I thought I’d reprint this important advice from one of the great writers of our time.
Dear Fred,
Thank you for your most recent message, with the copies of the correspondence with Fr X.There is a lot of material in it, some of it factual, some of it conjecture, both intertwined with private revelation, ponderings and deep feelings. I share some of those feelings very much.
I read Ezekiel 9 frequently. Like you I grieve over the state of the household of God. I should explain my take on the current state of things. For years I've read a lot of private revelation, and found some of it to be true gold, some of it false, some a mixture of gold and personal opinion.
I am a firm believer in the Fatima message (pure gold).I am also convinced we are in the midst of the worst apostasy in the history of the Church, probably the Great Apostasy. The Spirit of Antichrist which has been present from the beginning is growing power. We may well be (though I don't know for certain) on the brink of the worst persecution in history, perhaps the final one prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
I have no inside track at the Vatican, and I'm certainly no mystic, so the untangling of the large number of conspiracy theories circulating presently (theories about about what is going on in the world and in the Vatican) is for me impossible. I believe that it's impossible for anyone to see it all for what it is, because the ultimate conspirator against mankind and against Christ's Church is Satan.The horrible damage done to the Body of Christ by liberals, by Modernists, and even by so called "moderates" is all around us.
There is no denying this. But we also have to be cautious about a kind of damage to the Bride of Christ that can be done by orthodox men of good will, who love the Church, hate what's being done to it, and are profoundly angry and frightened by what most people don't even see happening.Anger-fear can breed many distortions of our thoughts and our spiritual life. This is the great danger for those who seek to be true disciples.
Conspiracy theory has an inbuilt auto-confirmation dynamic. Because a conspiracy by its very nature is a web of deceptions, one can accuse it of anything, find ample circumstantial evidence to prove it's true, and no amount of evidence to the contrary can convince one otherwise. One "knows"--one has the key to the evil plans of the enemy. This is intoxicating stuff both psychologically and spiritually. It is also a kind of Gnosticism in Christian form (a contradiction in terms).
The way through the mess is precisely what it has always been: the path to sainthood. We are all called to be saints. This means absolute discipleship of Christ, total conformity to Him on every level. Availing ourselves of all the graces, especially the Sacraments, Consecration to our Lady, docility to the Holy Spirit, and radical self-honesty.
The primary call of Catholics at this point in the growing darkness of our times is to be faithful to our duties according to our vocation in life (This is what our Lady of Fatima told Sr. Lucia in later years). Also to prayer, fasting, sacrifice. And obedience and trust in the Vicar of Christ. He may not solve the vast number of interior and exterior crises confronting the Church in the way you or I might. But he is Christ's anointed, Our Lady's chosen, and he sees far more than we do.Added to our faithfulness to the duties of our state in life (which means that we keep carrying these "ordinary" crosses as Catholics always have), is to offer increased prayer and fasting for the Holy Father, and for the purification and strengthening of the Church.
We have to pray for her now in a way that we have not since the earliest centuries of the Church. To suffer with and for the Church is to suffer with and for the Lord Himself.I have become extremely cautious about "orthodox" speakers who propose that the Holy Father is playing into the hands of globalists, syncretists, and the Antichrist himself. There is an unacknowledged pride in their approach (we know better than the Pope), and an unrecognized spiritual vortex beneath their feet.
Having made a fundamental choice to believe a certain interpretation of an event (for example the consecration of Russia) they feed heavily upon spurious critiques of the Pope, spin many theories upon circumstantial evidence that become "facts" as they are passed along, etc, etc.
I don't think it's wrong to know about what people in these circles are saying, but we must read it with much caution and some holy water. It is precisely through a distortion of the good that Satan seduces the good people. He won't get them through grave sin or error, but he will subtly entrap them in a false concept of the structure of the world-problem and the current state of the Church. He will especially sow discouragement and lack of trust in the coming Triumph of Our lady. When one has lost confidence, there is a consequent turning inward, cyclical thinking, relying more and more on one's own strengths. A siege mentality results. This way of looking at reality becomes increasingly prone to every rumor or false accusation.
In an era dominated by an atmosphere of falsehood that seems to grow everywhere, nothing and no one will seem trustworthy, according to this state of mind. And in the end, one becomes ripe fruit for the devil.We will drive ourselves mad trying to sort it all out, get to the bottom of it, find a "solution."
Far better to cling to our Lord Jesus on the Cross, and let Him live within us and through us as we live in Him and through Him. That's the true solution.
I didn't mean to write such a long response here. I hope I haven't said too much or too little. The problem with email is that it's too easy to read masses of material without really knowing a speaker's context, his heart, his soul, his mind.But I think you know.
May you be blessed and consoled, strengthened and guided by Christ our Savior always.
In the two Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Michael O'Brien
On 17-Sep-04, at 11:11 PM, fred martinez wrote:
Dear Michael,
I have been and will continue to pray for Pope John Paul II, the next pope and the Cardinals who will elect him. You and your important work are also in my prayers. If you get a chance please read the info below on Fatima. I've only asked one other person to look at it because I only want persons who are strong in the faith to look at it and there are a lot of big names involved. Please do not share this with anyone else. Please give me your take on it.
Thank you,
Fred
Dear Fred,
Thank you for your most recent message, with the copies of the correspondence with Fr X.There is a lot of material in it, some of it factual, some of it conjecture, both intertwined with private revelation, ponderings and deep feelings. I share some of those feelings very much.
I read Ezekiel 9 frequently. Like you I grieve over the state of the household of God. I should explain my take on the current state of things. For years I've read a lot of private revelation, and found some of it to be true gold, some of it false, some a mixture of gold and personal opinion.
I am a firm believer in the Fatima message (pure gold).I am also convinced we are in the midst of the worst apostasy in the history of the Church, probably the Great Apostasy. The Spirit of Antichrist which has been present from the beginning is growing power. We may well be (though I don't know for certain) on the brink of the worst persecution in history, perhaps the final one prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
I have no inside track at the Vatican, and I'm certainly no mystic, so the untangling of the large number of conspiracy theories circulating presently (theories about about what is going on in the world and in the Vatican) is for me impossible. I believe that it's impossible for anyone to see it all for what it is, because the ultimate conspirator against mankind and against Christ's Church is Satan.The horrible damage done to the Body of Christ by liberals, by Modernists, and even by so called "moderates" is all around us.
There is no denying this. But we also have to be cautious about a kind of damage to the Bride of Christ that can be done by orthodox men of good will, who love the Church, hate what's being done to it, and are profoundly angry and frightened by what most people don't even see happening.Anger-fear can breed many distortions of our thoughts and our spiritual life. This is the great danger for those who seek to be true disciples.
Conspiracy theory has an inbuilt auto-confirmation dynamic. Because a conspiracy by its very nature is a web of deceptions, one can accuse it of anything, find ample circumstantial evidence to prove it's true, and no amount of evidence to the contrary can convince one otherwise. One "knows"--one has the key to the evil plans of the enemy. This is intoxicating stuff both psychologically and spiritually. It is also a kind of Gnosticism in Christian form (a contradiction in terms).
The way through the mess is precisely what it has always been: the path to sainthood. We are all called to be saints. This means absolute discipleship of Christ, total conformity to Him on every level. Availing ourselves of all the graces, especially the Sacraments, Consecration to our Lady, docility to the Holy Spirit, and radical self-honesty.
The primary call of Catholics at this point in the growing darkness of our times is to be faithful to our duties according to our vocation in life (This is what our Lady of Fatima told Sr. Lucia in later years). Also to prayer, fasting, sacrifice. And obedience and trust in the Vicar of Christ. He may not solve the vast number of interior and exterior crises confronting the Church in the way you or I might. But he is Christ's anointed, Our Lady's chosen, and he sees far more than we do.Added to our faithfulness to the duties of our state in life (which means that we keep carrying these "ordinary" crosses as Catholics always have), is to offer increased prayer and fasting for the Holy Father, and for the purification and strengthening of the Church.
We have to pray for her now in a way that we have not since the earliest centuries of the Church. To suffer with and for the Church is to suffer with and for the Lord Himself.I have become extremely cautious about "orthodox" speakers who propose that the Holy Father is playing into the hands of globalists, syncretists, and the Antichrist himself. There is an unacknowledged pride in their approach (we know better than the Pope), and an unrecognized spiritual vortex beneath their feet.
Having made a fundamental choice to believe a certain interpretation of an event (for example the consecration of Russia) they feed heavily upon spurious critiques of the Pope, spin many theories upon circumstantial evidence that become "facts" as they are passed along, etc, etc.
I don't think it's wrong to know about what people in these circles are saying, but we must read it with much caution and some holy water. It is precisely through a distortion of the good that Satan seduces the good people. He won't get them through grave sin or error, but he will subtly entrap them in a false concept of the structure of the world-problem and the current state of the Church. He will especially sow discouragement and lack of trust in the coming Triumph of Our lady. When one has lost confidence, there is a consequent turning inward, cyclical thinking, relying more and more on one's own strengths. A siege mentality results. This way of looking at reality becomes increasingly prone to every rumor or false accusation.
In an era dominated by an atmosphere of falsehood that seems to grow everywhere, nothing and no one will seem trustworthy, according to this state of mind. And in the end, one becomes ripe fruit for the devil.We will drive ourselves mad trying to sort it all out, get to the bottom of it, find a "solution."
Far better to cling to our Lord Jesus on the Cross, and let Him live within us and through us as we live in Him and through Him. That's the true solution.
I didn't mean to write such a long response here. I hope I haven't said too much or too little. The problem with email is that it's too easy to read masses of material without really knowing a speaker's context, his heart, his soul, his mind.But I think you know.
May you be blessed and consoled, strengthened and guided by Christ our Savior always.
In the two Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Michael O'Brien
On 17-Sep-04, at 11:11 PM, fred martinez wrote:
Dear Michael,
I have been and will continue to pray for Pope John Paul II, the next pope and the Cardinals who will elect him. You and your important work are also in my prayers. If you get a chance please read the info below on Fatima. I've only asked one other person to look at it because I only want persons who are strong in the faith to look at it and there are a lot of big names involved. Please do not share this with anyone else. Please give me your take on it.
Thank you,
Fred
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