Tuesday 31 October 2017

#85 St. Pantaleon - Without the True Faith Man is Always Unhappy – The Difference between Souls Influenced by God or Satan


#85 St. Pantaleon - Without the True Faith Man is Always Unhappy – The Difference between Souls Influenced by God or Satan



Ecstasy date October 1, 1878

I am Saint Pantaleon cruelly put to death for the Faith, for defending the rights of the Church. It is under those barbaric emperors I shed my blood. I was tortured severely. I was sentenced to death after suffering nine interrogations. I had always supported the right of God, and I kept my faith. I received my sentence by the Emperor and judges without fright and without fear. I had a kind of crucifixion terrible with pain and suffering. I had my legs and knees pierced by a sort of iron needle which had three branches. I suffered untold pain, my bones were crushed. In the other part of my body, this is what I had endured. My body was sawn into pieces with a iron saw whose teeth were very long and very sharp. I had my head split in two from the mouth. God gave me the grace to suffer a little less time than many other martyrs who have suffered the same fate. They threw my flesh to animals who refused to feed on it. They ordered to throw me into the river but the Will of God stopped those men. I was brought back (i.e. for burial) by colleagues who risked death in doing so, and I was buried in blessed ground because God saw to that.

Now, a word on behalf of Our Lord.

Dear Brothers of the Cross, we are all in this life, the heirs of the glory of Heaven. That is why we must suffer in our souls and our bodies. You who have faith, dear brothers in the Lord, you should be happy! Because it is only in the Faith that makes the happiness of man. Without this Faith, man is always unhappy. God chose you for His instruments on earth. He needs you.


We all know, dear brothers, that all the works of God are traversed (i.e. crossed, as in persecuted), on the earth and exposed to the contradictions of men and the devil. But for us there is something easy to notice, it is that the souls who live for God and persevere in God ascend the degrees of patience and resignation in all the contradictions. Only souls led by God truly have such courage. The soul under the influence of Satan weakens soon, grows bored and rests as a mass of beaten dirt where it can neither hope, nor move, nor live because it is in a torment of despair, the torment of hell. This should reassure you. (i.e., these signs to tell the difference in the movements of the soul and detecting what comes from God should set us at peace.)  It's also a reminder we must never get discouraged when carrying our crosses!  In another vision we learn we displease Our Lord when we let our inner peace be disturbed!  See post

 #76 St. Abraham (of Kidunaia?) to learn more.)


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Notes: St. Panteloen is venerated as one of the “Fourteen Holy Helpers”. Like several of the saints that visited Marie-Julie, St. Pantaleon has offered a correct account of his death, and thereby confirmed the assertion that many of the traditional details about his martyrdom are inaccurate legends.


St. Pantaleon, whose names means “the All-Compassionate”, was the son of a rich pagan, Eustorgius of Nicomedia, and had been instructed in Christianity by his Christian mother, Eubula. Afterwards he became estranged from Christianity. He studied medicine and became physician to the Emperor Maximinianus. He was reconverted to the Faith by the priest Hermolaus and afterwards continued to provide his skills as a physcian wihtout charge. Upon the death of his father he came into possession of a large fortune. Envious colleagues denounced him to the emperor during the Diocletian persecution. The emperor wished to save him and tried to get him to renounce his faith, Pantaleon, however, openly confessed his faith, and as proof that Christ is the true God, he healed a paralytic. Notwithstanding this, the emperor regarded the miracle as an exhibition of magic and condemned him.


According to the death-legends now shown to be false, Pantaleon's flesh was first burned with torches; upon this Christ appeared to all in the form of Hermolaus to strengthen and heal Pantaleon. The torches were extinguished. After this, when a bath of liquid lead was prepared, Christ in the same form stepped into the cauldron with him, the fire went out and the lead became cold. He was now thrown into the sea, but the stone with which he was loaded floated. He was thrown to the wild beasts but these fawned upon him and could not be forced away until he had blessed them. He was bound on the wheel, but the ropes snapped, and the wheel broke. An attempt was made to behead him, but the sword bent, and the executioners were converted. Pantaleon implored heaven to forgive them, for which reason he also received the name “All Compassionate”. It was not until he himself desired it that it was possible to behead him.


He died in 305 AD, apparently at Nicomedia. Feast Day, July 27.

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Sunday 29 October 2017

#84 St. Michael - The "Pillar of Mud, President Sarkozy" Prophecy - Terror Must Befall France - The Return of the King

#84 St. Michael – the “Pillar of Mud” Prophecy – Terror must befall France – the Return of the King

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(Note about these particular visions of St. Michael: the texts for this date (September 29, 1878) have been separated, it is difficult to tell if they are all part of the same vision, or various visions at different parts of the day. Please note, owing to the difficulty of establishing a correct time line, they may not be in the correct order.)

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Text One:

St. Michael grabbed his sword and showed the crowd the Sacred Heart. A terrible cry rises. Men and demons seem mixed: we can no longer distinguish the voices of Christians from that of hell.

Marie-Julie: “Saint Michael, what frightening screams!”

The archangel approaches from the left with the fluttering banner of the Sacred Heart. The cries are redoubled:

The screams: “There is the one who promised to close over us the doors of the abyss!”

They are murmuring and spit in the face of the Archangel. He then turns to the right:

I speak,” he says, “listen to my voice. Death is on your heads. The fatal blow is ready. Look at the Sacred Heart that will be your refuge.”

The right side, (of the crowd) which is as bad as the left, responds:

Better to be enveloped in the Justice of Christ than to recognize His Heart!”

(Observations: Does this refer to all the times when the various governments of France rejected Christ's request through mystics such as St. Margaret Mary to have an image of His Sacred Heart placed on the royal standard?)

The hour of God is not far,” says St. Michael, “this profound terror will (bring about) the triumph of the new France. But this triumph cannot come before (if) Justice is not (pressed down) on this rotten land.

Do not expect anything of him who reigns as king and who, today, sits in the same chair as the others – a chair that bears no mark of a special power or much grander. His mind is in accordance with the thoughts of others, his word to their word, his will to their will. His power and authority are not more than he who is the last. Do not expect anything from this side: he does not deserve any more respect than all the rest.




In the storm, his voice will cry as loud as the others, against all that God has established. There is no strength in him; they lead him, they have directed him. This is the portrait of this man; he is a pillar of mud. Grieve about it, but do not give it much thought.”

Marie-Julie: “I will not think about it, good Saint Michael.”

St. Michael: “To reinstate the King chosen and destined by God, it is necessary that all those who are present be swept away.

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Observations on this first text:
 
It is interesting to note that the voices on the right in the vision who prefer Christ's Justice,which seem to represent conservatives, show that they are just as bad as those on the left. Besides salvation and damnation, only in politics do we hear of a “left” and “right” side, terms that first started in France when conservatives and liberals seperated into different sides of the National Assembly.   People will be “conservatives” in name only during this time foretold by St. Michael?



Many speculate this prophecy of a 'pillar of mud' refers to none other than President Nicolas Sarkosy.

Sarkosy's father was from the Hungarian aristocracy, his paternal ancestors were ennobled by Ferdinand II of Hapsbourg in 1608. Of interest, “Sar” and “Kos” in Hungarian mean “dirt” and “mud” respectively. Sar’ can also mean ‘mire’, while ‘sark’ means ‘pole’! 

 President Sarkozy was raised Catholic, and it might be tempting to think he could be the one to bring back a Catholic monarchy, or some type of moral government, but considering President Sarkozy was married a third time, completely against Catholic teaching, we can see the similarities in the prophecy, if it indeed refers to him.


St. Michael warns he is a “pillar of mud” that rules like a king, i.e. a “pillar” of society, but not pure. As they saying goes, a man of clay.  He is no better than the “others”, his voice will be 'their' voice indicating he will be a puppet for the evil ones that will try and undo all God has established, and that his chair is not high and noble like that of a king's throne, obviously referring to his leadership as President in a liberal, secular democracy. In fact, the French do not view their presidents simply as elected officials, they are viewed and treated as an elected 'king', but obviously, St. Michael is pointing out their error in thinking this!

However, St. Michael says we, as Catholics, cannot expect anything from him, and must wait for God to restore France to its former Catholic glory under its rightful monarchy.


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Text Two of St. Michael's revelations (September 29, 1878):


Poor France, look at my flaming sword. It is a double iron, it is sharpened on all four sides. Do you not tremble to undergo such an operation by these sharp blades, this flaming sword? But France is muted. She is become (as one) deaf to the plaintive words addressed to her. She has no more (than) one understanding, (i.e. one mind), that of evil, sin and revenge, because day and night they blow over her their abominations and the belief that she will be saved by the power of these unfortunate treacherous murderers, of those who have tortured, torn, lost. It is they who bear that frightening horn (i.e. a cornocopia?) that contains everything most hellish of Satan.


No, I say it openly, if God had not promised to save France, all these people would be grieving, but the promise of God is to strengthen you and reassure you. You have no fright to fear because you are promised God's help. This region, your regions, will be protected, separated from France in danger of perishing. (i.e., Brittany and the Vendée will be spared.)

Yes, God will save France, but not without justice, or without rigour, it is promised. France will be saved sooner than the majority think - this great party (or majority), it is men who do not trust in God and do not hope in God. France endured in the past few years a burning thirst, but God in His loving mercy has sent suffering on Earth so that, thereby, He is compensated. France still suffers yet this thirst, but it will be refreshed in the blood of its friends and in the blood of its enemies; that is to say that innocent blood will be shed for the cause and for another cause higher again, and the blood of the wicked will also be provided to meet the wrath and vengeance of God.


The hand of God no longer is sustained. So, the Father Almighty has presented the Hand of His son to the Earth because of the crimes, the iniquities piled like mountains one on top of each other. The hand of God weighs down slowly and gently to a certain degree which was recorded by the friends of God in (the) revelations, but when this point is passed, and the Lord's hand touches, He will strike rigorously. God will wait the time He has marked. There, it will not be a long time, everything will be done without the French people (who will) acknowledge God and will return to better dispositions. It will be a terrible epoch that the Earth has never seen (before); no eye, nor any alive, or dead, have seen what is reserved in this next time; no punishment, no anger will ever be seen as the one reserved to be seen by the children of God living in this era of offences and attacks. That punishment will be seen by the eyes of the children of God (but) who will not suffer the terrible revenge; it will be seen by those who must endure it but seen by them shortly, (or for a short time). Their eyes will see a pain that they wished they were closed, never to reopen. (I.e. they will envy the dead.) Oh! if the wicked knew well to penetrate the Justice of the Inexorable Judge, they would shudder, they would gémiraient (groan?) from fear and terror.


You who will see, do not be troubled, for you are destined to see what those who lived centuries before you have never seen. Remember the promise of your merciful Redeemer. I say to you strongly and lovingly to hope in the mercy of God.


The hour of God is not far and this profound terror must be to (bring about) the triumph of poor France. For it cannot triumph, it is impossible, (that is), this triumph cannot come before the Justice of God is weighed down on this spoiled land, corrupted, infected with all sorts of crimes.


I want to tell you this secret: expect nothing, absolutely nothing of men. To restore the King chosen and destined by God,” says St. Michael the Archangel, “it is necessary that those who are in (this present) moment are swept away because the worthy King, this man of God, can not sit in place of the hypocrite king who after many years (of rule?) will no longer stench up the land, at least from above .* (See note below.) The poison is resting on the throne, it must be purified because there is another St. Louis who will sit on the fragrant lily.


The Holy Archangel says:


The corpses of the enemies of the king will be trampled under the feet of those who will accompany him to the throne where he must reign, restoring peace to bloom everywhere again, however, there will remain enemies standing when the king will take possession because he must come in during the course of the storm. But he will be brought safe and sound because the Mother of God will protect him as her own son and has reserved for him to inherit a merited crown that will delight him. The days of exile will be long and cost dearly to the faithful and Catholic King, but he will be more richly rewarded. Let men affirm and say he will never return. Listen to them and ask them if they are prophets.


Children of the Cross, when the reign of this King arrives, France will be much weakened and depopulated, but God will reward France by many wonders after having been sifted and made to suffer. Peace will reign everywhere. After these terrible misfortunes reserved for France, all other powers will also have their punishments because it is the renewal of the entire universe. There will be (all) and everywhere, in corners of the Earth inhabited by my other children, chastisements and punishments of God because then peace will reign everywhere. (i.e., the great peace cannot come unless the earth is purified by chastisements and suffering.) There are powers, (i.e. countries, governments, officials ?) that I cannot name, who will suffer for years because this terrible disorder of threats and abominations, all this is nothing but punishment from God that sins attract.”


Marie-Julie: “The Holy Archangel then shows me the banner of the Sacred Heart that I have always seen.”


Saint Michael: “This is how we march on the borders of France, bearing the banner and the sword. I hold under my feet all the enemies of God and all (that is of) Freemasonry. I will exterminate them and the Justice of God will complete (it) and will crush them under the weight of His anger. Meanwhile, marching to France and on the borders of France, we will accomplish our duty.


When it is completed, when the kingdom of God will commence and peace restored, we will march on Rome for France must devote itself to the defence of the Holy See. The new Holy Pontiff is much more exposed, more threatened than the one I received. (i.e., the Holy pontiff will be more threatened and persecuted than his predecessor.) By attacking his holy Temple, they strongly make an attempt on the life of the Pontiff. If he is not a martyr by the hands of barbarians, it is that God will make (by) him a shining miracle that has no name. This spite also comes from your France. Never (before) was the storm so strong, so powerful against other pontiffs as that against him. He is already a martyr before undergoing martyrdom. He suffers before the time has appeared, but he offers his body and the blood of his veins for all his tormentors and those who make strong attempts, terrible (plots) on his life. What exiles (he has) to suffer, as that which martyrs endure.



Pray hard, with tears implore the mercy of God. It is (high) time, and even time passes. Cry, moan in pain on so many friends who will fall by the blade of the sword, (by) mine, and (by those) of the warriors driven by rage.”

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Observations / Notes: (*) Who is this “hypocrite king” that “stenches up the land”? The Sanctuary / Friend of Marie-Julie Website says this revelation of a 'hypocrite king', refers to Napoleon III, but Napoleon the Third was already defeated, the Paris Commune had happened and the Third Republic installed by the time Marie-Julie had this vision.

The 'hypocrite king' could be President Patrice de Mac-Mahon, who was in office from May 24, 1873 to January 30, 1879. He was the only monarchist of the Third Republic, and apparently supported the restoration of the monarchy, forwarding the Count of Chambord as the new king. Chambord was the younger son of Charles X. Charles X was the younger brother to Kings Louis the XVI and XVIII, therefore the Count of Chambord was the last of the legitimate claimants to the throne under the Bourbon dynasty. President Mac-Mahon was also of aristocratic blood, a Marquis, and he was later created Duke of Magenta by Napoleon III.


However, if St. Michael's words were referring to President Mac-Mahon, it appears President Mac-Mahon's attempts to restore the legitimate monarchy the previous year were not genuine, or not pleasing to God. In 1873, MacMahon and other royalists planned to present the Count of Chambord to the National Assembly and have him proclaimed king, but as a constitutional monarch.  However, the Count refused, saying he would never forsake the White Flag of the absolute monarchy with the fluer-de-lys for the Tricolour of the revolutionaries, and rejected any plan to rule under a Republican organized monarchy. A crisis ensued the following years as all plans to restore the monarchy failed after this, entrenching the Republicans and sealing the defeat of the royalists.


We also note that while Mac-Mahon tried to suppress Republicanism in France in support of a royalist restoration, he put an Orleanist in office as Prime Minister, the Duc du Broglie, (i.e., a supporter of the Orleans claim to the throne), and according to Marie-Julie's visions, an Orleanist would never hold the throne as that family turned traitor and supported the Revolutionary cause against King Louis XVI, occasioning his murder. So, it appears the President was not willing to cut ties with the Masonic branches who wanted to control any restoration of the monarchy under their democratic systems. In any case, St. Michael stressed no human endeavour will be able to restore the French monarchy, and warned we are not to place false hopes in any human attempt, rather, we must wait for God to work the miracles He promised to sweep away the secularised governments imposed on France since the Masonic Revolution. God promises another great and holy king like St. King Louis, a descendent of the “King and Queen Martyrs” as Marie-Julie told the Marquis de le Franquerie. Above we learn the King he will be a saintly man, and in matters of government will not be infected by Masonic principles and will restore the Ancient Regime by God's power.  In fact, he has already been named: Henry V, the Count of Chambord whom the Republicans rejected.  In other texts we learn Our Lord promises to RETURN HIM TO HIS SUBJECTS, (click here for more info). 


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Friday 27 October 2017

#83 St. Vincent of Saragossa – The Body and the Soul – Beauty of Soul Increased during 'Spiritual Dryness'


St. Vincent of Saragossa reveals that the traditional account of his martyrdom by gridiron is true and gives details of his death – Baptism the Strength of Christians – The Difference between the Body and Soul - God increases the beauty of the soul by passing it through times of 'dryness'



Ecstasy date September 28, 1878


May the peace of the Lord be with you, dear brothers and sisters. May the love of Our Lord vivify you together in Holy Charity! My name is St. Vincent, Martyr. I was persecuted in the days of cruel persecutions of the Church. I suffered martyrdom for God, for His Holy Cross, in defence of the Holy Religion. I could have lived if I wanted to apostatize. I preferred to die for God, rather than deny His Holy Name and His Religion.


I was put to torture by the famous emperors who have made so many martyrs. I was put on a grill, the flames blown over my body. I had the grace to see a ray from Heaven that strengthened me and filled me with joy to give my life to save my soul. I received frightening insults and outrages.  My tears flowed so abundantly that three times, I put out the coals burning my flesh. This prodigy, this powerful miracle was of no avail to the barbarians who insulted my thrice-holy God. Following this prodigy that came from my God, I was treated with more violence.  My body was covered with coals. I was turned on a grill like another St. Lawrence. I felt a sweet freshness in my whole body, it was like the dew that put out the flames that made me suffer.  I suffered a terrible torture. My body was all broken, I was trampled underfoot by my tormentors. I felt the hour of triumph when I felt the pains in my heart. I expired on those terrible flames, tortured, made to drink the most infernal ignominies. How sweet it is to die for God! How sweet it is to keep the blessed seed of Faith when you love Him who has suffered to redeem our immortal souls! It gives us courage and, in the midst of courage, it give us a fire of charity.

 A word, now, on behalf of Our Lord.

Dear brethren, Our Lord has given us all the grace to be admitted to Holy Baptism. It is this grace that is the strength of the Christians. It makes us the Heirs to the gifts of our Heavenly Father. What strength! What generosity! What happiness! O what grace that fortifies you! The Lord has given us all an immortal soul. Oh! if we knew the treasure that lives among the dust of our bodies! This thought would be able to transport us (while) alive, to the ardours and heights, to the Throne of God, this thought has wings and these wings are flames (of love?) that are our transports.

Our Lord nourishes our souls. He ensures their needs. He provides the Food for the immortal soul and the soul lives only for God. What is the difference between soul and body! This body of dust lives on gross nourishments. The soul lives on the Divinity of God. There it finds its substance, it finds a Food of delights. Our adorable Lord, to increase the beauty of our souls seems at times to weaken His Nourishment and stay some distance away. (I.e. why God leaves us in a 'dry' state of spirit and He feels distant to us.) But in these moments, our Lord holds our souls in His Adorable Hands and He fills them with happiness. He enriches them with His unspeakable gifts. So do not say, "My soul, you are far from God" because, right now, He is at the door, He who dwells in Himself, in His All Adorable person.”


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Notes: the Life of St. Vincent from Wikipedia.

 
Saint Vincent of Saragossa, also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon, the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon and Valencia. His feast day is 22 January. (...) He was born at Huesca near Saragossa, Spain sometime during the latter part of the 3rd century; it is believed his father was Eutricius (Euthicius), and his mother was Enola, a native of Osca.     he was and martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304. The earliest account of Vincent's martyrdom is in a carmen (lyric poem) written by the poet Prudentius, who wrote a series of lyric poems, Peristephanon ("Crowns of Martyrdom"), on Hispanic and Roman martyrs.

Vincent spent most of his life in the city of Saragossa, where he was educated and ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Valerius of Saragossa, who commissioned Vincent to preach throughout the diocese.  Because Valerius suffered from a speech impediment, Vincent acted as his spokesman.   When the Roman Emperor Diocletian began persecuting Christians in Spain, both were brought before the Roman governor, Dacian in Valencia.  Vincent and his bishop Valerius were confined to the prison of Valencia. Though he was finally offered release if he would consign Scripture to the fire, Vincent refused. Speaking on behalf of his bishop, he informed the judge that they were ready to suffer everything for their faith, and that they could pay no heed either to threats or promises.

His outspoken manner so angered the governor that Vincent was inflicted every sort of torture on him. He was stretched on the rack and his flesh torn with iron hooks. Then his wounds were rubbed with salt and he was burned alive upon a red-hot gridiron. Finally he was cast into prison and laid on a floor scattered with broken pottery, where he died. (St. Vincent corrected this detail, reveal to Marie-Julie Jahenny that he died on the flames.)  During his martyrdom he preserved such peace and tranquillity that it astonished his jailer, who repented from his sins and was converted. Vincent's dead body was thrown into the sea in a sack, but was later recovered by the Christians and his veneration immediately spread throughout the Church.The aged bishop Valerius was exiled.

The story that Vincent was tortured on a gridiron is perhaps adapted from the martyrdom of another son of Huesca, Saint Lawrence -- (St. Vincent himself said to Marie-Julie this was true, he was like another St. Lawrence, it's not a borrowed history.)  Vincent, like many early martyrs in the early hagiographic literature, succeeded in converting his jailer.


According to legend, after being martyred, ravens protected St. Vincent's body from being devoured by vultures, until his followers could recover the body. His body was taken to what is now known as Cape St. Vincent; a shrine was erected over his grave, which continued to be guarded by flocks of ravens. In the time of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula, the Arab geographer Al-Idrisi noted this constant guard by ravens, for which the place was named by him كنيسة الغراب "Kanīsah al-Ghurāb" (Church of the Raven). King Afonso I of Portugal (1139–1185) had the body of the saint exhumed in 1173 and brought it by ship to the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.  This transfer of the relics is depicted on the coat of arms of Lisbon”

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Observation: Of interest, the descendants of the two ravens that accompanied his relics to Lisbon remained in the city and could be seen on the roof corners of the Sé until only recently, they have disappeared since the middle of the 20th century as one local travel site phrased it. The locals do not know what this means, but it cannot be a good sign. The coat of arms of Lisbon featuring the two ravens bears the following motto and may in fact give us a hint: "MUI NOBRE E SEMPRE LEAL CIDADE DE LISBOA" (most noble and always loyal city of Lisbon). It appears with the ravens gone the city has lost the meaning of loyalty, that is, loyalty to God and his precepts as Our Lady privately predicted to Jacinta, one of the little seers of Fatima.


Shortly before her death, Jacinta repeatedly requested to see her confessor, Canon Formigao, explaining that Our Lady had appeared to her and given a message to be related to him. Unfortunately, he was unable to come at once, and arrived a few days her her death. Meanwhile, Jacinta, knowing she was to die, gave the message to Mother Godinho, asking her to relate it to the Canon. The first part of Jacinta's message concerned a chastisement predicted for Portugal, especially the city of Lisbon, in punishment for the sins and crimes committed in that country.  As Mother Godinho later declared, Jacinta explained that the prophecy of the Blessed Mother was conditional: “Mother, tell the Holy Father that the world is troubled and Our Lady can no longer hold back the arm of Her beloved Son, Who is very offended by the sins committed in the world. If, however, the world decides to do penance, She would come to its aid again, but if not, chastisement would infallibly fall upon it, for its lack of obedience to the Holy Father.”

Jacinta also predicted the year 1972 would be a time when things would truly fall apart, the sins of impurity, vanity, and excessive luxury would eventually break forth and bring great chastisements to the world, which would cause great suffering to the Holy Father.

If the disappearance of St. Vincent's ravens are anything to go by which happened just leading up to the year of woe, 1972, it appears Lisbon, and indeed Portugal, is about to suffer the foretold punishments. Lisbon was destroyed once before by a great earthquake in 1755, and authorities warn the city is due another great quake,which strike every 200 to 250 years.

On October 13th 2017, the day of the 100th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, Portugal also held voluntary earthquake drills while still suffereing the worst ever fire season in living memory.  Preparatory warnings for earthquakes are still seen on television from time to time. Signs of the times.

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Wednesday 25 October 2017

#82 St. Pamphilus - ALL Christians called to Enter the Novitiate of the Cross - How to Bear Abundant Fruit in the Novitiate


St. Pamphilus - God's Enemies are Filled with Hatred more than ever before: Charity has been stifled in their hearts – Accept persecutions and sufferings from enemies WITHOUT RETALIATION, without defending yourself or murmuring – Persecutions become great treasure for us – Explanation of the Holy Novitiate of the Cross - To Enter the Holy Novitiate is to enter into the Wounds of Christ: He suffered for LOVE of us without complaint.





Ecstasy date September 26, 1878


I am Saint Pamphilus martyred under the sacrilegious Emperors for God and His Holy Name, for the holy Religion, for the consolation of Christians. It was in the prime of my age I suffered martyrdom before the judges of the Emperor. I defended my faith and the name of my God until the last moment of my painful martyrdom. I was laid on a rack of very sharp points on which I was gripped by wide bands of iron also spiked in all directions. I could hardly breathe on this instrument of torture. I had placed on me one day, a band of red-hot iron from the fire. Nothing is sweeter than to suffer when you do it for the glory of God! I was crushed, broken, ground, by these instruments of torture invented by malice and cruelty of men. I was then thrown in boiling oil. My body was nothing but one wound, my blood was mingled with this oil. Then I was hung on a tree forming a cross in front of a wall. There I was again tortured. I had my body pierced through and through with iron awls. The greatest pain was felt in my heart, when it was pierced through. Then I had my nails pulled out, my teeth broken, my eyes torn from their place. This is where I expired in pain and tortures.


My love for Jesus at Calvary was so strong that I wanted to suffer for years to pay for this recognition of happiness and love. I also had an ardent love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. He was my support, my strength and my happiness. I was tortured like so many Christians who have won this crown. My martyrdom took place during the height of the persecutions of the Church.

Now a word on behalf of Our Lord.

In the past, our Lord had enemies, all (of) His had enemies, the Church had enemies. Today there are more. Today, the enemies of our God have no conscience, they no longer think, so to speak, no more heart. Hatred has stifled the charity of their hearts living in their bodies. Ah well! Dear Brothers of the Cross, be happy and cry with happiness, to have enemies (to help you) get closer to the One who wants to shower you with grace and happiness. Do not retaliate. Look at Calvary and see the Charity of Our Lord (ready to) break forth at any moment to engulf you, to consume you, to regenerate (in you) this Holy Charity that takes you and pushes you to do everything, to suffer everything, to endure everything for the God of Calvary. All the persecutions that must follow you from life to death, only increase your happiness to develop a knowledge of profound peace. And with that peace you glimpse the mysteries of the powerful goodness of Our Lord. Brothers and sisters, you can say at all times:

"We wear flowers, we breathe their fragrance, because at any time, we will suffer, at all times we will rise on persecutions."

This is your flowers and their fragrance! The fragrance of the persecution do not stop the clouds or the heavens. It goes to heaven to the feet of our Bridegroom on His eternal throne.

Dear Brothers of the Cross, take your nourishment in the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, in your dejection and your abandonment. Go to this divine meal. Come, you, souls that God has chosen for Him to win souls for Him, to present Him flourishing graces after your work, after your mission accomplished! What joy! What transports (of happiness) to have placed the souls around His eternal throne! Live love among thorns! How sweet it is to speak the language of love! This language draws on the cutting edge of thorns, the weight of the cross of God. Dear Brothers, study your sermons and conversations at the foot of the Crucifix and feel the sweet effects of love that has engulfed the Seraphim and Cherubim. On earth, brothers of the Cross, you are fed by a valuable and strong Food, it is the Food of our dear Spouse, it is His grace, His love, His tenderness. It gives you everything. It invites you to this Banquet. Go with happiness, go for strength, go where your soul will expand in this pure love that no creature can give. Your hearts will become fountains while your eyes were dug in their sources, that is to say, in tears.


Our heart, in this fountain, swimming, swims, overflowing with joy, but of secret joy, joy that is not known to mankind in the body, or in the miseries of the body. This joy is only known to God, of His Sacred Wounds. Why the secrecy? This is to make you earn, brother called by grace, to the participation and the distribution of wealth, property, of the glories of the Lord thy God! In this passage of time you all have to be like lambs being sacrificed on the Cross, without complaining, without murmuring, without saying, "My God, why this pain?" It is time for sacrifice, it is the hour when the Lord's sheep will be sacrificed by language, by the mind, by the vengeance from the enemy's heart.


The sacrifice is admirable. The sighs of your hearts repeats to God a song of love and thanksgiving. Why? Because you do not try to defend yourself, to apologize. You wear what you are given, you load on your shoulders the cross that they have prepared for you and is far from being fair, because they do not believe it just, nor justified in the righteousness of God. To the eyes of the world, in the eyes of your brothers, you appear guilty. (i.e. as a Christian following God's laws you will be made to be the criminal). Leave it be, leave it go, let yourself be despoiled of this first cloak. (i.e., Do not worry about what people say and think of you. Ignore human respect.) This is not the most beautiful, most perfect. It is probably the cloak that saves innocence, (i.e. the right to defend your good name) but it is not the cloak of innocence. (I.e. this right is not innocence itself.) This one is more hidden, they (your enemies) will not achieve it. (i.e. they will try and make themselves out to be the righteous and take away your innocence, but God and those with eyes that see know the truth.) What joy! Tremble with happiness and love, because you are called by the name of the martyrs, martyrs of patience, martyrs by submission, martyrs by charity and resignation, martyrs by the loving love, that is to say, by the love that loves God. Oh! Your portion is beautiful! Ah! If only those who cause your martyrdom knew your peace! …

Live in God's love. Love is then at the foot of the Cross. Make the Novitiate of the Cross, Novitiate of peace, novitiate of love, cloister of Hope before making your profession in the Heavens, eternal profession. The Christian life is as the religious life. Before pronouncing final vows, (i.e.) the (final) profession, a religious should learn in a novitiate, like a good worker must first be an apprentice, then afterwards confirmed as a professional. In the novitiate, there again, is change. This refers to the old man who must make way for the new man in us all. In this we are all novices and have a lot (that needs to be) converted in us. The cross is made for that. The cloister is a place of silence and prayer, away from the busy world. The novitiate (i.e. the Holy Novitiate of the Cross) is a school of meditation. Enter the School of the Holy Wounds of Jesus Crucified, that is where we learn, that is where intelligence (i.e. spiritual wisdom) develops.

To enter the Wounds of Our Lord means understanding that He loved us to that point. (I.e. He loved us to the point of enduring torture and agony.) He who, as God is unchangeable, wanted to show us in His suffering humanity evidence of the truth of His love: "I carved your name in the palm of My Hands and in My Heart."

And, in your development, this Truth becomes Divine because the flow of the grace of Our Lord gives life, qualifies, makes fragrant, converts and transforms... The Cross is the portion of God, it was then the portion the Saints, it is your portion! Cherish it, plant it in the most beautiful garden of your heart, that is to say, in the most beautiful place, the more ornate, the richest! ...


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Notes: St. Pamphilus was a martyr of Asia Minor, a native of Berytus in Phoenicia. He studied at Alexandria under Pierius, and then settled at Caesarea in Palestine, where he was ordained priest. One of the greatest biblical scholars of his day, he fostered learning and protected all students. His household became famous for its practise of fraternal love, slaves and domestics being treated as sons and brothers. The historian Eusebius assumed the name “Pamphili” in gratitude for the favours received from St. Pamphilus. After years of imprisonment and repeated tortures, he was martyred under Galerius in 309 AD. With him suffered his deacon and ten companions. Feast Day, June 1.


The “Friends of Marie-Julie / Sanctuary Website” offers the following commentary:

... Galerius hated Christians and was very cruel. He wanted to impose, in order to maintain unity in the vast empire that threatened to break apart, the same religion on all subjects, (that is), the worship of gods and the Emperor. From 295 the persecution raged in the army (the massacre of the Theban legion - 6000 victims, including St. Maurice and St. Exupère who refused to sacrifice to the gods). It was a "cleansing" of civil society. There successively appeared four edicts:

-Destruction of all the churches and sacred books
- Imprisonment of clerics
- Order the priests to sacrifice to pagan gods
-Order all Christians to sacrifice to idols and to worship the emperor

For the glory of God, many Christians refused to submit and were slaughtered by methods of "ethnic cleansing" that our twentieth century can not boast of having forgotten. It was not until the Edict of Constantine in the year 313 to stop such persecution in the East.”

These observations from the “Friends of Marie-Julie” are not misplaced, considering how Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints continually warned Marie-Julie about the coming trials and persecutions the Church would face, including martyrdom, pronouncing the Church will finally be liberated by a Holy Monarch who will bear the sign of the cross and declare like Constantine: “In this sign, you shall conquer,” ushering in the greatest era of the Church and the promised period of peace.

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Tuesday 24 October 2017

#81 St. Felix of Dunwich – Abandonment to the Divine Will also makes us Friends of God

St. Felix of Dunwich gives a detailed account of his mission, then gives a short message to the Friends of the Cross.



Ecstasy September 23, 1878


I am St Felix, who worked to convert the English. I come to say a word on behalf of Our Lord. ... I suffered all sorts of painful accusations and black persecutions. I did not cast it off, I continued my hard work. ... I continued my mission from Heaven. I was often struck by the infidel souls who were far from God. I was brought before the tribunal, but I did not waver.


After winning a multitude of souls to God, I took some rest in the middle of the English. I was cared for at their hands and their hearts sympathized with my sufferings. It was in this great suffering, the Lord opened to me the beauty of Heaven. It was on the cross that I entered the sweet intimate conversation of God's secrets. To reward me, the Lord sent me all kinds of sorrows. I was crucified in every limb, privately, to work for the salvation of souls. Suddenly, our Good Lord rendered the life of the members of my body dry. I could still, for some years, work to convert the Great of England who had remained obstinate in their refusal (to accept) the Faith. I went to London where there were a great number of souls in the grip of hell. I was stoned twice, I was insulted. But God in His loving power can always do everything for His Glory. He supported me. In the midst of these cruel persecutions, I was bruised, covered with wounds. In the night, an angel came with a jar, closed my wounds and the next day, I was completely and miraculously restored.


I made a large number of conversions in London and they persevered. I returned then to the middle of the English and I found their faith strong and powerful. ... But I had still to suffer terrible assaults. I was threatened with being put in prison by the guards. I was about to stand trial because I was slanderously accused. But my innocence before God was without blame. I was delivered by the voice of an unknown young man. On the eve of trial, I saw him enter the cell where I retired to pray and do penance. He said, "Now leave England and go to the nearest town of France." This voice was unknown to me, but its sweetness ravished my soul. I resisted. In the deep of night, the same voice called me back and said, "Leave quickly because they are ready to take you and lead you before your accusers." Immediately, I followed the young man who took me to that city that touches the edge of France (Dover), and there I spent a month and a few days. The persecution had relaxed a little, but I was still threatened.


I returned to England. I armed myself with a huge cross of the old days and I faced my judges and my detractors. I told them: "Here is the victim, I put myself at your disposal, judge me, condemn me. But, in judging me and condemning me, you condemn Him whom I bring attached on the Cross." These words produced consternation on their faces. I won the victory. I was then pressed to preach and I was greatly inspired by Heaven. My judges and my accusers fell at my feet. I converted them. Here is the reward of terrible persecution. The Goodness of Heaven fell upon the poor accused victim, innocent ... Then I travelled through many countries, I have always suffered, persecution still followed my steps.


Dear Brothers and Friends of the Cross, we make joy from the bread of bitterness since it is only by contempt that we a rendered into glory. And it is not only by persecution that we are made the true friends of God ... Let us be detached. Remain indifferent to what they say about our person.  It is in abandonment to the Divine Will where we find a powerful force that recreates all in us.

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Observation: judging from the account St. Felix gave his his difficult life and mission, 'abandonment' to the Divine Will does not mean sitting around doing 'nothing' and expecting God to do it all!  As we see, 'abandonment' means accepting what comes freely and without murmuring, be it suffering, persecutions, hard work, etc., all accepted in a spirit of detachment, not letting human respect or our own wills and self-interest mar the work God puts before us.

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Notes: Saint Felix of Dunwich bishop and apostle of England, was originally from Burgundy, hence is he also known as St. Felix of Burgundy. He brought about the conversion of Sigebert, King of the East Angles, when that prince was in exile, and later was summoned by Siegbert to evangelize East Anglia. St. Felix undertook the mission with the approval of St. Honorius of Canterbury, and placed his episcopal see at Dunwich, now washed away by the sea. He preached with great success in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, opening schools on the French model. He died in the year 648. Feast Day March 8.

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