But on the other hand I have to say what is heading towards us is truly, truly terrible. In the whole history of the world there has been nothing even remotely like it. Not the downfall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. Not the Rise of Communism. Not the First of Second Worlds Wars. Nothing even begins to hold a candle to it.. ..and this is for the whole world and everyone living on it. I don't think even people who have been studying Prophesy and believe in it even understand. We are on the threshold of events that are truly mind blowing. On the other hand at other side something new and wonderful will be born anew. But we have to go this terrible winter of darkness before we can see the light of the new spring.
There is something going on with the sun. Perhaps we will have another Fatima moment for the whole world. When we had the bad ice storm this week, yesterday about 1 pm the sun came out, the wind picked up, and all the ice was gone in an hour. It was if all the heavy laden trees gave a giant aahhh and their branches were lifted from all the weight. Even our giant evergreen was reaching to the sky in joy.
Strange. Weather phenomena all over the place. A very warm angle to the sun i am guessing. . In spite of our arctic temps here both glassed in porches were warm and there was melting. Go figure!
We have had bad icing for three days now, the only place in the state where it did not melt{we live up in the hills}. Then a huge wind blew through and huge limbs of two trees cracked and flew off. Two of the limbs were the size of trees. Blessedly enough, no damage to our house or shed. But at the same time great ice shards from the trees blew all over the place, I thought at the time with the sun on them it looked like fire falling from the sky. Perhaps a warning... And everything is still covered with Ice.
Awful, ice storms are so treacherous. We had very high winds today with a frigid cold front moving through, but thankfully no ice.
After a prolonged period of many years of suffering I was finally and literally brought 'to my knees'. It was in this broken condition when I had lost almost everything that I valued that God gave me the grace of conversion. I still had long way to go but I think I can say that I had a most profound experience of and appreciation of God, of Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I could have railed against God for the destitution of my life - it was a wreckage by now - but instead I was given the grace to repent in the most profound way. Thanks be to God. Strangely enough, even after my conversion, certain experiences, of what might be understood in terms of - mental health issues, continued to persist. To put it simply, I did not seem to be in control of my own thoughts or words at times. It was a most distressing condition. To describe it to you I will just say this. When I prayed the Rosary, the most unspeakable thoughts, words and profanities came into my mind. I set about healing myself through Confession, self-deliverance, Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, continued praying of the Rosary, devotion to the Angels and St. Michael the Archangel, being aware of God's forgiveness of my sins while at the same time always saying to God: 'my sins will ever go before You' (Psalm 51). It did not happen immediately but over time the demons left me. I was, I think, in full control of my self again. Now, another strange thing happened: I had it seems developed the ability to be aware of when demons were speaking through others. I sometimes see or hear the demons manifesting in others in front of me. The possessed person does not appear to be aware of it. Rather worryingly however, the intensity of that experience of being completely converted to God, in the Most blessed Trinity, has decreased over time. I feel that I am progressivly being drawn back into a 'worldly' way of being. Also, I don't see demons manifesting as I used to. So the lesson for me and for all in this is that every day we must seek our conversion anew. In the words of Blessed Fr. John Sullivan (and as has been said by other Saints), 'we must always be beginning again'. This Lent is a very good time to start again. My own conversion came through an intense chastisement from God. Because of this, I look at people nowadays and think that without a severe chastisement there seems to be no way that God is going to get their attention, and get them into a disposition and frame of mind which will enable them to accept His grace of conversion. Perhaps the Warning or Illumination of Conscience will do it, I pray. I pray, please God, for the conversion of souls and my own continued conversion. Postscript: It is my belief that despite St. Patrick and all the monks and Saints of Ireland down through history, most of the people of Ireland including the Church Clergy were never really properly 'converted' to God from the beginning. From listening to the tales of local rural history here in Ireland, I get the strong impression that the severe oppression, hardship and poverty experienced by the people was successfully used by the evil one to cause feelings of revenge, unforgiveness and lack of charity towards one's neighbour and one's oppressor, feelings of anger towards God perhaps. All of this caused the demons to run amok in Ireland, and to cause spiritual blindness in people. Sorry if I don't subscribe to the 'Island of Saints and Scholars' view. I dare say that Ireland was and is so much more Christian than many other countries. However, I do think that the Irish Nation as a whole has always been and is still very far from having a proper understanding, disposition and annointing with the true Faith of Jesus Christ. Just my personal opinion, but the willingness of our Bishops and Priests to embrace modernist, worldly views is evidence, I believe, of this historical defect in our Faith community in Ireland.
Powerful story Inveritatem, and so much truth regards what the demons do when people first start praying the rosary. I've heard about similar vexations of unclean and horrible thoughts coming to people when they start praying the rosary which nearly puts them off saying the rosary, but I think it was St Breige McKenna who told these two people to continue to pray the rosary and the demonic thoughts would leave. Earlier today I was looking at old threads trying to find a relevant thread for a powerful talk by a Franciscan Friar on penance. Its truly an amazing talk he covers so much its extremely informative, he quotes Psalm 50-51 "my sins are always before me' as you have stated (and what I have been experiencing for a few months). I will post this wonderful talk below.
Powerful post. On so many levels. Your post script on Ireland is thought provoking. But couldn't the same be said of any Catholic country? Especially in the last 100 years? Persecution is always a winnowing fan. It brings out the best and the worse. Look what poverty and repression did to France? The revolution completely tore apart the Church there and the poverty and repression that came from the Jacobins was worse that the old monarchy. but you make a good point that many Irish steeped in Catholicism never really knew Jesus in a personal way. This was certainly true for me. Years of Catholic school and there was no connection between head and heart. It took a crisis to bring to my knees. Nothing was ever the same after that. It was as if the sacraments lit up and the Mass became a need and a joy and bread in the famine. A great gift. But it is the Holy Spirit. We all need the Holy Spirit.
Thanks AED. Perhaps I was overly harsh on the Irish people as regards their Faith down through the ages. After all their Faith was tested many times in the crucible of martyrdom with many Irish joining the the White Robed army of martyrs in the Faith. I am limited in my knowledge of the history of other Catholic countries and Church history in general, but you could be right that this is a problem for all Catholic countries. However, I have a feeling that the Faith in Ireland was tainted by surviving beliefs and superstitions of the indigenous culture (be that called Celtic or whatever). Part of the problem could also have been the ubiquitous one of the tares and the wheat growing together. However, I think maybe that the Outer Hebrides of Hibernia was a remote place far away from the episcopal strongholds of the nascent Church. And some of the Irish Bishops or Saints may not have been well catechised in the Faith to begin with. But you are right, there were all kinds of strange shennanigans from Popes and Bishops all over Europe, so it might be unfair to single out Ireland for criticism. I remember reading before my conversion A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. It used to give me nightmares after reading it. One interesting story concerns 2 Irish Saints, St. Finnian and St. Columba (or Columcille) who caused a battle to occur. If you go into the library in Sligo city (it is housed in a former Presbyterian church), you will see a mural painting on the wall depicting the battle with the Saints on the battlefield. This is what Wikipedia says about it - the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne (Cooldrevny near Sligo): According to [Manus] O'Donnell, sometime around 560, the Irish abbot and missionary Saint Columba became involved in a quarrel with Saint Finnian of Movilla Abbey over a psalter (traditionally said to be the Cathach of St. Columba[3]). Columba copied the manuscript at the scriptorium under Saint Finnian, intending to keep the copy. Saint Finnian disputed his right to keep the copy. Thus, this dispute was about the ownership of the copy (whether it belonged to Saint Columba because he copied it or whether it belonged to Saint Finnian because he owned the original). King Diarmait mac Cerbaill gave the judgement, "To every cow belongs her calf, therefore to every book belongs its copy."[4] Columba disagreed with King Diarmait's ruling against him and reportedly instigated a successful rebellion of the Uí Néill clan against the King. The battle was claimed to have caused around 3,000 casualties. ... as a monk who had taken up arms, Colmcille faced judgement for his deeds. It said that the judgement resulted in Columba leaving his homeland for Scotland, where he founded Iona Abbey in 563. The sentence stipulated he was to win as many souls to Christianity as had been lost in the battle. We can't be sure about this, as O'Donnell wrote his account a thousand years after the reported event. However, it does maybe serve to give a possible picture of the type of Christianity that existed in the nascent Church in Ireland. Another nice follow-up story to this which I heard in my childhood days is that St. Columba was actually banished to Iona never to return again. But he did return to Ireland without breaking his vow to never 'set foot' on the soil of Ireland again. How did he do this you may well ask? Columba is said to have returned to Ireland only once during his imposed exile, which was to attend a meeting at Drumcreet (575) to intervene on behalf of the Bards who were being threatened with suppression by the Kings of Ireland, as well as negotiate the political relationship between Uí Néill clan and the Dalraidian Scots[12]. (https://st-columba.com/columba/) Well, he cut turf sods and tied them under his feet! And off he went to Ireland with them. Ps. Can you or anyone recommend a reliable book on Church History?
This happens to me as well when I pray the Rosary. It is quite distressing, but I just say, “I reject these thoughts. They are not mine.”
The whole post was fascinating, but this part in particular caught my eye. Just from studying my own family history, the Irish Catholics (some) who came to Canada left during the famine years. There were others who had left sooner, presumably for the notion that they could farm and practice their faith in peace. When they arrived, they found no real difference in how they were treated, and the same issues they thought they were leaving behind were already waiting for them in spades....Charity, I think, was literally crushed out of peoples' hearts. Politics and power became the new religion. I read an article recently about how when freemasonry had come to Ireland, the Bishops had looked the other way for a long time, so Catholics had joined along with the Protestants. When the Pope finally put his foot down, and the bishops were to crack down on things, some Catholics left masonry, but not all. (of course, I can't find that article now). Here is a snippet from something I came across in my own research though: "Until the early 19th century, Catholics were strongly represented in Irish freemason lodges. Indeed, the 18th century enlightenment ideals embraced by freemasons were very conducive to membership by both Catholics and Protestants. Once inside the fraternity, sectarian differences were set aside in deference to principles of freedom and universal brotherhood. It was not until 1826 when the Irish bishops started to enforce the papal ban on freemasonry that Catholics left the organization." Some I think left the organization, while some left Ireland. My ancestors were on both sides of the religious divide, Catholics and Protestants, and from what I understand from family stories, there was absolutely no charity to be found on either side. Someone said to me not long ago that the Irish Catholics who went to the USA were not cared for here because they were considered "Catholics under the flag". Being US born myself, I found that rather strange, since to me it made more sense as a Catholic to be "under a flag" as opposed to "under the Queen". But that's just my own take on it. As you say, it's very complicated. But truly, going way back, Ireland is most definitely, imho, the land of Saints and Scholars. Perfect? No. But in the big scheme of things, it took way way way longer to crush the faith in Ireland than it has elsewhere. The devil has been at work there for literally centuries. But her Saints are there for all of us to fall back on in our pleas for help. Here's an article about the Irish in Canada you may find interesting....... "An important feature of the Irish, both in Ireland and in Canada, is that they have been divided into two distinct groups based on faith. The division between Roman Catholic and Protestant Irish is considered so fundamental that they are often treated as two ethnic groups." https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/irish
I love your story of "St Columba and St Finnian"...the sod on the feet is priceless. You make excellent points--especially about surviving pagan beliefs. I grew up with them but they had been "baptized" and seemingly harmless. So.many of our Halloween customs were rooted in Celtic origins and my father delighted in tales of little people and banshee. Also there was in his mother a strong thread of bitterness toward the English. Her grandmother had come from Ireland and it was ingrained. The practice of the faith was rock solid but I think in some ways formulaic. This is in America with Irish Catholics. We were all fiercely proud to be Irish and Catholic in a very Protestant culture. Lois is right about the struggles crushing the charity. The French Catholics from Canada went through this too. Both in Canada and the US. Centuries of persecution can harden the heart and make everything about politics and power. I have no answers but I will say this. When I came back to the faith (a great undeserved mercy) I felt I was given in prayer a knowledge that my Irish ancestors had prayed me back interceeding for me before God. That many of them suffered brutally to keep the faith and I was the inheritor of their faithfulness. It was a humbling and joyous moment I have never forgotten. I wish I knew a good book to recommend on the history of the Church. The name Warren G Carroll comes to mind but I must look into it. I could be wrong.
AED, I feel the same way about my return to the faith, and the joy was unfathomable! Warren Carroll wrote a six (I think) volume of the history of Christendom. My husband has been reading them. He likes Mr. Carroll's writing style.
Really loved your post. I'll share a thought on the above part. I don't know enough about history to comment on Ireland or other nations, but the other day I watched a report by Australian reporter John Pilger about the aboriginals. It was a very hard thing to watch because of the way those people were so cruelly treated over two centuries - they suffered so much hatred and persecution and several genocide events and they are like the forgotten people even today living in slums and poverty, yet they as people are not violent, they don't hate or rise up against the men who are oppressing them. I thought about this for days and wondered if maybe as a people they have a God-given Grace of peace or non-violence, like the Lamb? Why is it that some people who suffer so many atrocities don't become embittered and others become cold and carry hatred and revenge for decades? This doesn't anwser questions about Christian nations, but the aboriginals are not Christian, they have retained their traditions and don't want to live like modern Australians. I couldn't help but think of this as a pure gift (and genetics too came to mind I admit). About not seeing into the supernatural anymore, I know many people who have said they had plenty of signs during a conversion but that it disappeared after a while. Almost like the signs are given as a kind of encouragement for us to keep going in the conversion process - but I suppose it could also be a sign that we have to pray more to the Holy Spirit and ask for a renewal of gifts or Graces.
I was reading a couple of years ago about Exorcism Teams in the USA. Exorcism has become quite advanced now , I think because of very good International Training at the Vatican in Rome. Also Exorcists exchange notes and experiences which is a great help. SO it is not such a solitary one man band kind of thing, which is great. But in the USA ( I am not sure if they do this elsewhere in the World) will be someone with the Spirit of Discernment who can actually sense or even hear the demons talking. So much that they can even know the names of specific devils who are in the possessed. This is of the greatest help to the Exorcists and gaining the names of the demons gives great control over them. One thing about Discernment of Spirits I think many people often claim to have this gift from God without clearly understanding what it is. But it should to prove itself kind bring back the goods. So if , for instance someone enters a building and claims it was once an Abortion Mill, a search of the records would show that this is so. This is what I mean by bring back the goods. There is a wonderful example of this in the life of Padre Pio. Late one winter evening in the Friary, Padre Pio was saying his rosary in the kitchen in front of the fire when an old man was sitting in front of him. Padre Pio was shocked , the doors were locked , how did a layman get in, this stranger? The stranger told him he had once been a resident in the Firary, which was then an old peoples home and had burnt to death in his bed because of a cigarette he had been smoking. He told Padre Pio his name and the year of his death.. He was in Purgatory and begged for prayers. When they checked the records it was exactly as the old man had said. That's what I mean by bringing home the goods. Padre Pio was often confirmed in what he said by things like this.
I was not paying particular attention but could not help noticing reports of severe, or strange weather from all over the world, a severe storm in Mozambique and Northern Brazil, a blizzard in California, continuous flooding in New Zealand and severe drought in parts of Europe....
The fact that the Irish held onto the Catholic faith despite the full force of persecution by the British authorities for centuries actually indicates to me that the faith was real and deep. The British managed to break Ireland culturally imposing English law, custom and language upon the Irish but despite centuries of propaganda, bribery, discrimination and persuction they never could break the Irish people's attachment to their religion. Even during the Great Hunger and Genocide of the 1840s the Irish refused to 'take the soup' in order to convert to protestantism - the British actually kept a record of those who converted - and these names are published in a Book by the Irish Manuscript Commission - https://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/the-convert-rolls/ Names of people who converted from Catholicism to the Church of Ireland also made the newspapers - but the numbers were small at most 50,000 people are listed as converts in the above book and sometimes in name only to hold onto their properties. I am a part-time genealogist and I have researched a lot of Catholic registers over the past 25 years (mostly in Ulster) and continue to be astounded at the amount of adult protestant conversions I find in the registers mostly the period 1840-1880 (as Catholic church rarely kept registers before that due to the fact that it could be used as incriminating evidence during the period of the penal laws). The fact that protestants were converting to Catholicism indicates to me that there was something profoundly attractive about the depth of the Catholic faith at that period. My wife's grandmother was born 1894 and she died in her mid-90s so I got to know her well before she died - she had that faith one would be jealous of - the faith was imbued so deeply it came out of her pores. They were well catechised and the faith was both taught and caught. I know we can ony generalise but it is my impression Catholicism in Ireland before 1900 was a profound and dynamic religion that had real depth. Since 1900 there has been a decline - I wonder if it was the imposition of the National School System that was established to teach only through the medium of English but also it seems the quality of religious education has declined and catechesis is practically non existant. Food for thought.
I think the poorer and in greater hardship the Irish were the more they clung to the Faith . The poorer and less, 'Educated' (I think in terms of bad , 'Education') they were the richer in the Faith. I think this is true of Catholics all over the world. The high water for Irish Catholicism I would say came during the Great Depression at the 1932 Eucharistic Congress. I would place the present nose dive in Ireland (and the West) to be round about the time of the Second Vatican Council. After that the collapse came very,very quickly. However I would say it was in the last ten years with the Pontificate of Pope Francis that total collapse has come. Things changed so much so fast. Even from Pope St John Paul's visit to Ireland. It is like looking at another world.
Even thinking back to when I was a Child before Vatican 2 and that wasn't centuries ago...when we were taught the Faith it was clear to me that the Brothers who taught it really believed what they were saying. Things were really black and white. They had very clear vision. Things were very much either they were true or they were not. But that all left as I say around the time of Vatican 2. I have no stick to beat Vatican 2, but it is simply a fact, the tide of Faith very rapidly receded around that time. Later I would say around about 20 0r 30 years ago , I started to distrust what many clergymen were preaching in Church. Before this I simply accepted everything they said and I think I was right to do so. But then one day I listened to a priest talking and it suddenly hit me that what he was saying was simply false. After that it became more and more common. Nowadays unless I know the priest and trust them I always mentally check what they say to test if it's sound. It's sad to say but true, that many, many priests are coming out with bad teachings. It's just the simple plain truth. They are.
Yes this is the simple truth. My experience as a child with Dominican nuns was steadfast faith. They believed with all their hearts and they communicated that belief. Catevhesiz was excellent. The faith marinated our lives. Reverent Masses every morning. Confession every Saturday. Many of us children went to daily Mass in the summer when not required. By the time I got to college--Catholic- college--VII was in force. It was all horribly different. And you are right Padraig. It all shut down so fast. It just ebbed away and many of us fell down a black hole and spent years trying to find the way out. College friends never did find their way back although like me they had been thoroughly catechized as a children. They don't miss it. They don't want it. Thoroughly secularized now.
