Mother Angelica

A Pillar Of The Church

Reading Charlie Johnston’s Blog, Next Right Step always provides inspiring and thought provoking information and today is no different. In Charlie’s brief post of December 2nd entitled “A Little Hopeful News” he lets us know that he heard from a friend at EWTN that Mother Angelica has improved a bit because of the feeding tube she was placed on just a day before.

As I’m sure everyone reading this Divine Mercy Network blog knows, Mother Angelica is the Foundress of the Eternal Word Television (EWTN), now the largest Christian broadcasting organization in the world. Just two days ago while praying at the Divine Mercy Adoration Chapel in Orchard Lake, Michigan I happen to overhear a woman asking for prayers for Mother Angelica because she had just been placed on a feeding-tube. I thought of the many millions of people all over the world who were hearing the same news and offering prayers for this amazing servant of God, who has lived a life of suffering and service to Christ and His Church.

What a consolation for her to know that so many people have been touch by God through her cooperation – and what a consolation for us to know that even at 92 years old, while being confined to a bed and on a feeding tube, we have our Mother Angelica offering up and uniting her sufferings with Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, on our behalf!

It is the amazing and even miraculous work she has accomplished with EWTN and the certainty that she understands and accepts the value of her suffering that inspired us to give Mother Angelica our Catholic Radio “Pillar Of The Church” award back in 2001.  I thought now would be an appropriate time to share that story.

From its founding in 1998 until 2006 I had the blessing of managing and hosting programs on Michigan Catholic Radio WCAR 1090 AM (Detroit) and WOAP 1080 AM (Lansing). Unfortunately that network no longer exists – but each year we were in operation, at our anniversary banquet, we wanted to recognize someone special; someone doing great work for Christ and His Church. So we created the “Pillar Of The Church” award; an idea inspired by the vision or “dream” of St. John Bosco in which he saw the Church as a ship being attacked in the midst of a raging storm on the sea.

Click here to subscribe to Divine Mercy Network!

In the saint’s vision the “captain” of the ship is the Pope, who struggles to steer and anchor the ship in between two massive pillars that rise from the stormy sea. On top of one pillar is The Holy Eucharist. On top of the other is the Blessed Mother, Mary Help of Christians.  With Divine assistance eventually the Pope is successful in his efforts and as soon as the ship of the Church is anchored to these two pillars “a great convulsion takes place” that results in the defeat of the enemies of the Church. And then “over the sea there reigns a great calm.”
The person who received this annual recognition, staggered each year between religious and lay, was someone we discerned as playing an important role in cooperating with the Holy Father’s efforts to steer and anchor the ship of the Church to these two invincible pillars of the Holy Eucharist and Mary, Help of Christians.

Of course, Mother Angelica is an obvious choice and she was scheduled to return to Detroit in 2001 to receive this deserved recognition; until she suffered her first stroke which made travel impossible. Thankfully Mother’s health was still good enough that I was able to travel to Birmingham, Alabama to present the award to her on camera in the very studio she used for so many years to do the work for which she was being recognized! An amazing experience for me to say the least!

As it turned out this was one of the last times Mother was to appear on camera anywhere. It was not long until a second stroke ended her ability to host her show.

We recorded the presentation and then Mother Angelica gave a beautiful acceptance speech which was played at our anniversary event back in Michigan. That was almost fifteen years ago!

I believe that through the prayers, teachings and works of St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI the Church or “ship” of St. John Bosco’s dream-vision has been successfully steered between the Pillars topped by The Eucharist and Mary, Help of Christians. Now, as Pope Francis works to the finish the job, we are watching the storm coming to its peak … and from all indications, including what St. John Bosco said, it’s going to get very ugly before the final ‘convulsion” takes place that causes the enemies to scatter and flee away.

At the conclusion of St. John Bosco explaining his dream-vision he said:

“Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.”

The word “convulsion” is defined as: “a sudden, violent, irregular movement of a limb or of the body, caused by involuntary contraction of muscles and associated especially with brain disorders …” Many approved Catholic Prophecies from Saints, Blessed’s and those we call Venerable and Servant of God are consistent in saying that a day is coming which will be “sudden” and “violent” …

The questions for us are simple: Am I ready right now for what is coming (spiritually, physically)? Do I have devotion to Mary, Help of Christians? Do I frequent Holy Communion? Am I helping others to be ready? Am I spreading devotion to Mary and to Holy Communion with Jesus in the Eucharist?

Now is the time to answer these questions with honesty so that each of us are ready at all times to “acknowledge God, take the next right step and be a sign of hope to others.”

We thank God for Mother Angelica and ask His blessings for her and all those who strive to be Pillars Of The Church.

St. John Bosco, pray for us. Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.

Click here to subscribe to Divine Mercy Network!

God The Father

God The Father

The Father Speaks to His Children

Divine Mercy Network – Mercy Radio is pleased to provide this post, dedicated to promoting a beautiful revelation by God The Father to Mother Eugenia Elisabetta Ravasio, (4 September 1907 – 10 August 1990) an Italian nun, visionary and mystic, from theRoman Catholic Church.

Mother Eugenia reported that on July 1, 1932 God The Father assumed the appearance of a man, sat next to her, removed his crown and dictated a message for all humanity. After ten years of intense scrutiny the local bishop approved the message … This page provides access to the full book “The Father Speaks to His Children” in both text and my original audio production.

I discovered this message around 2006-2007 “by chance” when I was visiting Old St. Mary’s Detroit, one of my all-time favorite Catholic Churches in the world (look for the free Old St. Mary’s Mobile App for Apple and Android).

This message came to me during a particularly dark and difficult time in my life (including struggles with faith) and played a significant positive role. Not long after reading the messages I was at a local park with my wife and several young children. As we were leaving the park I heard the back right door of my car slam shut (I was already in the drivers seat) … I then heard a terrible scream as the door was quickly reopened, only to find out that my oldest son (then just five years old) had all four of his little fingers in the door when it was shut!

He was outside the car and had put his fingers in the front part of the back door when it was slammed shut. I was convinced that all four fingers would either be cut off or at the very least severely mangled. I will never forget the look of absolute horror and pain in his innocent little eyes. It’s such a clear vision for me even now that I find my eyes welling up as I write this almost nine years later!

Again, I discovered this message from God The Father in the midst of a very dark time for me in the faith, which I would liken to a drowning man just about to go under for the last time when he is suddenly given a life raft. It had only been a few weeks since I first read the entire booklet and at the time of this incident I was reading it again.

So after jumping out of my seat, practically flying around the car and seeing his little eyes full of pain and terror, my first instinct was to cup his little hand in both of mine because I didn’t want him to see either his missing or terribly mangled fingers – and I didn’t want to look either! Without even the slightest pause – and I can see this as clear as day right now – I knelt down in front of him, his hand in both of mine and by the Grace of Mercy of God Himself, the intercession (I’m sure) of our dear Mother Mary, my very prayerful and always faithful wife Marie and perhaps legions of Angels and Saints, I received the gift to immediately begin praying out-loud to God The Father, in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, by the Power of His Precious Blood – in a way that I have never prayed before!

Click here to subscribe to Divine Mercy Network!

I remember becoming aware that I was no longer looking at my son but looking up to Heaven. I can’t really recall exactly what I was saying but along with the awareness that I was looking up to Heaven I also became conscious of the fact that in some strange way it wasn’t me, or perhaps “just” me that was praying; a humbling realization to say the least. After that experience I had a new understanding of what St. Paul meant in Romans 8:26-27:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.  And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

That consciousness came at the very moment I realized that this prayer was literally inundated with TRUST. There was basically no room for any other outcome! God was somehow revealing to me the kind of faith that really does move mountains and walks on water – because my little son Aidan was no longer crying and when I opened my hands all of his four little fingers were still there! They were not mangled. They were not bleeding. They were not even bruised and my wife Marie and I will never forget what God did for us and our son on that day!

It was after this miraculous experience that I decided to commission my very talented and blessed Mother-In-Law, Anne Simoneau, to produce an original icon based on Mother Eugenia’s description of God The Father. I also made the decision to record the entire booklet as an audio file and to do whatever else I could to tell anyone who would listen about the Love and Mercy of God The Father!  But my efforts didn’t last very long. Just to show you how weak and deficient I really am, I’ll admit that by August of 2010, after a series of further disappointments with the Church and myself, I lost my initial fervor and basically gave up the efforts I was making to evangelize with this and other messages. Now, for the first time in about five years, I’m back at it again – thanks in no small part to Charlie Johnston and his blog, Next Right Step.

This revelation from God The Father is powerful and perfectly suited for today, especially as the Church and world face the scourge of an all-encompassing system that specifically denies the Fatherhood of God. For God to be a Father, he needs a Son and Islam specifically states that “God has no son.” I hope you will read this revelation and listen to the audio recording as well … so that your faith and devotion will be deepened and strengthened. From there I hope you will take whatever steps you can to spread this message to others.

To access the text, simply click the link below. To listen to the audio online, click the image of God The Father on this page (this will open a new tab in your browser and begin playing the audio immediately.) You can also download the MP3 audio file by “right-clicking” the image and choosing “Save Link As.”

Click here for the full text of The Father Speaks to His Children

In closing, if you read and / or listen to this revelation you will read/hear these words which God The Father  desires all believers to pray and live by … I exhort you to commit this to memory!

We have a Father Who is infinitely good, infinitely rich and greatly merciful. He thinks about us and is close to us. He looks after us and supports us. He will give us everything we need if we ask Him. All His riches are ours. We will have everything we need.

**********

Listen to the entire recording of “The Father Speaks to His Children” OR click the Image of God the Father.

Or right click and “save as” or “save link as” to download the .mp3 file to your computer; make sure to remember where it is being saved to. The best place is either your Desktop or My Documents.

If you download the file, you can listen to the recording on your computer, burn DVD’s or CD’s and copy the audio file to your iPod or other MP3 player.

Please consider subscribing to Divine Mercy Network – Mercy Radio so we can keep in touch. God bless you!

John

Blessed Virgin and National Geographic

Very timely and interesting article in National Geographic from November 13, 2015 about reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

500 Years of Virgin Mary Sightings in One Map
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary, inspiring wonder and devotion among millions, have been tracked for centuries.

The Roman Catholic Church follows and investigates sightings of the Virgin Mary around the world.
By National Geographic Staff
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 13, 2015
From a village in Rwanda to a rock cave in France, sightings of the Virgin Mary have been reported across the globe since A.D. 40. Since 1531, the Roman Catholic Church has investigated these reports and offered approval to multiple sites where bishops believe miracles occurred, such as Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris.
MiracleHunter.com keeps a catalog of sightings. The map below shows where the sightings have been reported, and how they’ve been classified by the church. You can read about how the Virgin Mary has become the world’s most powerful woman in our latest magazine cover story, and see how obsession with Mary can be taken to extremes on Explorer: The Cult of Mary, which premieres Sunday, December 13, at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST) on the National Geographic Channel.

 

Seeing MaryStarting in the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church instituted a strict vetting process for miracles like the 2,000 sightings of the Virgin Mary claimed since A.D. 40. To be worthy of belief and church support, apparitions must be deemed miraculous with a high degree of certainty and in line with church doctrine, and found to have had a positive impact. Centuries of Miracles

VIRGINIA W. MASON, NGM STAFF; VICTORIA SGARRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL O’NEILL, MIRACLE HUNTER
NOTE: SOME VISIONS MAY BE MISSING BECAUSE THE DETAILS OF TIME, LOCATION, AND WITNESSES HAVE BEEN LOST TO HISTORY.

Divine Mercy Network Video Channel

Click here to subscribe to Divine Mercy Network!

Catholic Prophecy being fulfilled …

This is especially interesting since it goes back to 1999 … Look at what has happened since then and what is happening in both France and Italy. 

ARCHBISHOP BERNARDINI (At Synod of European Bishops) WARNS OF POTENTIAL FOR MUSLIM INVASION OF EUROPE!

VATICAN CITY, OCT 14, 1999 (ZENIT).- During his words in the Synod hall, Italian Franciscan Archbishop Giuseppe Bernardini of Smyrna, Turkey, who has lived in the Islamic world for 42 years, censured Muslims for their lack of reciprocity toward Christians’ efforts of dialogue. The Vatican Press Office published the text of his address yesterday, which explicitly denounces the Muslims’ irrational hostility toward Catholics.

Archbishop Bernardini quoted an “important Muslim figure who, during an Islamic-Christian meeting said: ‘Thanks to your democratic laws, we shall invade you; and thanks to our religious laws, we shall dominate you.’

Author of Trial, Tribulation & Triumph Desmond Birch comments: 

Approved Catholic Prophecy speaks of such an invasion for sometime in the future.

Catholic prophecy speaks of a future invasion of the heart of Christendom (Western Europe) both by Muslim and Russian armies. Right now (under current conditions) the only credible threat the Russians pose to anyone (beside military lightweights such as Chechnya) is a nuclear threat (My Note: Not any more! RE: Russia’s military activity in Ukraine and now Syria). According to Catholic prophecy from many approved Catholic prophets (Canonized Saints, Blessed and Venerable), the following scenario is in store for some time in the future.

[As you may guess, Desmond does not think it is the far distant future.] By the way, my European contacts, several of whom work in/with several European intelligence communities, confirm that several nations are in deep trouble as far as internal integrity – i.e., it would not take a great deal to kick them over the edge into civil disorder. Two of the most prominent on that list are; 1st – France, 2nd – Italy. (My Note – see stories at the two links for France ad Italy at top of this post for examples of this present reality)That would/should surprise no one who reads much on Europe.

1. Sometime in the future France and Italy go into civil war at almost the same time – France will probably be first. “When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, …Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France:” [Ecstatic of Tours, Trial, Tribulation and Triumph (TTT) p. 360.]

This happens after an economic collapse that is quite general throughout Europe  (My personal assessment is that this will be more or less worldwide). We also have an Italian, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, prophesying about the same revolution in France (By the way, these prophecies are not speaking about the ‘French Revolution’, which was long over when these prophecies were made in the 19th century);

“France shall fall into a frightful anarchy. The French shall have a desperate civil war during the course of which even old men will take up arms.” (Page 363, TTT)

Another approved prophet, Fr. Nectou (a Jesuit Provincial in France) prophesied about a future civil war in France. He was not prophesying the late 18th century ‘French Revolution’, because he speaks of the total destruction of Paris, which has not yet happened, and he speaks of it being a general condition “not confined to France”.

Fr. Netou prophesied:

“During this Revolution, which will very likely be general and not confined to France, Paris will be destroyed…” Fr. Nectou goes on to describe what many of us call the “Age of Peace” as following this time of Revolution.

“Justice will reign throughout the whole world, and the counterrevolution will be accomplished.” (TTT, p. 351) [The meaning of the term “counterrevolution” is explained in this section of TTT.]

2. There are numerous other approved Catholic prophets quoted in TTT describing the same thing. This entire scenario will take civil authorities by surprise, certainly as to the speed with which things develop. The Vatican will be one of the few authorities that will not be surprised. This will be largely due to the fact that there are a number of orthodox men in the Vatican who are very knowledgeable about Catholic Church approved prophecies. (My Note: See Mercy Radio for more approved Catholic prophecies).

3. The civil war in both France and Italy will take on a specifically anti-Catholic animus. This civil war in France will develop basically into a general war between Catholics (and a few allies) and the anti-Christian forces (particularly in France) which have been running those countries for centuries. That ruling pattern began with the French Revolution in France. It began/culminated with Garibaldi in Italy.

4. The Catholics will be on the verge of being wiped out in France, when, a great military Catholic leader will come to the fore in France. (The prophecies lead me to believe that by this point, the Catholics and Protestants are fighting on the same [Christian] side against anti-Christian forces.)

5. ABOUT THE SAME TIME, A RUSSIAN ARMY WITH SOME “PRUSSIAN” (spell that East German) COUNTERPARTS WILL INVADE FRANCE AND SURROUNDING COUNTRIES. The Russians will invade out of desperation. It will match their historic pattern. Whenever the Russians have gotten hungry or desperate, historically, they have driven South into the Ukrainian Steps, or East into Poland in order to get what they need. This is a six hundred year old pattern. In this prophesied case, they opt to march West, and do not stop at Poland. (My Note: As you know Russia has already entered Syria)

[Not all of this is spelled out in the prophecies – but much of it is.]

Sr. Elena Aiello made the following prophecy in 1959. She was the founder of the order of the “Calabrians”, an Italian order of nuns.

“Russia will march upon all the major nations of Europe.” (TTT p. 392)

Speaking of the same time and events, Fr. Nectou prophesied,

“In a second battle at Frankfurt, the Prussians lost again and retreated as far as Siegburg, where they were joined with a Russian army. The Russians made common cause with the Prussians.” (That most probably means troops from former East Germany) (TTT, p. 347)

THERE ARE DOZENS OF SUCH PROHECIES TO BE FOUND IN TTT. I HAVE GIVEN YOU A FEW SNIPPETS FROM THEM HERE. IN ORDER THAT YOU MAY APPRECIATE JUST HOW MANY APPROVED CATHOLIC PROPHETS HAVE PREDICTED SUCH AN EVENT, READ IN PARTICULAR, CHAPTER 8 OF TTT.

I am filling in the blanks (between the approved prophecies) from 3 sources,

a. My knowledge of history and understanding that it tends to repeat itself,

b. Personal contacts from my younger years, which I have kept alive for the last two decades both on the Hill, and in Europe (both Eastern and Western).

c. Piecing together all of the ‘Intel’ which gets published in many intelligence journals (e.g. British Intelligence Digest). Many things, which would mean nothing to some others, mean much more to someone who has both a Catholic Prophecy roadmap, and contacts in various countries to verify certain items of information, which one reads from time to time.

6. The Russian/Prussian forces are only able to attempt such an invasion due to the fact that what we know as NATO no longer credibly exists due to almost continent-wide general and civil wars which rack Europe for over a year.

Everything is chaos at this point in Europe. Oil pipelines and major refineries and storage depots are gone (if you got em’ and I don’t, I’m going to lose, cause then you will have tanks and planes with fuel, and I won’t). So both sides destroy each other’s petroleum resources and means of storage and distribution. Hence all the Western European oil supply routes are gone by this time.

7. The U.S. has gone into a full-blown civil crisis of its own – thus taking it out of its position to impose “order” in Europe. Russia now has a free “board” to play on in Western Europe. (My Note: Violent and chaotic protests continue to increase across U.S. college campuses, horrendously violent crime and racial tension has dramatically increased across major U.S. cities over the last few years while financial experts across the spectrum warn our entire financial system could soon experience a total collapse. Many sources can be cited. like this story and this one quoting Donald Trump from 2012 when were approaching 16 Trillion in debt … now almost 18 Trillion!)

8. Eventually, at one point through direct Divine intervention, the forces of the French Military leader utterly devastate the Russian/Prussian forces. The decisive battle will take place in Westphalia. Come to my house I’ll show you on a map exactly where the final battle will take place in “the Birch Tree Country”. (Interesting coincidence of name, huh?) That final battle will take place in the hill country East of Paderborn.

9.Late in this scenario (not necessarily in a planned or coordinated manner) the Moslems will attack up through the Balkans. I wrote all of this out in TTT prior to the U.S. handing Kosovo over to fundamentalist Muslim forces on a silver platter. (If you don’t know, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army is radically militant fundamentalist Moslem.)

10. I have in the last years communicated with several U.S. Intelligence community folks who wanted to know where I was getting my ‘intel’. They refused to believe that it was from Catholic prophecy. That’s no exaggeration.

11. You can read many more details in TTT. 

12. None of the members of my old Ukrainian parish laugh at my prognostications any more, after the advance call of the fall of the Soviet Union – six years in advance – based upon the same prophecies presented here.

Desmond Birch