Any rational
observer of the world can see that a big storm is on the horizon. Shaken
by the failure of political and religious structures, as well as empty
cultural realities, the world is looking around for something that
cannot be shaken. Yet because of the ultimate fear of death, manifested
as fear of financial ruin, loss of political power, loss of ecclesial
moral stature, or more basically as fear of the unknown, people are
seriously shaken with existential fear. What happens when I die? Where
will I go? Is this all there is? Who am I?
People are grappling with the unknown and seeking to cling to whatever looks or feels comfortable.
For the third year
in a row, life expectancy in this country has declined, mainly due to
“deaths of despair” (Fr. John Riccardo): Since 1989 suicide rates have
gone up thirty to forty percent; substance abuse and addiction are up
(the US represents fvie percent of the world’s population yet has eighty
percent of addicts); death by cirrhosis of the liver has gone up
sixty-five percent in twenty-five to thrty-four-year-olds since 1989.
Yet the Gospel is clear: we are called to be warriors, not comfortable, complacent people.
Matthew 7:13 has
never been clearer or more challenging: “Enter by the narrow
door.” Enter by the scary door, by the door that seems impossible
without the help of the Holy Spirit. Acknowledge our utter and complete
dependence on the Creator who made us out of love and for love. Then,
and only then, will we move in and operate out of the power of God
instead of our own resources and radical autonomy.
A Severe Mercy
A brief look at
Sacred Scripture shows that if God cannot get his people’s attention
through good times and prosperity, He will allow plague, famine, and
warfare to highlight humanity’s self-deluded and self-destructive
behavior and bring it back into his perfect plan. To say that humanity
in the early Twenty-First Century is in the grip of “strong delusion” is
an understatement. (See 2 Thes 2:10-12.)
Could it be that
we are so fixed on the world that is passing away that we are unprepared
for the end of all things (or maybe just the end of an age) that is
rushing toward us?
Strong Delusion
“For the mystery
of lawlessness is already at work . . . in those who are to perish,
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God
sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is
false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but
had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thes 2:10-12; emphasis mine).
If we ever doubted
the impact of such strong delusion, just look at the current year. The
gloves are off: During the 2020 pandemic across the United States and
Europe, church and religious services are not deemed as essential as
abortion clinics and large-scale protests. The secularist elites
continue to flaunt their disdain for faith and people of faith. The
sitting New York City mayor has famously opined that New York
restaurants are more crucial to the reopening of the city than its
churches. Protest marching in close quarters with large groups of people
is fine. Going to church with all the precautions of social distancing
is not. According to these powers that be, in a world in which “freedom
of worship” has taken the place of freedom of religion, people of faith
need to make way for the “grown-ups” and get out of the way of progress
and reopening the economy. The not-so-subliminal message is that they
can get together and sing silly songs and indulge in boring rituals when
all else is taken care of.
This is occurring
now in one of the major cities of the world, recently festooned with
banners calling for the defunding of the NYPD. One might say that it is
the powers that be have been deluded, if not deceived.
Along with
churches and religious services, working parents were also deemed
“inessential.” During the pandemic, untold hardships were endured by
parents at home with small children, trying to work their jobs and take
care of little ones and not-so-little ones at the same time. What kind
of message does that send about the importance of families?
The same
mass-scale delusion justifies suicide in the name of mercy and social
engineering in the name of fairness. Ignoring the needs of the poorest
of the poor, immigrants in the US, is also a strong delusion offered in
the name of “the law.” How can removing police officers who swore to
protect us from unlawfulness be the cure to the problem of lawlessness?
How can killing one’s young in the womb for health/choice/convenience be
interpreted, if not through the lens of a monstrous delusion? Instead
of facilitating the destruction of entire generations of African
Americans in the womb by setting Planned Parenthood facilities in the
poorest neighborhoods, federal, state, and local money could be
re-allocated to alleviate the educational and societal gaps. Of course,
no amount of money can cause fathers to take responsibility, but maybe
more education and a push for intact families could help. The ultimate
solution is becoming a redeemed, converted community under the lordship
of Jesus Christ. Killing the patient (the innocent child) will not
ultimately cure the disease of disintegrating families and poverty. A
community of one heart and mind under our Redeemer will.
What about the
blurring of biological realities to serve political agendas? What about
the blindness evinced by many to the fact that certain biological
realities cannot be ignored if our species is to reproduce? Delusion and
deception are powerfully at work at both ends of the political
spectrum.
The Current Church and Divine Correction
Make no mistake:
Infernal smoke is wafting within the Church as well. Complacency and
cowardice seem to be the watchwords of the decade. With so many
shepherds and spokespersons refusing to call a spade a spade (or sin,
well, sin), with so little clear teaching on spiritual warfare coming
from the pulpit, it is no small wonder that the average Catholic is
confused.
The witness of the
Church is ineffective. The parish model is broken. Many pastors and
clergy are burned out or staving off burn out and disillusionment. The
laity is meant to be intimately involved in mission and evangelization.
It is not the primary mission of the clergy. It is the mission of the
laity to shine brightly with the fire of the Holy Spirit and be the
“city on a hill,” to be visible from long distances.
Giving in to
societal and cultural trends in the name of relevance does not satisfy
the heart hungry for God. Indeed, what Paul wrote to Timothy is
occurring: “For the time is coming when people will not put up with
sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from
listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (2 Tm 4:2; emphasis
mine).
Bowing to societal
pressures and accommodating the world, even in the case of manifest
absurdity such as gender” fluidity” and women’s “reproductive rights”
are an example of wandering away to myths. It may make you popular in
the short run, but is Church leadership about popularity, or leading
people to the Way, the Truth, and the Life? Jesus Himself was
fundamentally unpopular in his own day, because He spoke truth to power.
Benedict XVI
famously observed that as the light of God is pushed to the margins of
society, humanity increasingly loses its bearings and gives in to the
temptation of self-creation. When we suppress the truth of God, we lose
sight of the truth of ourselves and find a need to create our own
reality and order it according to our own opinions. Truth becomes a
matter of personal opinion to be enforced by whoever is in power at the
time. A whole society becomes complicit in a web of lies that replaces
absolute truth with feelings, emotions and opinions.
Current events
need to be read from the heart of the Scripture: When his beloved
children start playing in traffic or driving off a cliff, the Lord will
bring them back to safety (or correct their self-destructive trajectory)
in the most effective way. The most effective way is usually the one
that shows the folly of radical autonomy and usually, yes, is ushered in
with suffering and uncertainty. The world and the Church are on the
rocks. What does the Father want? What is the Holy Spirit saying to us?
Be Prepared
In my prayer
times, I have been wrestling with what all this could mean for me, my
family, my ministry, and my world. My prayer has been: “Lord, do not let
me be caught unprepared!”, and, “Lord, let me be a part of the
solution, not the problem!” A review of my prayer journals over the past
couple of decades has also yielded the constant drumbeat of God’s
warning. I cannot count the number of places where the Lord plainly told
me: “Be prepared, be vigilant, be ready. I come.” In his mercy, He
wants us to be ready while it is still day, and He will speak if we just
listen.
Is the coming
storm just a storm or the harbinger of the end? Ultimately the same
degree of preparation is required on our part for both events. A quick
review of past magisterial teaching and prophetic words indicate
that something big is coming, and may already be here.
The following are a
number of prophetic words, spoken both as prophecies in the name of the
Lord, and also by recent pontiffs in their assessment of our times.
Take the time to read what they say. I have placed them in their
entirety in the appendix to this article.
Together with the
language in Vatican II about “reading the signs of the times,” they
create a steady, consistent warning that things are coming to a head.
Keep in mind that this is merely a sampling of a wide pool of prophetic
senses and insights on the same topic (extreme judgment and
purification) over the past fifty years.
Prophecies
It was after
Communion at the closing Mass of our international conference on a hot
May 1975 day in St Peter’s Basilica. Pope Paul VI was presiding. As one
of the participants, excited but trying not to succumb to the stifling
heat, I heard Ralph Martin’s chilling prophecy of the coming hard times
for the Church and the world, resonating off the very walls of St.
Peter’s.
It went in part like this:
“Because I love
you . . . I want to prepare you for what is to come. Days of darkness
are coming on the world, days of tribulation . . . Buildings that are
now standing will not be standing. Supports that are there for my people
will not be there . . . I will strip you of everything that you are
depending on. I will pour out on you all the gifts of My Spirit. I will
prepare you for spiritual combat; I will prepare you for a time of
evangelism that the world has never seen.”
At the time, I was
all of eighteen years old and, while sobered by the words, I
anticipated them occurring in a very distant future, probably not within
my lifetime. Prophecies and teachings like Fr. Mike Scanlan’s
prophecies given in 1976 and 1980 that seemed to “unpack” even more the
specific nature of the coming troubles, were in the very air we breathed
in the community where I lived during my college years at the
University of Michigan.
During my time in
the Word of God community in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I heard several
iterations, both prophetically and through very specific teaching, about
the coming “Hard Times” and how to respond. I paid close attention but
continued to think that these events would be in the distant future. I
even wrote a series of scalding letters back to my prayer group friends
in Rome along the lines of “get ready, hard times are coming.” Still, I
ended up putting these warnings aside for a “future time” as I got on
with my life, went to grad school, got married, and started a family.
It’s Here Now
The year of our
Lord 2020 has put an end to the illusion of a distant fulfillment. Like
many, I never would have imagined all that this year has brought us: A
worldwide pandemic, a universal shut down/lockdown, and a global
recession accompanied by despair and existential angst and a record
number of suicides. And that was only February through April. May
brought international civil unrest, riots, and looting. One had to
wonder why people in Delhi, Sydney, and Oslo were protesting the
behavior of a couple of rogue Minneapolis police officers. Surely, I
thought, they have their own rogue officials to deal with?
One also wonders
why some (obviously unconscionable but not indicative of most police
officers or police departments) incidents of police misconduct have
sparked a call to rewrite the very substance of American history. The
“Cancel Culture” movement seeks to abolish all history, all religious
faith, all perceived inequality. Perhaps a line could be drawn between
these distressing and baffling events and a sinister plan to unmoor
Western Civilization from its foundations?
Woe betide anyone
honored with a statue: They will tear you down, whether you were a
slaveowner or campaigned against slavery, or whether you were a colonial
oppressor or the consecrated religious who worked on behalf of the poor
and the oppressed minorities. The “Cancel Culture” in the United States
joins the past iconoclasms of Mao’s cultural revolution and ISIS’s
destruction of priceless historical and archeological treasures in the
name of ideology.
If at some point
history took notice, that very notion needs to be expunged. In favor of
what? The ugly specters of anarchy and nihilism raise their heads yet
again, affording a clear view into the agenda of the pit of hell: Burn
it all down!
The immediate
incendiary volatility of the unrests took the focus off of the pandemic
and on to the failure of current political and media paradigms. Add to
that catastrophic natural disasters like the fires in Australia and
Southern California, the floods in the South, hurricanes and
tornadoes—and as of this writing we are only half way through the “annus
horribilis” of 2020.
Yet the startling
specificity of Fr Mike’s words from 1976 and 1980: “Are you ready for
the churches to be shut?. . . for no law, no order, no protection . . .
for cities and diocese to go bankrupt . . . for the people of God to
have to choose between the world and Me, to rely on smaller communities
of believers . . . there will be purification and persecution among my
people. You will have to stand for what you believe. You will have to
choose between the world and me. You will have to choose what word you
will follow and whom you will respect instead of existing parish, school
and governmental structures. So this time is now come upon all of
you: a time of judgment and of purification. Sin will be called sin . .
.”
Fr. Scanlan’s
words show me that God is in charge, that He has not been taken by
surprise, and that He has a perfect plan in all this. God sits outside
of the very fabric of time, and all time is now before Him. There is
nothing that has ever happened or ever will happen that takes Him
unawares. All things do indeed work for good according to his plan.
Papal Warnings
It wasn’t until
much later that I became aware of the very same theme threaded through
the words of recent pontiffs: On Nov. 9, 1978 (shortly before he became
pope), Karol Wojtyla stated to a gathering of US bishops:
“We are now
standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity
has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American
society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully.
We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the
anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. This confrontation
lies within the plans of divine Providence . . .”
Joseph Ratzinger, before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, said similar things in an interview published in Voices and Views in 1969:
“The Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals.
“Let us go a step
farther. From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a
Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start
afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to
inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of
her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges.
“But when the
trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more
spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will
find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight
of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will
discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They
will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which
they have always been searching in secret” (emphasis mine).
What Does It All Mean?
The above
magisterial words and prophetic words match up to say: “Be ready,
judgment and purification are coming. Be ready, but know that I am in
charge of history and this is all love.” The big picture is that the
present day is a time of darkness and witness.
It should also be
noted that all these private revelations are just that: You don’t have
to pay any attention to them (but you should).
In 1 Thessalonians
5:20, Paul invites us not to despise prophecy but to test it: “Do not
despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is
good.” The idea is to test private revelation and prophecy against the
fullness of revealed truth through the Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, and
Magisterial Teaching. Do these words and ideas contradict or hold up
and confirm the Scriptures? Judge for yourself as we hold up these
prophecies against the Gospel.
You definitely
need to pay attention to Jesus in the Gospel. All the above words merely
confirm and follow Jesus’ constant warnings to be prepared, to be
vigilant, to stay awake, to have your lamp lit with plenty of extra oil
(oil is a symbol of our personal relationship with Him). He said the day
of the Lord would come like a thief in the night, and that judgment is
coming. He said stay awake, because we do not know the day or the hour.
Staying awake is an apt metaphor meant to indicate a shaking off of the
slumber of comfort and complacency.
Our Response
Be of good courage.
Messages like
these, saying essentially the same thing, are simultaneously horrifying
and exciting. The horror stems from our own weakness, frailty,
compromised double mindedness. We are perennial fence straddlers.
The excitement
comes from the Holy Spirit who lives in us and through us and draws us
back to the Father. As we diminish, He increases within us and yearns on
our behalf for the courts of the Lord.
The Time of the Spirit and Witness
The current time
is the time of the Holy Spirit and of witness. Be a credible witness to
the love of Jesus. Nothing else will do. Is there enough evidence to
convict you of being a Christian?
In the short term,
it means look to existing communities of believers and form such
communities where they do not currently exist. Seek out like-minded
believers, but don’t stop there. All the while search for the “poor” and
needy to help and assist. They are closer than you think.
Now more than ever
the proclamation of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit is
crucial. “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1Cor 9:16).
To be
a Christian is to be a missionary. The present time is a time of the
Spirit and of witness. Revelation 12:11 points out that the Evil One is
conquered by the blood of the Lamb and the witness/testimony of the
saints. Indeed, the Evil One has been conquered. Colossians 2:15
graphically portrays Jesus leading Satan in a triumphal procession in
chains. He would like us to forget that and live in fear.
Do not let him!
Be ready to
“proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable
(convenient) or unfavorable (inconvenient); convince, rebuke, and
encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming
when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching
ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own
desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away
to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of
an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” (2 Timothy 4:2-5; emphasis
mine).
And yes, this is the work of the laity, you and me, as well!
Above all, do not give up!
What does all this
mean for us today, right now? Should we be afraid and confused? No,
that is not the will of the Father who loves us, and who is saying at
every turn: “Be wise and prudent, but do not put your faith in the world
and its values and systems. Turn to me and be saved.”
Below, I've provided some practical ways we can be prepared and awake:
Action Steps
Know that we have
been created to live today, for such a time as this. Of all the times in
the world, He chose this one for you and me. Everyone is living today
because the Lord meant them to. We were born for this! There are no
accidents. Our mission is to be “agents behind enemy lines,” rescuing
the dead and dying.
I. Repent and
reform. Life’s mortality rate is one-hundred percent, but so is the
“immortality rate”: Our bodies will end, but our spirits are eternal.
- There
are no accidental disciples: Be intentionally His and seek to do his
will. Your life is not your own. His will, not ours, be done.
- What does the Lord want from me? What is the Holy Spirit saying?
- Discern
what “season” you are in. There are harvest seasons and rest seasons.
You can’t go one-hundred percent all the time. You are not meant to
gather in all the time. Sometimes the Lord calls you to rest and
regroup. We are still in the middle of a forced silence and solitude:
Let’s not waste it; let’s make the most of the forced rest. Use the
sabbatical that you have been given. Nothing takes the Lord by surprise;
therefore, the days and months we have are planned/allowed by Him.
- What is the Lord speaking to you?
- Choose who you will respect and obey. You cannot serve two masters.
- Forgive,
forgive, forgive: Are there broken relationships in your life? Do not
yield to bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness. Do not have a “long
memory” for offenses and slights. Forget them and forgive them—for your
sake as much as theirs.
II. Study and
understand the written Word of God: Contrary to public perception, there
is absolute right and there is absolute wrong. Contrary to public
perception, God has some clear cut and definite words on a whole host of
subjects pertaining to human flourishing. Do not, I repeat do not,
presume on God’s mercy and forbearing. Seek Him and do what He says.
- Read the Scriptures every day. Just start somewhere. Don’t waste time with the “right” reading or study plan, just do it.
- The
Scriptures are a user manual, a mission manual, and a love letter, all
rolled into one. Let it act on your mind and on your heart.
- Just as you eat regularly for sustenance, so read regularly for spiritual sustenance and power.
- You ARE your brother’s keeper: How can I take care of the poor and marginalized?
- Keep
asking the Lord for more. There is always more of His power and love
through the Holy Spirit. How can He use me for those around me?
- What stands in the way of the Holy Spirit in my life?
- Be
honest with yourself: What are the obstacles to the Lord in your daily
life? Are you avoiding Him? How are you allowing your expectations and
limitations to be projected upon Him?
- Do not be half-hearted or lukewarm!
- Is
every part of your life under his lordship? What does it mean that my
life is not my own, that I was bought and paid for with a terrible
price?
- Be ready for spiritual combat.
- There is a
spiritual battle. Everyone is involved. It cannot be wished away. The
very root of human conflict is in this cosmic confrontation. There are
no human enemies, everyone is a child of God. Pray for those who you see
failing to see Him and know Him.
- Watch
how you speak about people, especially political or entertainment
people who live “out there.” The same applies to your religious leaders.
Watch your speech. Words are powerful. Use them for good and for hope,
not for hopelessness and discouragement.
- Put
on the whole armor of God (Eph 6). Do not be caught unprepared. And
then, stand your ground. The armor described by Paul only covers your
front, not your back.
- Use
the power of God to overcome strongholds of sin and despair (2 Cor
10:5), especially the ones that dwell in our minds and hearts.
- Lead by example.
- Do
not fear! Don’t let the fear of bodily death overcome you and your
decisions. If we have died with Him, we will also rise with Him.
- The
highest good for secular society is a healthy, financially secure life.
The highest good for a Christian is knowing, loving and serving the
Lord in this life and being with Him in the next. Therefore, death has
no sting. Satan controls the human race through the fear of death. Don’t
let him.
- Society
is being shaken, quite literally, by the fear of death and the fear of
economic and political collapse. If we hold on to the Kingdom, we will
not be shaken. Choose what you will rely on.
- Attitude
of gratitude: Instead of focusing on what is wrong or what it missing,
give thanks to God for what you have and trust that He will supply the
rest at the right time. Stop comlplaining!
- Seek out community
- Expect small and great miraculous encounters.
- Not all are what they seem to be.
- Do not judge by the exterior.
- Identity,
identity, identity: We are first and foremost children of God. Being a
son or daughter of God is our first allegiance. Everything else, family,
friends, political party is secondary. We are not of this world. We
seek to make the world a better place, but not through education,
political actions, or recreation. These are all good things, but who is
your Lord? We belong to the Lord and are citizens of heaven. We are to
know, love, and serve Him and realize that utopia does not exist.
Perfection through purely human efforts is doomed to failure.
- Don’t seek popularity or consensus: Seek the kingdom first and all else will be added.
- There
is protection within the Body of Christ and like-minded brothers and
sisters: Don’t go at it alone! Let holiness be “contagious.”
- Remember your place within the Body: Submission to proper authority is a hallmark of holiness. Accountability is protection.
- Write down what you hear Him say: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”
- Am
I still going at it alone in some areas? Where do I need to let Him in?
Have I let past hurts cut me off from family or community?
- Act to influence the culture and the world through signs and wonders in evangelism. Proclamation and demonstration.
- Expect a higher and deeper anointing for evangelization and more and stronger charisms.
- Expect a deeper authority to operate in kingdom living and demonstration.
- Expect the grace and anointing to evangelize, sanctify, penetrate and perfect the temporal order (Decree on the Laity).
- Remember
that God’s actions start on the edge of the impossible: As soon as we
think there is something we can “do.” we will take credit for the
outcome. Only when it seems impossible does God step in to show His
power and love.
- Pray, pray, pray. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.
- The kingdom of God is brought about by obedience and worship.
- Worship is vocal praise, yes, but it also obeying the Father in all things.
- Spend time daily with Him. Communication with the Lord: Oxygen.
- Prayer
is communication with the Beloved. It is a conversation. Talk to Him
like you talk to your family and friends. Just speak from your heart and
make sure you listen.
- Do not fear! The future is in Jesus’ hands.
- Do you know Him?
- Do you trust Him?
- The Lord has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love, and self-discipline (2 Tm 1:7)
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