We live in very uncertain times. We have the Church and world collapsing all around us. This site it one of the only resouces where prophetic, world and church events can be shared with faithful members around the world. There is no doubt in my mind that some posts have not been been pleasing to God. It will always be this way to some degree, because we are sinners. With the rapid unveiling of God's plan and the unraveling of the church/world around us it is good to have voices around the world to gauge the crisis we are in. I would hope that those on the forum are not lacking in prayer life, because of 'living' on this forum. I would say, it was a much different forum before anti-pope Francis threads started to dominate the discussions. While there are forums like pewsitter.com that one can read and get their fill of this type of articles, it created a schism on MOG. One that a half a dozen members or so use to vent their frustrations of Pope Francis to each other, while other long time members, who offered allot of good discussion, left. IMHO, keep it open and control what would offend our Blessed Mother to the best of your ability.
It is in the catechism that the church will commit suicide ( § 675) and we already know that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top. In a recent message in Amazon Our Lady said to Edson Glauber that even if this happens we must not leave the church but remain in prayer for her. These things will have to happen so why be surprised by anything? We already know what awaits us. If the forum were mine I would restrict it to conversations about apparitions and messages and I would leave aside news about the Pope and other related gossips. Or at least leave this type of conversation in a single thread. A lot of people who made the forum cool have already left because of this counter-productive conversation. If it keep following this path it will stop being the Mother of God forum Lets Make this forum great again. Let's focus on the apparitions or something productive for example start a rosary hangout on youtube once a week or something like that.
I think those who need to withdraw should do so, but leave the forum open to the rest of those who both enjoy and take comfort from this forum
Although I almost never post - I read the forum daily! This time requires us to stay as a community of faithful as our Mother requested.
My vote would be to freeze the pope/cardinal threads until Christmas. There are so many other threads that people enjoy and are spiritually fruitful. Not to mention the world and US are all teetering and I love the global perspective of what is going on in all the different areas of the world. Thanks for letting us weigh in Padraig!
+ Dear Padraig, I have been reflecting on the beauty of our Catholic Church's Liturgical Calender recently as we are soon to begin a new liturgical year. Soon we will be journeying with the Wise Men, in faith, to an encounter with a newborn God - Man. We must wonder how they prepared and how did they receive the insight to even know what to look for? We are fortunate to have been given, by that very same God - Man, the way and means to converse with our Father in heaven. Jesus talked to His Father often to express His love to Him and find out what His will was for that day. Scripture tells us that: "Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed." (Mark 1: 35, NAB) Christ's Apostles wanted to imitate Him so that they too could become more like Him in His holiness so they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus tells them: "But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you." (Mathew 6: 6, NAB) "This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,..." (Mathew 6: 9, NAB) Christ told His Apostles that before they could pray, they should go to the "inner room" of their heart and offer up a confession to God, both of His holiness (hallowed be thy name) and their sinnfulness, so that they might rightly empty themselves to obtain the forgiveness and graces necessary for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Sacrament of Confession as: "...acknowledgement and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man." (CCC # 1424) Is it any wonder then that our Liturgical year places The Feast of All Hallows (the Feast of all the Holy Saints in God) both at the end of one year (to serve as a reminder of "the last things") and in preparation for a new beginning (acknowledging the holiness of God and His Saints and asking for His pardon for our sins through the intercession of the Holy Saints in Christ). Before we can even begin to prepare for the birth of our Christ, we must empty ourselves to make a proper crèche in our heart. Once we are reconciled with our Father (by and through Christ) we are ready for Him to be born in our hearts and for us to see our Father's will done on earth as it is in Heaven. "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart." (Jeremiah 24: 7, NAB) The Reconciliation requirement in "hallowed be your name" comes before "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". Reconciliation opens our hearts to "see the star in the distance" like the wise men so that we can begin our journey where even now Mary's fiat, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, is allowing Christ to grow in our hearts as we journey on to celebrate His birth on Christmas Day. The journey to Christ in Advent requires us to go into the quiet place in our heart so that we can give praise to God's holiness, acknowledge our sinfulness, and gain reconciliation so that we might faithfully journey through the night to meet our "little lamb" that we were created to be a part of. The Wise Men left the comfort of friends and family for a while to make that first trip though the darkness of night, and they were greatly rewarded. I think all of us can do it too if we stay focused on the star in the distance. Our "Gloria" speaks of "...peace to men of good will." "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is now calling us as our Liturgical Calendar prepares us for Advent. This forum is a much needed daily comfort for me, but I can make it until Christmas if you so decide Padraig. Edit: Feast of All Hallows Peace and May God Grant All Here a Blessed and Peaceful Thanksgiving (even those not in the U.S.), Ed +
We will maybe keep the forum open but give internal Church matters a rest till after Christmas. I think actually events are fast moving beyond us and the Cardinals and Bishops will be doing a lot of talking themselves. So I am going to freeze threads on internal Church matters. We can get back to this after Christmas.
You might think this is a pretty miserable little forum for not being able to handle the rough and tumble of internal Church affairs debate at the minute. But wait to see you see this discussion hit the big Catholic voices like, say, EWTN it will be like a nuclear bomb strike. The only reason the big boys have been able to handle these issues so far is that they have been avoiding them (generally) But when they do open the doors to debate (and they will have to , whether they like it or not) it will be like World War 3. Mark my words. It is so very sad really. But we have brought this on ourselves.
Our Lady asked in her last message at Medjugorje to keep vigil so I voted to close the forum for a while. The last time it closed I missed it terribly but my prayer life was more heightened but I also thought of everyone here as it really has become a fraternal community. I might give the forum up during Advent but when it is open I would be having sneaky peaks and wouldn't be able to resist the odd post, lol.
Agree that those who want to withdraw from the internet over Christmas should do so. But since Easter is the most important feast for us, I would have thought it more appropriate to do any freezing then. If moderating is the difficulty, then I would understand. One cannot always be online. Maybe see how things are going in the church and the world nearer the time?
I am for closure, but the individual closure, not general. There are people who need a community, because they are alone. There are people who are spiritual ignorant and they need support. I suggest the closing of surly hearts, proud minds and more silence in spirits. The great events are still closer, because time of four days or four years is still very short for our individual conversion. I suggest, that when a man feels indignation for comments of others, he should close his mouth. Such closure is needed.
It's evident that the Forum is a spiritual lifeline for many people who don't have the support of a physical faith community around them, so for that reason I say keep it open. Anyone who feels the need to take a break is free to do so and offer it up as a penance, we need plenty of that.
To make all things in your life, through the individual days of our life a prayer! all one has to do is make a morning offering! This then resonates thoughout the day in your life! The Holy Spirit makes you realise that each action, thought or distress you have through that day is what you are offering to God and the Holy Spirit also inspires you to make time for more intimate prayer! This becomes a habit. I once read that if all people in a nursing home said a morning offering this would increase the the graces of the Church, give relief to victim souls and inspire young people! The morning Offering. Heavenly Father I give you my will and I ask that Your Will be done in my life. Holy Spirit, Come live in my life! Oh Jesus, through the sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary Thy Mother, and in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being offered throughout the world today, I offer up to You all my thoughts, words, prayers, actions, joys, sufferings, sorrows and distresses of this day in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for my sins and the sins of the whole world. Amen. Now that is very simple! But it means so much!
Some of us are using the daily prayers from this forum to make the 33 day preparation for Consecration to Sacred Heart of Jesus through Immaculate Heart of Mary. I hope the forum will remain available at least until 8th December. There is also a thread with the novena prayers ready for the Feast of Christ the King on Sunday 20th November which also coincides with the closing of Year of Mercy. I hope we can continue to prepare for these wonderful Catholic Feasts. Why can't people who have issues with Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests make their feelings known to those individuals as shown and allow the ordinary Catholics to carry on PRACTISING the faith while we wait for the Lord to come and tell us as individuals how we have performed. Jesus will not ask us as individuals what we think of others; but He sure will ask us about our own conduct. That is more than enough for me to focus on. Just my feelings. Peace.
...If I may just add, though it may not be apparent, this forum...and being able to communicate with others who share the faith, has been a tremendous help to me. I'm not thinking of me, but I can't help but assume there are others who may have limited lines of communication in real life, and this forum may provide them something we can't anticipate or fully understand. But, I'm just tossing in another 2 cents (that's 4 cents total, so far)
