Countdown to the Kingdom

The Holy Rosary is a great anchor. Our relationship with the Two Hearts is key. Authentic spiritual experiences are gifts from the Lord, but I believe should not be sought after for themselves. For instance, a pilgrimage to Medjugorje should not be taken to experience signs and wonders (though they may occur), but as a means to deepen our prayer life or to ask for graces of discernment in what direction to take in our life. At it's foundation would be our love for Mary. When we return home there should be the evidence of a deeper prayer life or the undertaking of a new way of reaching out in ministry.

If our heart is set on the Lord on an everyday basis we should not fear the future. Jesus is in complete charge. Our world is in great, great need of the witness of mercy and love. And Our Lady is ever present to watch over us. Let us not get too caught up in prophets and timetables. Our most important scheduled event is the day of our death for then we shall Him as he is.

The true test of our faithfulness is not which seers or timetable you and I follow, but how we respond to those we meet today. I've always liked the practical advice the angel Raphael gave to Tobit and his family before departing:

Tobit:12: 6 Then he said to them secretly: Bless ye the God of heaven, give glory to him in the sight of all that live, because he hath shewn his mercy to you. 7 For it is good to hide the secret of a king: but honorable to reveal and confess the works of God. 8 Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than to lay up treasures of gold: 9 For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting. 10 But they that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul. 11 I discover then the truth unto you, and I will not hide the secret from you. 12 When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord. 13 And because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee.

Saint Raphael, offer our prayers to the Lord!

 

I have recently felt the need in prayer to thank our Heavenly Father for allowing us to live in these turbulent times - to live, hope, pray and suffer. These are such difficult days! But I realize that He has chosen us to live right now - not last century or the previous centuries...

I can look back over the last few years of intense personal suffering and confusion. There were so many times I felt like turning away, looking for relief- just some sort of personal happiness (self will). In those moments it was such a struggle to discern God’s will. However, after completely devoting myself and family To Our Lady and Her Son I can see now that She has guided me here for just such times as we’re living in. (She is guiding us all!)

Each and every moment when I felt uneasy, unsure or fearful I’ve turned to Her, offered my prayers, works, hopes and my sufferings to Her and confidently asked Her to place them at the foot of Her Son’s Cross. As I look back - sure enough - I’ve been given everything that I needed! It wasn’t always what I thought I wanted at the time - but it was always, always what I truly needed. My confidence in Her has grown because of this.

That brings me to the here and now. I can allow myself to live in fear and anxiety (watching the news does that to me). Or... I can choose once again to say “not my will, but yours...”.

I’ve made it a daily habit to ask for the Graces I need to be Her servant and slave to Her Son (St Louis De Montfort’s daily prayer). Without those graces I couldn’t have done it! Without Those daily Graces I can’t do it...

I’m now taking the time to Thank God daily for allowing me to live in such times. It’s becoming more and more clear that He has chosen us to pray, work and suffer for Him - to pray for those who can’t see during these dark times.

There’s just nothing I can do on my own except to trust in our Holy Mother and to...

Pray. Pray. Pray! And then Pray some more - especially pray the daily Rosary! Fast and pray - it helps! And thank Him.

 

Thank you so much for writing this, MarkM.! I have no doubt at all of Our Lady’s inspiration behind your putting this onto the forum. You are Hers and I’ve been blessed by reading it. You’ve also reminded me to pray that Consecration again—I used to do so daily. Beautiful! I must reread!~AN

 

A wonderful testament, Mark. Thank you.

 

Wonderful true words. That is where she has brought me too but I had not had the insight of praising God for being in these times. That is a wonderful insight. Thankyou.

 

I had a strange experience years ago when I was running a B and B. A guest arrived to stay, she said she was a Catholic Nun from a Melbourne based Order of Nuns. I did not exactly verify that but I believed her. She had the appearance of a Modernist Nun. (Not sure if it was true. ) She asked me questions about my life and she asked me if she could pray for me but when she started to pray, she put her hand on my arm and I felt an electric shock jolt to my whole body. It wasnt painful but I was taken by surprise. Before leaving my B and B, she reccommended to me " A Course in Miracles". I had not heard of it so I looked it up a decided it was hopelessly New Age. She had said her Order of Nuns was promoting it in Melbourne. I looked up the Order and saw that they did seem to be offering Courses in it so I had a little more reason to believe she was indeed a Nun. I never saw or heard from her again. I was confused about the jolt.It also made a sort of warm feeling akin to melting go through my body. Afterwards I had the impression I could straighten up and face the world. However now I just feel suspicious of it. Especially because she was promoting " A Course in Miracles. "

 

Apologies to all for my recent post about my experience related to a seer mentioned in this thread, which I have deleted. I am going to my confessor to discuss that situation, and my lack of judgement and charity. I will be leaving the forum because I need to put limits on myself till I get these areas of weakness under control. Bless you all, and I will be with you, as a guest, and in spirit!

 

Done

 

Mmary



Oh Mmary, you will be missed! I pray the Lord will bless you in your time away and hopefully you will come back!

 

Yes, May the Lord bless you! And come back soon!
None of us are perfect here.

 

Just saw this on Youtube. So basically Fr. Michel Rodrigue really believes that Pope Francis would change his sinful ways just like Apostle Peter, and then he will be martyred afterwards.

But what if Pope Francis just retires quietly?...

 

I hesitate to tell you what I really think of this video, so I will refrain for the sake of charity.

But I can’t resist saying this much: we saw the very frail and debilitated condition of Benedict a few weeks ago when his brother was ill. How much longer can we say that he will be able to do anything official like what Fr M suggests? Plus if Pope Francis is martyred, there will have to be a Conclave to elect a new Pope. The papacy will not be filled by default to Benedict.
I truly think that’s an outrageous claim. Imho

 

A Course in Miracles is bad news for sure. I read a book where it was mentioned and I may get a few details wrong going off of memory...

The late Fr. Groschel knew the couple involved in the publication. They weren't Christian but I can't remember if they were atheist or Jewish. The wife heard a voice in her head claiming to be Jesus and the writing is apparently very profound and causes a spiritual response in a lot of people who read it. Apparently the voice comes out with some blatant heresy (denying a physical resurrection if I remember correctly.) Anyway the book was published anonymously at first and had a huge following, but it ended up ruining the author's life and she regretted ever writing it. I imagine the nuns in Melbourne probably don't know the entire backstory.

 

Thank you Kyle.

 

hummmm..
The video was taken down....?

 

too bad the video was taken down...I wonder who took it down...?

 

Ask Jason
It was a short video
I think it was an excerpt of a video that had already been posted
It may be accessible on the Countdown to the Kingdom website
Jason? Do you know anything about this?