Remember George Bush boasting that he was "The Decider"--just thought of that as I read that last line.
The most important task before us is to put our personal lives in order. Rosaries should be a staple for our daily lives. At a minimum, monthly confession so that our examen will be thorough. I am blessed to be required to pray the Office. Bishop Barron publishes a monthly edition of the Office which includes morning, evening, and night prayers in daily, sequential order. It is very helpful and convenient, especially for the beginner who is spared the need to flip back and forth through the breviary. The realization that we are enlarging the voice of united prayer through all the time zones and playing a small part in offsetting the decimation of the contemplative orders, is a subtle joy! Do a simple daily meditation which should include at least 5-10 minutes in silence to give space for the Lord to speak to our hearts. This should be a gradual development wherein we learn to wait on the Lord, not a vain hope for mystical experiences. I do a mile walk near my home which can facilitate this time of quiet. Of course, all this is overwhelming for someone just starting to commit to prayer. The Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy are wonderful for the beginner. Also, besides fulfilling your Sunday obligation for Holy Mass, add one more day/wk to attend and then let it grow from there. Try to add 10 minutes of thanksgiving at the end reverencing Jesus within. Adoration is a plus! Finally, some form of outreach to others. Start with a commitment of 2 days a month and after 6 months try to increase it to one day each week. Pray over the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy to help discern what to choose. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Small steady steps of increase, and when you falter or fail, pick up the Cross and move forward once more. A spiritual director will help. Together we can destroy the strongholds of the enemy. And as we do this MOG will become a true Bastion which JoeJerk will hate! Leave the hating to him! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.
Just to clarify, Padraig, the quote from medjugorje in the video you posted on another thread about God about to send us something is from 2010, not from the latest message.
Agree. My wife and I try to start every morning with morning prayer. We use the Laudate App (it’s free) and like you said takes you exactly to right place. my belief is we will not have access to internet with things start, i think we should have hard copies of the Bible, Divine Offuce and even Roman Missal so that we can at least read the prayers of the Mass if/when that gives away. Question - what is best hard copy divine office and where do i get ?
"Letter #14, 2023 Thursday, January 12: Cardinal George Pell Here's the situation all Rome is talking about: 1) an anonymous text was circulating at the beginning of this year, signed "Demos" (the text is below) (link) 2) the respected Vaticanist Sandro Magister revealed in a piece he wrote yesterday (link) -- following Pell's death Tuesday night in Rome at the age of 81 — that "Demos" was, in fact... Cardinal George Pell. So the "Demos" text suddenly took on heightened importance. This was an "insider" text at the highest level, for those of you interested in such things... What was Pell saying in his anonymous text, circulating among his fellow cardinals? Essentially, that the Church needed strong leadership which would teach clearly and fearlessly the Church's doctrine. The document also was taken to be Pell's way to begin to form a consensus on what "type" of man would be the man best suited to... be elected Pope after Francis. A kind of "preliminary platform" for the next Pope. Thus, the document was, in effect (so it now seems), Pell's attempt to prepare for the next Conclave, and the election of a strong, fully orthodox Catholic Pope. 3) Pell also published a different, final essay before his death, which just appeared in The Spectator (link), and is also posted below. The key point in this essay is the the current "synodal process" underway in the church should be stopped because it is "toxic" and will not lead toward greater fidelity to the Christian faith, but to a departure from the Christian faith. And so everyone in Rome is talking about this dramatic "last word" of Cardinal Pell. Pell himself, God rest his soul, is now forever silent. The funeral of Cardinal Pell will be celebrated Saturday in Rome by Pope Francis.—RM
‘Catastrophe’: Cardinal Pell’s secret memo blasts Francis (link) By NICOLE WINFIELD VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis will deliver a final send-off for Cardinal George Pell during a funeral Mass on Saturday, the Vatican said, as revelations emerge of the Australian prelate’s growing concern about what he considered the “disaster” and “catastrophe” of the papacy under Francis. The Vatican on Thursday said the dean of the college of cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, would celebrate Pell’s funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. As is custom for cardinal funerals, Francis will deliver a final commendation and salute. Pell, who had served as Francis’ first finance minister for three years before returning to Australia to face child sex abuse charges, died on Tuesday at a Rome hospital of heart complications following hip surgery. He was 81. He had been dividing his time between Rome and Sydney after he was exonerated in 2020 of allegations he molested two choirboys while he was archbishop of Melbourne. Australia’s High Court overturned an earlier court conviction, and Pell was freed after serving 404 days in solitary confinement. Pell had clashed repeatedly with the Vatican’s Italian bureaucracy during his 2014-2017 term as prefect of the Holy See’s Secretariat for the Economy, which Francis created to try to get a handle on the Vatican’s opaque finances. In his telegram of condolence, Francis credited Pell with having laid the groundwork for the reforms underway, which have included imposing international standards for budgeting and accounting on Vatican offices. But Pell, a staunch conservative, grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction of Francis’ papacy, including its emphasis on inclusion and canvassing of the laity about the future of the church. He penned a remarkable memorandum outlining his concerns, and recommendations for the next pope in a future conclave, that began circulating last spring and was published under a pseudonym, “Demos,” on Vatican blog Settimo Cielo. The blogger Sandro Magister on Wednesday revealed that Pell indeed was the author of the memo, which is an extraordinary indictment of the current pontificate by a onetime close collaborator of Francis. The memo is divided into two parts — “The Vatican Today” and “The Next Conclave” — and lists a series of points covering everything from Francis’ “weakened” preaching of the Gospel to the precariousness of the Holy See’s finances and the “lack of respect for the law” in the city-state, including in the current financial corruption trial underway that Pell himself had championed. “Commentators of every school, if for different reasons … agree that this pontificate is a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe,” Pell wrote. Also Wednesday, the conservative magazine The Spectator published what it said was a signed article that Pell wrote in the days before he died. In the article, Pell described as a “toxic nightmare” Francis’ two-year canvassing of the Catholic laity about issues such as church teaching on sexuality and the role of women that is expected to come to a head at a meeting of bishops in October. Referring to the Vatican’s summary of the canvassing effort, Pell complained of a “deepening confusion, the attack on traditional morals and the insertion into the dialogue of neo-Marxist jargon about exclusion, alienation, identity, marginalization, the voiceless, LGBTQ as well as the displacement of Christian notions of forgiveness, sin, sacrifice, healing, redemption.” Pell’s anonymous memo, however, is even harsher and takes particular aim at Francis himself. While other conservatives have criticized Francis’ crackdown on traditionalists and mercy-over-morals priorities, Pell went further and devoted an entire section to the pope’s involvement in a big financial fraud investigation that has resulted in the prosecution of 10 people, including Pell’s onetime nemesis, Cardinal Angelo Becciu. Pell had initially cheered the indictment, which stemmed from the Vatican’s 350 million-euro investment in a London real estate deal, given it vindicated his yearslong effort to uncover financial mismanagement and corruption in the Holy See. But over the course of the trial, uncomfortable questions have been raised about the rights of the defense in a legal system where Francis has absolute power, and has wielded it. Pell noted that that Francis had issued four secret decrees during the course of the investigation “to help the prosecution” without the right for those affected to appeal. The defense has argued the decrees violated the suspects’ human rights. Pell also came to the defense of Becciu, whom Francis removed in September 2020 before he was even under investigation. “He did not receive due process. Everyone has a right to due process,” wrote Pell, for whom the issue is particularly dear given his own experiences. “The lack of respect for the law in the Vatican risks becoming an international scandal,” Pell wrote. Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, greets Pope Francis during his audience with cardinals in 2013 at the Vatican. Pell passed away Tuesday night in Rome, unexpectedly, after undergoing surgery for a hip replacement. He was 81. (CNS photo).
Poor Cardinal Pell. I hope he wasn't murdered but I have to say this looks more and more suspicious. I would bet all Rome is speculating on this. I hope at least there is some kind of Post Mortem. May God have mercy on his poor brave soul.
One things for sure I will be paying close attentions to my dreams the next few months. A lady from Dublin sent me a description of a most interesting dream she had concerning four angels dressed in blue and meeting a stranger. I love dreams like this; It suggests to me she will moving from her city soon: It reminds me of the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. 'I had a beautiful dream that i opened my front door and i was surprised to see four angels wearing beautiful royal blue dresses or robes. I refused to go with them because I do not want to leave my beloved yorkie and my best friend. Suddenly one of these angels pulled my hand and we flew out of Dublin as I was put in a different place with a stranger that i never met before. I woke up. Still wondering about this mephor. I dont kno'w...
No. Imho, it’s strange that Mystic Post would create a newly dated article for a message from 2010 or no?
No you are not. Not a bit of it. Incredibly astute on a regular basis. With all the messages flying around it is very easy to confuse a date.
This section from Cardinal Pell note really stands out for me: “Schism is not likely to occur from the left, who often sit lightly to doctrinal issues. Schism is more likely to come from the right and is always possible when liturgical tensions are inflamed and not dampened. Unity in the essentials. Diversity in the non-essentials. Charity on all issues.”
