Countdown to the Kingdom

Yep. Exactly. I think we do what we can with as much fervor as we can and not get guilt ridden (we know where that comes from! ) Sincere desire to pray is also prayer.

 

This is not directed at you Anne, but I am reminded of something Our Blessed Mother said at Kibeho and I would just like to put this out there for the many who just read and don't post and may be just learning about our faith. Our Lady said the Seven Sorrows Chaplet was never to replace of the Holy Rosary, that the Rosary was to be prayed every day and that the Seven Sorrows Chaplet was an added devotion. Also, the Seven Sorrows chaplet was to obtain the grace of repentance. It's a lovely devotion and after I finish the St. Joseph's Cloak novena, I hope to begin to pray it again.

 

Wonderful!

 

Today's daily reflection is wonderful. The connection of 666 to John's gospel 6:66 is something I never would have connected. here it is:

"Freedom from Despair" by Fr. Rick Heilman

There is a stirring scene in the 6th chapter of John's Gospel, a chapter referred to as the "Bread of Life Discourse." Jesus had just told the crowd, " Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." The response by nearly all was, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Jesus returns with, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing." And then, in the 66th verse of chapter 6 of John's Gospel, or rather John 6:66, almost everyone leaves: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."

The crowd who abandoned Jesus had abandoned hope. They despaired. So, what did they do? They "turned back" to the emptiness of "merely existing" in the flesh. This emptiness or "desolation" is the place the devil wants us to be. It is Satan's kingdom.

I believe it is no accident that the chapter and verse of this act of despair in John's Gospel is 666. We are given free will. We can choose God or not. In the Book of Revelation, 666 is the number of the beast, or the number of man. Once separated from God, Satan wants us to believe we are merely one animal (beast) among many; just part of the herd. So, like animals, we are left to scramble to fill this void with worldly wants and lusts; works of the flesh.

Make no mistake about it, the influencers of our culture (media, Hollywood, TV, universities, public schools, etc.) are, by and large, godless propagandists who are determined to instill in us the notion that we are "merely animals." Therefore, women are objectified, men are just vulgar beasts, pre-born babies are a clump of cells, and the nuclear family - the bedrock of civilization - is outdated. As the Satanic bible proclaims: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." Just be animals.

After the crowd abandoned Jesus in despair, He then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

The Apostles were not buying the lie of the devil. No, we are not just animals, we are precious children of God, created in His image. Therefore, life in the Spirit is filled with the hope of a joyful and amazing journey of striving to please God in every way, especially by striving to become the very best version of ourselves we can possibly be. And, just as Jesus demonstrated on the cross, we are called to a total selfless love of neighbor.

The crowd abandoned Him in despair, but the Apostles stayed with Him in hope. If we want the hope of all meaning and purpose in life as a child of God, we simply must get near to Him, because
"the Spirit gives life." We must combat the temptation of allowing our faith to devolve into merely "punching the clock" by fulfilling basic obligations. Many avoid an intimate relationship with the Lord because, like the crowd, they believe, "This is a hard teaching." In other words, if they "let God in," He will ask "too much" from us. It's better to keep God at arm's length; a manageable distance.

It's time to "make it personal." It's time to "get near" to Him before the Blessed Sacrament. Spend time Adoring Our Lord. This can be done by scheduling an hour at a local Adoration Chapel, or you can simply come early or stay after Mass. Be careful, though, because you may just find yourself crying out, "My Lord and my God!" ... and then everything will change. Your life, filled with hope, will rise to new and exciting heights!
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:31

 

For me, daily Mass, Rosary and (hopefully!) a half-hour of mental prayer are PRIMARY duties for which I have been given the necessary graces to fulfill. Any other devotions/prayer campaigns fall secondary under these. And , I am with Heavenly Hosts in truly believing that every little thing we do, done in the Charity of God is a prayer. We should aim for a balance in the spiritual life, as in the monasteries. It does help to have our own personal “Rule of Life”.

 

The St Joseph’s Holy Cloak is a great prayer for the journey home from work. Whilst I usually replay over and over the annoying moments of the day during the drive, I am following the prayers on YouTube and joining in. Much better.

Thankyou for the suggestion and inspiration.

 

It is so good, to see this thread inspiring prayer! I will join in, too!

 

Also, I saw something I want to post from Mark Shea's blog,

"For as long as I have been Catholic (and of course the phenomenon is much older than that, traceable back to Tertullian and his fascination with Montanism) people who have not liked what the Magisterium has to say have latched on to some claim of private revelation and tried to weaponize it against the Church’s teaching...

"Genuine private revelation has one function: to draw us back to public revelation and obedience to the revelation of Jesus Christ in and through his Church. It therefore cannot teach us to disobey the Tradition.

"In his review of Infiltration, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus remarks:

“Finally, in one of the classic tactics of the Catholic far-right, Marian apparitions and papal visions are adduced to confirm all, so that, from a few cryptic utterances, one’s version of history seems to be confirmed infallibly in every detail by God Himself.”

One of the most dangerous tactics a Catholic can adopt is attempting to turn private revelation, whether approved or rejected by the Church, into an Alternative Magisterium at war with the real Magisterium. Flee any person who does this..."

I feel, the "Countdown" website founders, may set up a "mini-Magisterium," by judging "unverified" prophets to create "prophetic consensus." They DO NOT USE the guidelines, set out by the Vatican on private revelation. Instead, they make up their own "prophetic consensus" guideline, which has never been proposed/approved by the Church!

They claim "expertise," but none of them have, ever, represented the Church in "discerning" prophecies. They are "self-appointed."

.

 

HH, I could have written this. I greatly admire everyone here who are such good prayer managers. I would be all over the place.

 

I think you’ve made good points in your last two paragraphs and I am in agreement with your own personal, shared conclusions. This needed to be said.

(Please note: Because of my own observations over many years of both his words and behaviors, I do not subscribe to the opinions of Mr. Shea, and am only saying as much so as to distance my agreement of what you have said from having it appear as though I were also a supporter of him. I am not.)

 

Mmm to be Marian is to be a far right Catholic according to Mr Mirus.

Ave Maria

 

Christy... Who is Jeffery Mirus?? Never heard of him, but my first opinions are not positive.

He refers to traditional Catholics ( that would be ME) as " far right" and appears to consider those Catholics who consider themselves "traditionalist"to be stupid.

I just quickly read over his article on Dr Taylor Marshall and was immediately turned off by the out right meanness in reviewing Dr Marshals book.

I like Dr Marshals videos and may not always agree w him but ,wow, hes not like an "absurdly crazy uncle" nor is he "abysmally ignorant" and" fundamentally stupid". Mirus even tried to get Sophia Press to not publish Dr Marshalls book! So rather debate a point of view that he disagreed with ..he wanted it silenced ..just like the progressive liberals want to do to any conservative thinking. Shut it down!

Needless to say I wont be reading anymore of Jeffery Mirus' articles.

So here I am spouting my opinions on this forum rather than doing what I NEED to be doing.... my daily regime of prayers!!
Wasted precious time!! I think from now on I wont come to this forum until all my prayers have been said!!

 

I don't agree with "everything" from either Shea or Mirius. For me, to be Catholic is to be "Marian"! For me, also, "far-right" Catholics are those who mix "right-wing" politics, with Catholicism. Politics and Catholicism, are two separate things. Sometimes, goals agree, but politics and religion aren't identical...

BUT Shea and Mirius are right, in the idea some people "weaponize" prophecy. Some Catholics use "prophecy" to argue against Church rules, for example, in the weighing/testing of alleged messages. When bishops take time/disagree with them about a "messenger," they attack the bishop.

Sometimes, people even continue to "promote" prophecies that are proved false! There are cults, for example, Bayside.

Also, I agree with these two, that prophecy should lead back to Catholic tradition and obedience.

And, there can be no private "Magisterium." To set up one, is to divide people in the Church.

 

One more thing before I re-enter the battlefield... I also dont think The Countdown to the Kingdom hosts want to replace the magisterium with their very own teachings. Rather I think they have simply compiled a long list of prophecies and tried to put them in some kind of order. Its as simple as that! They may even be wrong!

 

Bio
Dr. Mirus founded Trinity Communications, the non-profit organization which runs CatholicCulture.org, in 1985. Originally focusing on print publishing, he guided Trinity onto the internet in 1993 and onto the web in 1996. Over time this initial work grew into the current CatholicCulture.org website, and Mirus has supervised its development and expansion ever since. He is also one of the chief writers for the site.

Education and Early Work

Mirus received a Ph.D. in Intellectual History from Princeton University in 1973, with a dissertation focusing on Dominican reform and the defense of the Papacy in the Renaissance. During his early teaching career in the University of North Carolina system, he founded and edited the Catholic interdisciplinary journal Faith & Reason.

The Christendom Years

In 1977, Mirus collaborated with Dr. Warren H. Carroll in founding Christendom College. Mirus served as a professor, founded the apologetics program, was the first Director of Academic Affairs, made Faith & Reason the College’s journal and founded and directed Christendom Press, and led the fund-raising program. He also co-authored the apologetics text Reasons for Hope and authored The Divine Courtship (Franciscan Herald Press).

Trinity Communications
Pursuing his special interest in Catholic publishing, Dr. Mirus left Christendom College in 1985 to found Trinity Communications, a non-profit corporation with the purpose of advancing and defending the Catholic Faith. In 1993, the company shifted its focus to online publication, and in 1996 founded PetersNet.net, which became CatholicCulture.org in 2003. Read the full history of Trinity Communications.

Family

Jeff and his wife Barbara married in 1972. They live in Manassas, Virginia, where Barbara serves as Chair of the English Department and Director of Academic Affairs at the nationally-acclaimed independent Catholic senior and junior high school, Seton School. Jeff and Barbara have six grown children and fourteen grandchildren.

Writing

Jeff Mirus and Phil Lawler serve as the leading writers for CatholicCulture.org. Their purpose is to enrich faith, strengthen the Church and form Catholic culture through the web site’s millions of readers around the world. In his own blog and other articles, Mirus leans toward philosophical and theological analysis, apologetics and Catholic social teaching.

Edited to add: Christendom College is very traditional. As for problems he sees with Taylor Marshall? I don't know. So many Catholics are now "in dispute" with one another. It is almost like this forum!

 

Ellen,
I respectfully disagree. They say, they want to establish a "prophetic consensus". Then, they judge private revelations by the way the revelations agree with the "consensus." But, the Church has a different set of guidelines, to judge apparitions. Consensus is NOT part of that.

There are "red flags" with several "messengers" they promote. That worries me. Also, the timeline they have set up, is not universally accepted/approved by Church.

I think people may mistake what they say as mainstream Catholic faith, but it is not. They proclaim themselves as experts, but are they?

 

Agree.

 

Please read again what member Ellen has said. That’s why I separated what were your conclusions, with which I agree, from the sources you sighted, with whom I do not agree because I have seen the havoc they have wrought.

 

This is so true. My age is against me in this. I figure I can handle the 30 day St Joseph novena because it has an end date. Fr Heil.an too but if it starts interfering with my Rosaries I will have to rethink it. Like you I have chores that must be done. (Takes longer to do less when you are "old" I find) and only a certain amount of energy so.... so far so good. But I'm not going to be nuts about it.