https://stmichaelsabbey.com/perfect-storm A Perfect Storm Fr. Ambrose Criste “A stormwind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire enveloped in brightness … [and] from the midst of the fire, something gleamed like electrum.” This is how Ezekiel’s prophesy begins. He is that unbelievably vivid prophet from just before the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. He gives us his gorgeous depiction of his encounter with God, with the four living creatures, with the cherubim, and he’s one of those prophets who even acted out in his own life the things he prophesied, a sort of Old Testament “holy fool.” But what’s striking about the beginning of his prophesy is that it comes out of the most ordinary of things—a specific storm on a very ordinary day. He even tells us exactly which day it was (“the fifth day of the fourth month of the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile”); there he is, a storm blows in, and all of a sudden he’s swept up by the presence of God. “Heaven and earth are filled with your glory,” we just prayed in the psalm. The prophets have a particularly keen ability to penetrate the ordinariness of everyday life and to witness the presence of God breaking through. But God’s presence is always and everywhere penetrating your life and mine too, my friends, in the ordinariness of our lives, even if God isn’t choosing us specifically to be his prophets in the same way that he chose Ezekiel. In other words, today, this very day, heaven and earth, your life and mine, are filled with God’s presence and his glory, his providential designs, his fathomless love, and his grace. Right now he is moving us and speaking to us, directing us toward the end he has in view for us. Right now, even if there is a storm brewing on some horizon, God is busy about his lovely work of making us into the saints he so wants us to be. And there are storms brewing! The world is a mess, our political climate is a disaster, our holy religion is assailed on all sides, and I’m sure you could enumerate a long list of storms. It’s almost like we’re there with the prophet Ezekiel by the river Chebar while that firestorm is blowing in from the North. If you’re anything like I am, when you look around and consider the threatening storms, you might wonder, “How on earth are we ever going to get out of this alive?” Well, the great St. Dominic whom we honor today teaches us how to face the storm. He says that the best way to do it is with genuine humility and a life of devout prayer. Genuine humility and devout prayer—it’s a pretty simple recipe, but for St. Dominic, humility and prayer put us into alignment with God’s holy will and set us on a path to greater holiness in the midst of the storm. When he became aware of the storm of heresy assailing the South of France—the widespread and pernicious errors of the Albigensenians—he discovered that God was calling to him too in the midst of that disaster. He writes, “Heretics are to be converted by an example of humility and other virtues far more readily than by any external display or verbal battles. So let us arm ourselves with devout prayers and set off showing signs of genuine humility and go barefooted to combat Goliath.” So that’s what he did. He took what was best from our own primitive Premonstratensian Order, our monastic discipline and our early statutes, that is, genuine humility and a life of devout prayer, and he allowed these to serve as the bedrock upon which he built his own new foundation of Friars Preachers, to push back that Albigensian storm. What storm is looming on your horizon? Maybe you face the challenges of preparing for another academic year; maybe you are steeling yourself for a few weeks of the hard manual labor of general cleaning; perhaps the prospect of packing up and moving away to Toronto or to Rome (or to San Pedro, or to Santa Paula) makes you uneasy or afraid. St. Dominic would encourage you and me to fortify ourselves against the storm with genuine humility and a life of devout prayer. Then he would have us cling to our rosary and look to our Lady, because in the midst of that storm we just might, like the prophet Ezekiel, hear the voice of the Lord and see angels, and even the Queen of the Angels, glorious there on high. From that place, so glorious and so filled with God’s presence, they are calling to us and assisting us here in the midst of our own very ordinary storms. They just cannot wait for us to join them there on high, where the clouds will break, that new eternal day will dawn, and together we will forever praise the name of the Lord, for his majesty is above heaven and earth. (Fr. Ambrose is my son's Novice master at the Norbertine's St. Michael's Abbey in Silverado CA.)
A powerful piece Brian. Thank you. Recently I have heard many people and a few here om MOG talk about "the Storm". Charlie Johnston has been talking about it for years. His mission is to proclaim The Rescue from the storm. According to Charlie all are expected to play a part in the rescue. We are called to acknowlege God, take the right next step and to be a sign of hope for others. I see you answering this call loudly and clearly in this post. He also says there will be a rescue from the Immuculate Heart that will be visible to the whole earth towards the end of 2017. He talks about political, economic and social aspects of the storm in a very practical and believable way. While I am firmly fixed in my belief in Garabandal I also listen to Charlie with an open mind. He is a hard working Catholic grandfather who suffers much for the sake of the Kingdom. One of the messages given to Charlie and passed on to us is that Barack Obama will not complete this term of office. We do not have long to wait for authentication. God bless and preserve you Brian in body, mind and spirit and may he bless you and your family with a fresh outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. "For I surely know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart. I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortune......" Jeremiah 29:11-14.
Thank you Joe. I love this verse of scripture, it's one of my favorites. It is the entrance antiphon at daily mass for the third week of November, if I remember correctly. It has helped me through some very tough times many years ago.
Two lovely posts from BrianK and Joe crozier. As Jesus would say. "Keep watch and pray," just like blessed Mother did.
While I have no faith in numerology neither to I discount the sacred place numbers hold in our Faith. Of course we even have The Book of Numbers in the Bible. Your comment, Brian, brought the sacred significance of numbers to mind. There are no mere coincidences in God's world. As soon as I saw your words "the third week of November" I thought of the Feast of St Margaret of Scotland whose feast, Nov 16, as you point out, falls in week 33 of the liturgical year. She was a mother of eight children, two of whom are now saints. She would leave the castle and take her children with her every week to mix with the poor and tend to their needs. In Sacred Tradition, 8 is the number of fullness and 16 is twice 8. And 33 is the age our Saviour reached in bringing us the fullness of grace through his life, death and resurrection. Week 33 2016 also marks the last week of the Year of Mercy. In her ministry to the poor St Margaret was an excellent example of Mercy as she helped many cope with their personal storms. She even provided a ferry for pilgrims to cross the river and this part of Edinburgh is still known as Queensferry. A small personal chapel was built for her at the top of Edinburgh Castle. It is still the highest building in Edinburgh. For many years it fell into disrepair and was used as an ammunitions store. It has now been beautifully restored and is a real haven of peace. My old dad used to go every year on pulgrimage to Lourdes where he volunteered as a broncardier. One year him and his mates set to cleaning a beautiful statue even using tooth brushes to ensure a good job. The statue stands near the grotto and the river. It is, of course, the statue of St Margaret. To me that is a little bit of. Scotland. Thinking of it makes me want to go home. Lourdes always feels like home to me. God preserve us through The Storm and help us to help others, to show mercy that mercy may be shown to us and glorify His Name. Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
Jesus supposedly died on the same day he was conceived, March 25. Not sure if that holds any significance for you.
Thanks for this Brian. Jeremiah 29 is the best scripture for The Feast of St Margaret. Nice to have this connection with you. Thanks
I did not know this SH. But it feels right - the alpha and omega. The beginning and the end ever renewed in the offering of the Mass. The eternal love of God. The Crib and The Cross. Death and new life from generation to generation. "Hence forth all generations shall call me Blessed."
This talk of Lourdes and Scotland has caught my attention and caused no little procrastination today. http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/inr.2015.0086 The above link tells about the Scottish Lourdes in Carfin a small mining town that hosted Eucharistic processions of up to 60,000 people. It seems Carfin was the centre of its own storms and these processions took place under threat of indictment from the local constable. I had heard of Carfin but never knew its history. While we used to go on processions to honour Blessed (now Saint) John Ogilvie during which Protestant boys would throw stones at us and we were not allowed to reply to their taunts or retaliate (that was hard for the likes of me) and we would go on pilgrimage every year to Dunfermline to where the relics of St Margaret were eventually returned. I think we only once went to Carfin and I can't recal much about it. But we went many times to the original Lourdes in France driving all the way from Scotland. Like Queen Margaret my mum had eight children so these trips were 'interesting.' (Are we there yet). I have spent much of today looking up other interesting facts about St Margaret. Not a waste of time. As a result of this wandering I have now been drawn back to a thread started in 2015 by Padraig "End Game for the Forum". In it he began: "I just want to touch on a few points which were indicated to me in prayer whilst I was down for a few days in the caravan. I had been hoping , as I know had many of yourselves that the forum would be able to remain active through at least much of the Tribulation. Sadly it has been shown to me that this will not be the case and that the present period is the closing down/ end game for the forum. This will not be as a result of any lack of will on my part but due to coming changing nature of the internet itself. As many of you will know the internet was found as a military enterprise in the Western United States in order to preserve military communications in the event of a nuclear attack. This is because normal communications would of course fail. This because of EMP the electromagnetictic pulse caused by nuclear blasts . I see now that governments and military forces intend to sieze control of the net for themselves as a first line of defense and although the net will continue to function it will be in a much smaller and very much more controlled way. There will of course be no place at all in such a system for any Catholic or truly religious sites at all. Apart from them claiming they have lack of resources their aim will be to eradicate us rather than encourage us. (They will say that this is to, 'Restore and maintain public confidence in this time of emergency', but they are like their Father , Satan, liars from the beginning. They will have no intention at all to ever restore the internet as it now is, it poses to much of a threat to their interests.) So that's that. But I will try me best to keep going as long as I can I promise you that. But in either case we will still be united in prayer and spirit in the Holy Spirit who beats in hearts of us all. The forum will be kind of revived in the far future when a new kind of internet not like ours when we are rediscovered by what I can only term cyber archeologists. So peace and greetings to them as they read our long dead posts. " I have long believed EMP would play a part in the end of these times. N Korea is a prime suspect but Russia is closer. Russian encroachments of Scottish territory by sea and air have increased hugely in recent years as they test response times of the defense forces. Not far from my family in Scotland is Faslane the naval base for Trident nuclear submarines. 500 million pounds have just been invested in this base. (When I was a child my dad took me aboard a non-nuclear submarine when he was representing wayward sailors.) The connection between Padraig's thread and The Storm in Scotland has not been lost to me. Faslane will be a prime target. The green hills around the Holy Loch as the waters near Faslane are ironically called are bunkers for nuclear weapons. Interestingly Charlie Johnston has been posting some excellent articles about the Storm's Rescue, his vision for he future and what will be needed to help restore order to the new world. Well worth reading on The Right Next Step. I will finish by returning to St Margaret and the hope she gives as a defender of the Scottish people even against nuclear attack. "In the Book of Pluscarden there is related a beautiful legend, which illustrates St. Margaret's fond care of her people: it tells how Sir John Wemyss, a cripple knight, saw in a vision the great portal of Dunfermline Kirk swing open and St. Margaret mounted on a charger issue forth, accompanied by four splendidly caparisoned and armed warriors of Noble aspect, who all rode away into the west. It was the third of October, 1263, the day of the battle of Largs when Haco, King of Norway, was routed by a small Scottish force under Alexander II, thus saving Scotland from the Viking overlord. The pious knight, enlightened by St. Margaret recognised in the heroic warriors her consort Malcolm and her three royal sons setting out to help the Scots in their hour of peril. The knight proved the truth of his vision by going to the shrine in the abbey church where he was cured of his infirmity. May St. Margaret yet ride forth to fight the battles of her people who have recourse to her." http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/STMARG.htm It all seems to be coming together.
For those who are interested in Charlie's vision of restoration and recovery from the worst of the storm they can find them on his site under Rules of Regency I and II using the search engine.
Thank you Joe for those lovely posts on St Margaret! I recently discovered that she is my ancestor, my 29th great grandmother to be exact :-D so I'm new to learning about her and feel a special connection to a Scottish heritage I never knew I had.
Wow Divine Mercy that means we have Royal Blood running through the veins of MOG. Queen Margaret through to you and you are part of this family. How blessed you are to have such a great saint in your genes, not only the patron saint of Scotland along with Saint Andrew who was the first Pope's brother (I think) but Queen Margaret also regarded as the patron saint of Mothers. How many mothers have calmed the storms of family life when no other could! Mothers are still the greatest educators and nurturers of our children. They are the leaven that raises society. They confer a flavor that nothing can replace or reproduce and the touch of a good mother is blessing indeed. God bless mothers. Pray for us St Margaret. 29 was my dad's lucky number - how's that for random!
