Mr's Brown claims she has visits from the Virgin Mary and Jesus and has some very concerning messages both about the Church and the World in the future and you really want to know if they are true or false. But how do we tell? I thought I would put together a simple little method or process for Discernment for applying to Mr's Brown and her messages to see if they can be believed. This is a little bit like making sure we are getting pure water and running it through a series of filters so we can be sure at the end of the day we are getting good clean water that is good for our Spiritual Health and will not make us ill. Its really quite s simple process which anyone can follow, in an easy step by step way. As in water filtering the biggest yes or no steps are right at the start and then they become more subtle towards the end. But if you apply these steps to and Apparitions, messages or whatever you can be pretty sure , I believe that you are getting good clean, clear water at the end. You will be able to say with a high degree of confidence if Mr's Browns claims are right or wrong. 1 John 4 Test the Spirits 4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
1. Praying to the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised everyone of us before He ascended into heaven that He would not leave us orphans but send His Holy Spirit to be our guide. John 14:18 …17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.… 1 Corinthians 12:10 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,a]">[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.b]">[b] It's so strange but in reading commentators about Mystical phenomena do not mention having prayed about these matters . Which is the very first thing we should be doing. asking the Counsel of the Holy Spirit to advise us. St John Chrysostom on writing on this says: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/220129.htm 'To another prophecies; and to another discernings of spirits. What is, discernings of spirits? the knowing who is spiritual, and who is not: who is a prophet, and who a deceiver: as he said to the Thessalonians, despise not prophesyings: 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 but proving all things, hold fast that which is good. For great was at that time the rush of the false prophets, the devil striving underhand to substitute falsehood for the truth. To another various kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. For one person knew what he spoke himself, but was unable to interpret to another; while another had acquired both these or the other of the two. Now this seemed to be a great gift because both the Apostles received it first, and the most among the Corinthians had obtained it. But the word of teaching not so. Wherefore that he places first, but this last: for this was on account of that, and so indeed were all the rest; both prophecies, and working of miracles, and various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. For none is equal to this. Wherefore also he said, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and in teaching. 1 Timothy 5:17 And to Timothy he wrote, saying, Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to teaching; neglect not the gift that is in you. 1 Timothy 4:13-14 Do you see how he calls it also a gift?' This turning to the Holy Spirit for help in Discernment is not a one off but a constant, especially in cases were the apparitions or messages or ongoing. In such cases there must be a constant turning of the heart to God for help. False prophesy always has its roots in pride. The antidote to such pride is humility and when we turn to god for help we evidence clear proof of such humility.
Praying now going to 7AM mass at Clonard Monastery. So happy and excited to be doing so. Remembering you at Our Lady's shrine there! You can watch live here: https://www.clonard.com/web-cam/
St Teresa of Avila one time was asked if she would prefer to have a Holy Spiritual Director or a Learned one. She replied at once that she would prefer a learned one. Why did she say this? Because good Spiritual Direction is all about good Discernment. So that whilst the first filter was about prayer, of the heart, the rest of the filters will be about using the head. I will try to give these filters in descending order of importance. The first few filters are basically binary. The answer, when applied to the phenomena in question is very simple, yes or no. The horse, so to speak , has to jump over each hurdle.
2. Church Approval Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The next filter is to ask the simple question of if the Church approves, disapproves or is still in the process of judging Mr's Browns messages from heaven. Up until very,very recently it was very easy to tell the mind of the Church on these matters. What happened was if Mr's Brown was having a vision and messages in say, the City of Chicago the Diocesan (the local Bishop) would examine this and make his ruling and 99.99% his judgement was that of the Church. What the Bishop would do would be to set up a little panel of experts who would take time scrutinising everything and calling in witnesses and questioning them, checking for any good or bad fruits. An Official Church Discernment Process. This worked generally very,very well down the years. The only thing is that the Devil tended to raise up his own children in the Vatican and elsewhere to fight against them. These were often high ranking Cardinals and other influential prelates who, on behalf of Satan tired to bury or affect, or destroy genuine Marian Apparitions right from the start. A good example of these people at work was at Fatima with the messing about the the Third Secret or the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart. But you see the Devil at work from within the Church against Our Lady in the case of all Marian apparitions . It is inevitable. Revelation 12 The Woman and the Dragon 12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”a]">[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. 7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
The issue of the dogma of the Incarnation, which the demon denies, points to a prior defeat of Satan by Mary's "yes" and her perfect obedience. Saint Paul tells us, in the letter to the Hebrews, that there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. However, Christ, the Only Redeemer, needed to have a physical body to shed His Most Precious Blood on the Cross, which came through Mary's perfect cooperation in the Annunciation episode. In light of this, I wonder if we should test the spirits by asking them to recite the Angelus prayer or any other prayer that professes the dogma of the Incarnation.
In the case of a supposed seer, could he himself, his spiritual director, or an envoy from the Holy See perhaps conduct this test?
In the past seerers were very often asked to sprinkle Holy Water at whatever was manifesting. This is such a simple thing to do and always worked.
Again I would go with sprinkling Holy Water. It always seems to work. A child could do it and do it easily.
Back to the Judgement of the Church. In the past things were very ,very simple . If the Church said, 'Yes', you could trust this and move forward with it. If the Church said, 'No', you could move away very quickly from the supposed phenomena as quickly as your feet could take you. Flee from it as you would the devil .Forget about it. If the Church had not reached a Judgement well then the ball was in the air and you could kick the ball as you pleased. But nowadays under Papa Frankie and the devils who have seized control of Judgement of all these matters into their own wicked, depraved, heretical hands and I doubt if these Modernists will pronounce anything genuine ever again. My advice would be to totally ignore everything they say or do or anything these creatures ever get up to. I have found it much better for my mental and Spiritual Health and Peace of mind. Just ignore them and act like they aren't there. However in the case of historical Judgements in the time before Papa Frankie moved to Rome we can still use these old Church Judgements for discernment and go by them. If it happened in the past that the Church made missteps or false Judgements in the past still it is better to be obedient. If they were true when they were said to be false or misinterpreted it doesn't matter, be obedient. The truth, God's truth will come out in the end. But in matters of Discernment I would just ignore the present wicked crew. Act like they're not there.
In agreement with the Teachings of the Church. This is a very simple yes or no filter. If the messages Mr's Brown is supposed to be getting from heaven are in agreement with the Teachings of the Church fine. We can run further in Discernment of them. If they disagree in any point then we can drop them and her and run for cover.
St. Peter Martyr (1206-1252) St. Peter Martyr of Verona ” as not the first Dominican to die in the cause of truth, but so greatly ,vas he revered for his sanctity that he was canonized the year after his death; hence he became the type of fearless apostle of the Order. More remarkable than his death is the record of his life. Born of heretical parents, and surrounded during his whole childhood with the most harmful theories and practices, Peter preserved a purity of faith and morals which was nothing short of miraculous. Continually ridiculed and harangued by his relatives, he remained untarnished in both body and soul. Sent to Bologna to the university at the age of fifteen, he met St. Dominic, and instantly, with no backward glances at the wealth and power he was foregoing, threw himself at the saint’s feet and begged admission to the Order. He was present at the death of St. Dominic, and shared in the legacy of primitive zeal and courage passed to the sons of a saint. While still a student, Peter underwent a severe trial. He was publicly reprimanded and placed on punishment because a brother, passing Peter’s cell late at night, thought he had heard women’s voices in the room. The voices were those of angels, who frequently visited the saint: but in his humility he thought it better to accept the punishment and say nothing about it. He was sent to another convent to do penance, and his ordination was delayed. Peter prayed and found great strength in prayer: but, being human, he felt the disgrace keenly, and he one day complained to our Lord: “Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent of this: why dost Thou permit them to believe it of me?” A sorrowful voice replied from the crucifix: “And I, Peter, what have I done that they should do this to Me?” Peter complained no more. The truth was eventually discovered, and Peter, reinstated in the community, resumed his studies. He prayed daily for the happiness of dying a martyr’s death. Peter soon became a celebrated preacher and engaged in disputes with the heretics all over northern Italy. Many miracles were worked through his prayers, to the rage of the heretics. In one city, a prominent man had been won to heresy, because the devil, taking the appearance of the Blessed Mother, appeared at the heretics’ meetings and encouraged him to join them. Peter, determined to win the man back to the truth, went to the meeting of the heretics, and, when the devil appeared in his disguise, held up a small pyx in which he had placed a consecrated Host. “If you are the Mother of God,” cried Peter, “adore your Son!” The devil fled in dismay, and many heretics were converted. Enraged by Peter’s success, his enemies made plans to destroy him. Sold like his Master for thirty pieces of silver, Peter was ambushed and killed on the road to Milan. He went to his death singing, which is the traditional Dominican way to enter heaven. Undaunted by the threats of the heretics, he walked along singing the Easter Sequence, and fell unprotesting beneath the blows of the assassins. One of his murderers, touched by grace at the sight of a saint, was converted, eventually took the Dominican habit, and was popularly known as “Blessed” Carino. To him as to us, Peter had pointed out the way to heaven when he traced on the dust of the road, in his own blood, the creed that had lighted his path: “Credo in unum Deum.” (Source : Dorcy, Marie Jean. St. Dominic’s Family. Tan Books and Publishers, 1983) https://dominicains.ca/figures-dominicaines/saint-pierre-de-verone/?lang=en
Holy Scripture Psalm 119:105 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. This is another very important yes or no filter for discernment. If any of Mr's Browns messages contradict scripture, forget about them.
As to accepting the ruling of the Church.... If you judge the Church to now be incompetent to judge such matters, you set yourself up as your own Pope. The error of the Protestants. No private revelation is nessesary for belief. If you reject a true revelation out of obedience to the Church you gain merit. God values obedience. Read St. Padre Pio's thoughts about this. If you express belief in a false revelation in disobedience you gain bad fruit. If you set yourself up as judge over the Magisterium you display and embrace pride...and we know where that leads.
Sensum Fidelium This is a filter of Discernment I particularly like as it is a kind of Wild Card of the Holy Spirit which is very, very difficult for evil doers to control. I suppose you might translate this as the sense of the faithful. In the Early Church this was basically how things got done, the Faithful would elect their Bishop or even Popes by acclamation. Saint Ambrose of Milan was a good example of this and even early Popes got picked by this. In Modern times I think we saw a little of this at the Funeral Of Pope St John Paul 2 when people shouted out, 'Santo subito! Make him a saint soon!
The Sensum Fidelium used to be the cause of declaring people saints. The local people in the Diocese simply judged someone to be a saint and Declared it to be so and so it was. Which is explained why in p laces Ireland we have so many hundreds of saints today. In the occasions of Marian phenomena such a Lourdes and Guadalupe people simply voted with their feet and enmasse to declare the truth of the apparitions and still do in various places to this present day.
There is a creative dynamic in the Church between the Organisational Church and the Mystical one. You see them (in a good way) head to head all the time through history like two bad tempered twins who love each other battling away to see who will come out on top. we see this in the Old Testament with the Prophets. An excellent example of this going head to head was in the time of St Francis of Assisi at the Pope's Court or St Catherine of Siena at the Pope in Avignon in France of St Joan of Arc being Judged by the Burgundian Clergy.
