Living These Decisive Times as One with Christ

Living These Decisive Times as One with Christ Fr. Jordi Rivero, 5-27-21 Let us pray: Mother Mary, you are always faithful to God, even through the Cross. Mother, pray for us. Amen. Be alert and formed in our mission for the decisive times For many years, the Spirit of the Lord has been speaking to the Church to prepare and form us for the decisive times which we now have entered. The Lord speaks to us through the Popes, through the saints, by sending us His Blessed Mother, and through many other prophetic voices, like Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, who has been the papal preacher for many years. He recently described this period in history as a time of great tribulation for the whole of mankind. It's very important that we take to heart the mission God has for us. The Lord has not revealed the specific events we will be facing, or when the events mentioned in scripture will occur. He has warned us not to be curious about those things or seek to find out the day or the hour of such events. However, He does expect us to be attentive to the signs of the times and events as they appear because everything that happens, every idea or ideology, has serious consequences. We need the Spirit to help us discern their meaning in the light of our faith. Saint Paul tells us in 1Thess 5:2-6: But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness for that day to overcome you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober. Alert to what? Alert to the Lord who’s speaking to us. How does God speak? Through the Church and with the Church, interpreting what is going on in the world. It should be evident by now that we are facing very serious challenges. Like the people who built the Tower of Babel, our generation has forsaken God and made themselves into gods. The proverbial tower is now called “the Great Reset.” We think that, with our technology and intelligence, we will reach all our goals and become self-fulfilled. In all areas of society (schools, universities, entertainment, economy), there is a social revolution aiming to establish a New World Order without God. Freedoms and rights that we took for granted are disappearing. The Great Reset promises many things to trap and subdue us. A time of judgment The good news is that God is preparing a great reset of His own. The Lord’s great reset will come as a time of judgment. I'm not referring to the Final Judgment, but rather a judgment in history, in time. Therefore, a judgment that will be a manifestation of mercy as the Lord brings to light the reality of evil, allowing us to understand the damage that has been done. God will judge the evil of the world and reveal it to his disciples. He will show us regarding the world: “This is wrong. You must reject it. You must rebuke it. Look at the consequences of sin.” It will be a time of purification and repentance for those who see and who want to follow the Lord. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. —Romans 1:18 Are we not seeing the truth being suppressed, censored, and persecuted? The “wrath of God” does not mean that God is angry or that God has a temper. God is all love, and that is why He confronts what is destroying his children. The wrath of God shows that love and evil are incompatible. St. Paul goes on in verses 21-22, For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened; claiming to be wise, they became fools. This scripture clearly describes the times we are living. Evil is deceitful, promising progress but delivering a genocide of unborn children, indoctrination, denial of true freedoms. Today, a person can be chastised for calling men, men, and women, women. Is this not foolishness? Ponder the Word of God and the prophetic messages such as Fatima and those given to the community. God teaches us the truth to save us from all the darkness of this present generation. Therein lies the clash, two opposing powers, two different world resets. John Paul II, just before He became Pope, came to the United States and said that we are in the final confrontation between Christ and the antichrist, the Church and the anti-church, and lamented how unaware the faithful were of this reality. What is this confrontation? Jesus came against the powers of darkness and, in an act of love, remained faithful to the Father. This love defeated the powers of the world at the Cross. Although Jesus is forever triumphant, the battle continues. We who are His body must now follow Him to the Cross. Jesus tells His disciples, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. The body of Christ must participate in this present battle against Satan. It's been going on throughout the Church's history, but is now entering a new dimension. The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover when she will follow Her Lord in his death and resurrection. (Cat. #677) Also stated in the Catechism, Before Christ's second coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. (Cat. #675) The faithful are being shaken and confused. This leads to vulnerability to the lies and threats of the enemy. The Catechism goes on to say, The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage will unveil the mystery of iniquity in the form of a religious deception, offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. Before the anti-Christ comes, the powers of darkness are preparing the way for him. Men glorify themselves in place of God; millions are abandoning the Church. Do you see the religious deception? Men of authority, claiming to be very pious Catholics, and doing the opposite, supporting a genocide, supporting all kinds of serious immoralities. Mary prepares us In chapter 8 of the Simple Path to Union with God, we find a summary of numerous apparitions and prophetic warnings that have been approved by the Church. One of these apparitions of the Blessed Mother occurred in Rwanda, Africa. This event in Kibeho began when I was a deacon in 1981. Mary appeared under the title Mother of the Word to a group of mostly teenage girls and gave them an apocalyptic vision of the devastating events that were soon to take place. The warning, however, was not only to prepare the people of Rwanda; it was for the whole world. The Blessed Mother showed them rivers of blood and urgently called them to repentance. No one imagined what was coming: In 1994, a tribal war broke out in the country, resulting in a genocide—neighbors killing neighbors, husbands killing wives. People were attacked with machetes. While the whole world remained silent, more than 800,000 people were murdered. Many who were present at the apparitions, including one of the seers, were among the dead. In the 1970s, there were prophetic apparitions in Akita, Japan, approved by the local Bishop. Sr. Agnes, the visionary, remained silent after the apparitions for about 40 years. Then on October 6, 2019, just before news of the pandemic broke out in China, she spoke out again with a serious message for the world. Sr. Agnes, now 88 years old, was told by an angel, “Put on ashes and pray a repentant rosary every day.” This is, in essence, the same request Our Lady asked of us in Fatima, in Kibeho, and so many other places. The Blessed Mother is preparing us for something very serious, and we need to respond. Pray the rosary every day with a spirit of true repentance, not just hastily. Listen, be attentive, and Mary will draw us to her intimate relationship with God. Pray the rosary in the joy of knowing that we are His body; we are His sons and daughters. Tempted to fall As the upheaval increases, my dear family, many will be tempted to fall into fear. We all have the instinct of self-preservation. Even Jesus experienced fear in Gethsemane, but He overcame that fear by turning to the Father in prayer. He asked the disciples to do the same, but they fell asleep. Unless we turn to the Father as one with Jesus, we will focus on protecting ourselves and will fall into fear. Then we will be misled by the pressure of others to seek false security. Because of our fear of the virus, we are swallowing the lies the world is telling us about how to best protect ourselves; and we are not really being attentive or listening with our hearts to the Lord. We are falling into this fear of the virus, and soon it will be fear of the collapse of the social order, fear of a failed economy, fear of so many things. We hear all around us people saying, “Be safe,” meaning stay protected, but what does it mean? To be truly safe is to remain in God. Our goal is not to save our lives in this world but to lay them down with Christ. There is a virus destroying our souls, and it is being ignored. Only if we trust in God and attend first to Him will we be able to discern the measures for protection against the physical virus vs. the false remedies that can harm us. My dear family, our lives are no longer ours; they belong to Christ. That's why we call Him Lord and King and Savior. Exemplars Let us look at the example of Maximilian Kolbe, a martyr for our times. He gave his life for another man. He died injected with poison. Love overcame fear. I recently saw a short video of a priest by the name of Father Tim, who was stationed in Iraq during the war. He chose to be in the front lines with the soldiers to celebrate Mass, was wounded, and died. Father Tim was quoted as saying something that I will never forget, The safest place to be is at the center of God's will—no matter what. So, when you hear, “Be safe,” think about that. The safest place to be is at the center of God's will—no matter what. Spiritual blindness Most people are not aware of the root cause of the problems that we are living. Jesus came to free us from the powers of evil that are now dominating the world, but few turn to him. The same thing that happened when He was walking on earth, we see happening now. In Matthew 13:15, the Lord says, For this people's Heart has grown dull and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them. Many in our day have become blind. Their hearts are hardened. Don't let this happen to you. Just as Satan went with all his fury against Jesus, He is now coming against His followers today. The Lord has given us in Love Crucified a mission for these times. The Simple Path is our formation to be his faithful remnant, His victim souls for these decisive times. What a great mission— to be saints for our times! Why should we fear? We are called to be witnesses of God's crucified love in the midst of despair. This is why we embrace with love and trust the trials and sufferings as one with Christ. My brothers and sisters, Christ is victorious at the Cross, and his victory will be manifested through those who embrace the Cross and are therefore one with Him. In these times, we see the Cross being manifested through great trials and great difficulties. The Cross is an opportunity to be one with Christ and share His victory. As we live the Path, the Lord takes us to self-knowledge, to repentance. It is then that the Word, and the teaching we receive, begin to acquire a new understanding. We become aware of the signs of the times and the battle we have entered. We come to know how to fight this battle and how to defeat Satan. We acquire an identity as warriors who mount their horses and go to battle. This is our mission. We must see these difficult times as opportunities to become great saints. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. —Romans 5:20 Yes, sin is widespread, but God is pouring out the grace to become saints, as never before. St. Louis- Marie Grignion de Montfort, in his treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, says, Toward the end of time and perhaps sooner than we expect, God will raise up people filled with the Holy Spirit and imbued with the spirit of Mary. Through them, Mary, the Queen most powerful, will work great wonders in the world, destroying sin and setting up the kingdom of Jesus, Her Son, upon the ruins of the corrupt kingdom, which is this great earthly Babylon. Yes, we are in the great reset during these times of great tribulation, but we have a great opportunity to be share in Christ’s love and victory. This is the time to prepare the way for a New Pentecost, for the glorious victory of the Lord that will come through His divine intervention. This is not something we can do on our own. The Lord will do it! All He needs is for us to be obedient, to be faithful in our ordinary daily lives, to be who we're called to be. I want to finish with this passage in The Path (p.170): Rev 21:5 See, I am making all things new.

Saint Arnold Janssen wrote,

The Lord challenges our faith to do something new, precisely when so many things are collapsing in the Church.

It's not a time to despair, is not a time to get angry, to attack other people because of things that they're doing; let us be light in the darkness. Precisely, when so many things in the church are crumbling, the Lord is challenging us to realize something new— a divine holiness. The Lord said to our community, “I am doing something new. Believe that the martyrdom of the heart is the Hidden Force.” The Lord also gave this message to the community on November 16th, 2010, Eyes have not seen, nor ear has heard what your God has prepared for you. I invite you to come and see. I will remove the veil that covers the eyes of your soul so that you can see what few are able to see. You will see the new Jerusalem in all its glory. She, more precious than gold or diamonds, will be yours to possess. Allow me to remove the plank from your eyes that keeps you from contemplating the glory of God before you. My dear family, never forget amid all these trials and tribulations, the Lord is with us, guiding us to the new Jerusalem. Let's be faithful. Let's go forward. God bless you.