those of our Church and Secular establishment who proclaim that if we folow their ways things will be fine. For instance Green Activists who suppose if we adopt Green policies on the Environment all wil be well. It won't the great change must come in the SPirit then the Environment will be healed, the Kingdom of God is within. There are so many false mystics, visionaries within the Church they cann't be counted, they are as many as the stars in the sky...
...and what's the point of all this? Well if the King had changed his policies both domestic and foriegn. If the priests had embrassed the prophesy. If the False Prophets had not lied. Jerusalem would not have fallen because the CHosen People would have been led to conversion. Now our leaders refuse to listen. Our Priests our intensely hostile to prophecy (becasue it rocks their apple cart} ..and our Fasle Prophets,especially amongst our preists, give false prophesies of peace and prosperity... everything is alright, don't worry,etc, etc, etc,,,, So Jerusalem is due to fall again. Only this fall of the Holy City will be the biggest crash in history. But I think the biggest lesson for me is in the role of the priests. As an Irish Catholic I was broght up to admire, love and deeply respect and venerate them. But their intense hostility to prophecy has led the Chruch into not only the biggest scandal in its entire history but to a complete and utterly deafening silence to authentic Prophecy , to our Lady as Queen of Prophets, not only a silence but an intense, often unspoken , but no less real bitter and implacable hostiliy to it. ...and thats the greatest Sign of Our Times. I can hear the walls of the city crashing all around me; still they remain silent.
The closing of Padraig's post: I can hear the walls of the city crashing all around me; still they remain silent. I grieve over the silence and the blindness. Recall the response of Jesus to the Pharisees this past Sunday: John 9:41..."If you were blind you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see', your guilt remains." Also, in Ezekiel: 22:30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Padraig, I do take solace in the fact, however, that today there are two groups standing in the gap: Our Lady's army and as you pointed out: the anawim. Here is a description of the anawim by Sister Briege McKenna. The occasion is the turning point in her healing ministry when she attended a Holy Mass at a garbage dump in Mexico. The year was 1972. Over a thousand of the anawim had come to participate. ... Sr. Briege related that once the Mass had begun, she felt and saw the presence of Jesus. When Fr. Rick said, "Let us say the Gloria," praises to God came forth from the tops of their voices. She had come from across the border from comfort. She had everything that she needed, but they had nothing, and yet they praised God loudly and whole heartedly. She heard the Lord speaking to her, saying, "If my people do not praise Me, the stones will cry out!" Here were the poorest of the poor and they were radiant with praise to God. When the consecration came, she had her head down. Then she looked up and saw that Fr. Rick had one of those large hosts. For a moment, everybody was prostrate on the ground. It was then that she had the most beautiful image of Jesus with His two hands out. He was smiling, and within herself, she heard the words of the Gospel, "Come to Me all you who are weary, and I will refresh you." Just as she was seeing that, the people lifted up their faces and started shouting, "Viva Cristo Rei" ...long live Christ the king! At that moment, she truly knew that Jesus was in the Host... that it is not just a piece of bread, but truly Jesus, Himself. For these people, in the midst of their poverty, they had the King of Kings. They clapped, cheered, and cried, "Viva Cristo Rei" ...long live Christ the king! She found herself weeping as she saw the great faith of these people, and she asked herself, "Is my faith as strong as theirs, that I may always realize that a Consecrated Host is really Jesus'... Let us not doubt the power of faith that impacts the world as it flows forth from the Anawim and from the little ones in Mary's Army. How many wars have been prevented? How many souls have been snatched from satan? Yes, many are lost and many are blind, but, the praise of the Anawim and the prayers of Mary's children are wonderfully powerful. When the storehouse of God's grace floods the earth through the Warning/Miracle, God shall gaze lovingly upon these two groups and say, "Well done, good and faithful servants!" Let us humbly repent this Lent so that, unworthy though we be, each of us might be found in their number! Even though it is Lent, I'll go against the current and shout: Alleluia! For those of you who want to be uplifted by the full article, here is the website: http://www.catholicfriends.multiply.com/journal/item/2317 Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
Let us not doubt the power of faith that impacts the world as it flows forth from the Anawim and from the little ones in Mary's Army. Thats so true Terry. Somehow good will always,always, always overcome evil . We see this so well in the story of St Padre Pio who was slandered from the very highest levels of the Church. In his triumph over these slrs we all in some sense triumph. But Padre Pio's story is the story of all the saints and the story of all the People of God, God whom as Mary said: Luke 1:52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. I have lost count of the times I have seen the shutters go down behind the eyes of priests and religious to whom I have tried to talk of Prophetic Events in the World , the, 'Signs of the Times'. May God open their eyes as the Prophet Elisha opened the eyes of his servant: Verse 17: And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. But I had had the most interesting conversation with a poor and holy, humble priest in Maryroses house a few years back after he said Mass we said a rosary and I gave a little talk there. Now this priest was very open to the Signs of the Times (for he was a very good man a true Child of Mary} and I aske him if he ever relayed MAry's Messages to the world to his flock, from his pulpit and if he did not; why not? he told me that any priest anywhere who relayed these messages would be in very,very serious trouble with their Bishops and would be silenced. You know even after all this time I preserve an innocense about such things , the capacity to be shocked at the fact that the greatest opposition to Mary, Queen of Prophets comes from within our Church , not from without. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2739751.ece
Padraig, This humble priest was in a way silenced and was living in a very rural area with no parish. He was designated a relief priest but was never called upon. Since then the bishop has had to resign because of his poor handling of an abuse case. We have been almost 2 years now without a bishop. I am praying that we will eventually get a holy bishop. Mary
two years without a Bishop. Amazing Mary, but better no Bishop than a bad one. Lets pray to Our Lady that you get a Bishop who is Holy, humble..and God forgive me, honest...a true Child of Mary.
I have to always remind myself that I am blessed. I still have faith in my own Bishop and although my church is sometimes more modern than I like, it still has a rightness about its core. I think that we are getting more orthodox over time. I will pray for you Mary and your area. A faithful priest and bishop can make the difference in a community. Pray, pray, Pray Kath
