Preparing your urban home as a Hearth of Mercy ?
Preparing your remote property as a Refuge of Mercy ?
Very much in the manner of a human heart, the Hearths and Refuges of Mercy should be conceived as having four distinct quadrants, chambers or areas focusing on specific activities/tasks and spirituality.
How do I know if my home in the city is meant to be a Hearth of Mercy? How do I know if my property in the countryside is meant to be a Refuge of Mercy ? The Lord has graciously placed this Vocation upon countless souls and families all over the world for the past decade. In some cases, even longer ago. When will we go to these places ? How will we know where to find them ? First of all, we must recall that is a question of stages during the Passover Birthing process. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our Holy Guardian Angels, and prayerful discernment, souls will know what is their Way of Action. Just as all women in labor do not head to the hospital immediately after their “waters break”, not all souls will evacuate the cities immediately after the global market economy crashes. Many will be called to witness and assist others within the urban environment (Hearths of Mercy). Yet like most all women in labor of our times, there does come a time when they must head to the hospital (Refuges of Mercy) for “delivery” of their new baby. So it will be for the Children of God during the “tribulation” of the Universal Birthing Passover. We must remain in the Divine Will at all times, trusting that God’s Providence, Grace and Mercy has a very specific plan prepared for each and every one of us during these great Times !
After the Fall of Babylon (ie. complete global market economy collapse) , perhaps many souls will have arrived at your home in the urban environment , beginning soon after the “waters have broken” and “active labor” has begun for our World and our Church. At first, people will rally at homes where they know servants of God are present, meaning neighborhood residences that already have a clear reputation of familiar and familial welcome and service to others. In other cases, where individual homes are not available, such as city centers where only high-rise buildings exist, people will be drawn to public park areas by day and to church grounds by night as gathering points. As the consequences of global market collapse and societal distress increase day by day in a dramatic manner, people will begin to look for help, for food, for advice and for fellowship. One of the most important responses to intense trauma is the need to talk, to share and to listen to Words of Wisdom. The only True charisma of leadership is that which comes under the guidance and anointing of the Holy Spirit, just as Christ explained to Pilate. Simultaneously, there will be a movement of souls towards a “false light” of New Age, exalted Humanistic Solidarity. Let us call them Rainbow Children, truly in mockery of the Covenant Sign of the Rainbow found in Genesis. Many people will turn to federal or local government emergency management agencies at the beginning, such as FEMA sites. Very quickly however, it will be clear that they cannot manage the scale of distress the population is facing. Yet others will seek only to protect and serve themselves, defending material goods even unto death. Let us call them Preppers, whose equally humanistic, Mercenary Spirit is not of Christ, either. And lastly, for those who follow the Light of Christ, their homes will be places of service and active signs of both Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Let us call them Children of God. By the Mercy and Grace of God that is the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the assistance of our Holy Guardian Angels, souls will “know” which homes are indeed safe havens and Hearths of Divine Mercy. They will be known by their Charity, and by the Faith and the Hope that exudes from them. Many souls will be drawn to these urban Hearths of Mercy, and God will bless those who go there in Peace and Good Will with great miracles and prodigies of healing, of multiplication of provisions, of comfort, compassion and solace, of conversion and repentance. It is essential for these homes to have present the Word of God, as well as having available all the Sacramentals possible, as Signs of the abiding Presence of Christ :
blessed water, candles, salt, oil, scapulars, images, medals, crucifixes, rosaries, and the like…
To remain in, to abide in means to live, to reside, to make one’s abode within… a home or a heart. We read in Scripture that from the moment forward at the Foot of the Cross, Saint John took Our Lady “into his home”. She became an abiding presence under his “roof”. Home is where the heart is! The notion of “abiding” is absolutely essential to the understanding of the Spirituality of Saint John, most especially as we read the Priestly Discourse of John chapter 17. The central activities of the Hearth or Refuge of Mercy will be to assist souls in becoming/living John 17 to the fullest. So let us begin with a brief presentation of the Five Abodes during the Storm of Contractions.
The Lord has graciously given us FIVE ABODES :
- His Face
- His Name
- His Word
- His Light
- His Truth
For each of these 5 abodes we receive the graces to REMAIN IN HIM, His request in John 17.
- There is an entire Theology of the FACE of God in Scripture. “May God arise ! May His enemies be scattered. May those who hate Him flee from before HIS FACE !” Indeed… All over the Psalms. Isaiah. Moses in the Tent and on Sinai. The Blessing of Numbers chapter 6 , just to name several .To be very brief, let me just say that the Lord has allowed icons to be made over the centuries, confirming their valid “symbolic” importance in His gesture of the Vera Icona, (Veil of Veronica) known as the Veil of Manopello. He gave us His Face upon the Shroud. He has given us many images of His Face , not the least being the Icon of Divine Mercy ! We should recall all the was given to the Holy Man of Tours, Leon Dupont, concerning the Face of Jesus. The Lord wishes ardently for us to gaze upon His Eucharistic Face during Perpetual Adoration and upon any one of the icons or images we have in the Church. Why did satan so vehemently attack “icons” at the time of the Schism ? It is obvious : because they contain tremendous graces of UNITY : in venerating His Image we imprint the Face of the Lord upon our own visage. Why is the devil inspiring poor Muslim women to totally cover their faces in certain sects of Islam ? Because God is in the human face and He has made us in His Own Image. The face is the essence of this… it is upon the Face of God that the angels of little children look PERPETUALLY, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Children are in UNITY with the Trinity through the ministering of the Holy Angels who transmit the graces coming from God’s Glorious FACE… reflected upon the faces of little children.
2. There is an entire Theology of the NAME in Scripture. Jesus repeats this message strongly in John 17. Jesus means God Saves. The Name is the Mission. The name expresses the Essence. The earliest Holy Monks of the Desert learned the Jesus Prayer, in order to make prayer a PERPETUAL interior activity because they understood that THE battleground against satan is first and foremost inside the human mind. And so they understood how they must sanctify the mind : hold all thoughts captive to Christ, by constantly and perpetually repeating His Name interiorly. Pray constantly says Saint Paul : say His Name over and over… and over again. It will become second nature. Like breathing… His Name is above all names! Ask anything in His Name and the Father will grant it! Before His name all knees shall bend! Even demons. Especially demons. They cannot remain in the presence of His Name. Holy is His Name. And Holy is the Jesus Prayer. It was given to the Church for a reason : to fill our thoughts and UNITE them perpetually to God. Reading John 17 from this perspective is positively enlightening ! We are to remain or abide in His Name at all times, even when we sleep. Our Angels will gladly do this for us… guarding, protecting and filling our minds with the Name of Jesus, Holy is His Name.
(In contrast, we might also look at the Biblical history of the many examples concerning the opposite of naming, which is the act of “numbering” of God’s People as a sign of punishment in the Covenant. Every time a leader orders the Census or counting of the people, it is in fact a diabolical sign. Numbering is the opposite of naming in Scripture. That is why satan is in fact the Endless Number that can never be the Perfect Covenant Sign of Seven : He is the Perpetual Six…666 ! )
3. Remain in His WORD. God’s Word is alive . God’s Word does what it says. Thoughts are made flesh, incarnate, by using words. Hebrews chapter 4 tells us a lot of essential information about the sheer and awesome power of God’s Word. His Word is in Scripture, but He also sends out His Words constantly to souls everywhere !!! God’s Creative Power is unleashed by Logos, the Word. These Words are in fact His Will Incarnate: God’s Thoughts are made flesh by His Words ! They come to each and every living soul in the form of gentle inner motions of the Holy Spirit, in the form of Words of Knowledge and Wisdom and Understanding… the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that bring us to unity and conformity with the Divine Will : my food is to do the Father’s Will. Your Word is Truth. Consecrate us in the Truth . Your Word is Life. God’s Word does what it says. Many are the ministers of God who use His Word during exorcism and deliverance in addition to the prayers of the Ritual. Many are those who have witnessed miracles of healing and prodigies of great grace by simply PROCLAIMING HIS WORD, out loud . When Saint Peter preached God’s Word, thousands were converted. These are the Graces of KERYGMA : or the preaching and proclaiming out loud of the WORD. We are to remain in His Word daily. Reading Scripture, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. The Lord wishes for us to ABIDE in His Word, before His Eucharistic Face…to adore Him in both ways : in Spirit (the Blessed Sacrament) and in Truth (the Scriptures) . It is not by chance that Scripture was committed to memory, especially the Psalms. It would be an excellent habit to commit to memory and learn by heart one or more of the Psalms, in order to proclaim them in times of trouble, just like Our Lord did so often ( as did Jonah in the belly of the great fish ) !
4. Remain in His LIGHT. Saint John tells us so much about the relationship between Light and Fellowship, Kenoinia. Both in His Gospel and in his First Epistle, we can read about remaining in the Light of God and that when we are in Communion with one another, it produces Light ! When we are in Communion with God, we are standing before His Glory, which is Absolute Radiant Light itself !! Jesus is the Light of the World. Jesus explains in the Gospel of Saint John why some people cannot stand being in the Light when their actions are not holy or godly but rooted in darkness. The word for Glory in Hebrew is the same as “weight”, meaning something that is soooooo dense that it becomes heavy. Glory is therefore a condensed and compact gathering of Light that is unfathomably intense because it is so perfectly united. That is where the Blessed Trinity abides. And when we stand in this Light , then we are standing before the Throne of God. The Light also makes us CHILDREN of God : it is what connects us, makes us FILIA or attached to Him : It is the rays of Light ! Our Lady of the Miraculous medal made it visible for all the world to see : the flowing GRACES that look like rays of Light. The Glory Cloud in Scripture is called Shekinah . And there is the Pillar of Fire. In the Song of Songs we read about Our Lady, who is resplendent with Light. This is how she appears in the Apocalypse : in radiant light. This is how she appeared to Saint Juan Diego : Our Lady clothed in the Sun. She is also prefigured in the Book of Wisdom, at the end of Chapter 7 in that amazing passage about Light ! All over the place we see the Light produces UNITY. When we remain in the Light we remain in Unity, in fellowship with God and with each other. Unity is the fruit of abiding in the Glory of the Blessed Trinity. That is something powerful for us to contemplate. Truly, that is why Our Lord gave that prayer in John 17, as keys for us to access this place of Glory, Unity and Light…
5. Remain in His TRUTH. To remain in the Truth is to WITNESS (testify) by our being and our actions. We stand in the Truth by who we are and how we live. Saint John tells us about the Truth in chapter 3 of His Gospel and how we are to witness to the Truth by Righteous Acts. To be Just. Like saint Joseph. To do the right thing. Take the right step. Say the right words. The Righteous are not afraid because they stand in the Truth with childlike confidence that they are doing the Father’s Will, putting it into action. Thoughts are made incarnate by Words. Words are made incarnate by Actions. This is the flow of Righteousness for those living in Union with the Divine Will . They are standing in the Truth. The “fruit” is freedom, peace, joy and yes, unity. Evil works seek to remain hidden in darkness. It is a place of shame. Jesus summarizes the whole relationship between doing the works of the Father. He says that all witness and all glory comes from the Father in Heaven who sent Him, as He speaks to the Pharisees in Saint John chapter 5 . And then in John 18 , he tells Pilate that the Father sent Him to earth for one thing and one thing only : to WITNESS TO THE TRUTH ! How many sentences uttered by Jesus began precisely with these words : TRULY. TRULY I SAY TO YOU… In Truth. All True Glory comes from God Alone. Jesus wants us to Remain and Abide in the Truth as we GIVE WITNESS TO GOD in our actions, every minute of every day. Especially as things get darker and darker around us, we must remember that Jesus asked the Father for the GRACES for us to REMAIN IN THE WORLD AND WITNESS TO THE TRUTH, just like He did…AMEN.
In conclusion, let us review once again THE FIVE ABODES IN THE STORM: The Name of Jesus, The Face of Jesus, The Word of God, The Light of Fellowship and The Truth of Righteous Acts.
There is much, much more that could be said about each of the Five Abodes from the Deposit of Faith, both in Scripture and in Church Tradition. You will note that they are ALL independent of the 7 Sacraments. WHY ? Because God in His Merciful Providence has made it clear that we, the Church, will undergo a time of Absence or Silence during the Contractions of the Global Hurricane (i.e.. Birthing Passover) . There WILL come a time when it is very difficult for the People of God to have regular access to the Sacramental Life of the Church, and the Church will be forced to survive literally “underground”, meaning “hidden” in Christian families, just as it has occurred many times in our History. As such, we must learn how to REMAIN IN HIM even when the Church appears to have gone totally into hiding, appearing to be invisible and silent. We even read in Scripture (Daniel and Revelation) that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be momentarily abolished, for a time… for a time… Indeed, it is God’s Perfect Providence, just like the First Church was a Domestic Church, hidden from view. This is God’s Pattern and Model, starting first in Genesis, at Zoar… the cave is likened to a tomb. We have come to erroneously consider the tomb as a terrible sign of death, when in fact it is quite the quintessential sign of New Life ! Beginning with Saint Anthony of the Desert, the earliest monks would even build themselves a tomb and spend extended times inside, praying and fasting in the darkness. They understood how necessary it was to be “born again from above” in the womb of those special cave-tombs! So it must be for us, the Mystical Body of Christ, to follow in the Way of the Master, Our Glorious Head, who precedes us in both new life and resurrection.
Now, let us return to the Hearths and Refuges of Mercy. We have seen the 5 Abodes that should be spiritually central to every Hearth or Refuge. But practically speaking, how best should they be organized or logistically structured ? Indeed, looking more closely at the Four Chambers of Mercy, they will take form in both the Hearths and the Refuges as time progresses during the Contractions of the Storm, and even more so during the Funnel of Truth, that is the Birth Canal or Passage.
These are four distinct places or rooms/buildings, each with a particular theme:
FIRST, is the Chamber of the Holy Spirit. It is a Cenacle room where there is Praise, Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, as well as prayer groups trained in Deliverance and Healing ministries. Souls will pass through this chamber in order to receive prayers of powerful liberation, healing or anointing in the Spirit, especially the newly Baptized. It is a place of Kenosis or emptying of the Spirit of the World, as souls first arrive at the urban Hearths or remote Refuges of Mercy. It will also be the place of Confirmation, as we return to the ways of the early Church found in the Acts of the Apostles, a tradition of proximity and continuity between the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, as still practiced by our brethren in the Eastern Lung of the Church. We must be readied to receive the Pleroma or fullness of infused Knowledge that comes from the Flame of Trinitarian Love, which is Perfect Truth and Charity.
SECOND, is the Chamber of the Heavenly Father. It is a place of God’s Word and of Catechesis. It is the chamber in which the Heavenly Father fills His Children to the brim with the Grace of Faith. And it is also the site of instruction in the Eternal Spirituality of the Father, the Covenant of Love. Through study of the Old Testament, through the model and treasure of faith concerning our Foster Father Saint Joseph, and perhaps even through the revelations given to the Church by souls such as Mother Eugenia Ravasio, those who pass through the Chamber of the Father will come to know and understand the meaning of Paternity. Many will experience the love of the Father for the first time ever, such has been the ravaging devastation caused by satan all over the world in order to destroy human understanding of Fatherhood. Here, it will be fully restored by the Grace of God the Father in Heaven…
THIRD, is the Chamber of the Son . It is a place reserved for the Priesthood, and the foundations of the Sacramental Life of the Church. It will in fact be the Chapel, whether it is in an urban home or on a remote property. Here, the Priest will come into the fullness of focus upon his true ministry and vocation, alternately hearing Confessions and celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is also a place where souls will learn about Eucharistic spirituality and Reparation, according to the perfect model of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as it has always been transmitted in the Tradition of the Church. Priestly formation, Perpetual Prayer of the Heart, as well as a mystagogical formation of the Liturgy and the Gospel of Saint John will be given here. It will be a place where long-suffering priests can finally witness to the proper balance between “the head” (ratio) and “the heart” (fides), which is the full and perfect expression of their priestly “voice”, as Christ intended for them. (For it is in hearing and echoing the Voice of the Bridegroom that they will know Joy as never before…) Indeed, it will be a chamber of Restoration and of great Hope in the beauty of the Priesthood.
FOURTH, is the Maternal Chamber of the Mother, who is the Blessed Mary Most Holy , She who was expressly given to the Church as “Mother” by Christ during His Passion.
Here will be the site of the School of Mary, especially as revealed through the many extraordinary Marian Saints of the Church. It is a place where souls will learn about the spirituality of service and consecration, of obedience, of humility and of purity. It will be a place of learning the gestures of Maternal Faith, Hope and Love expressed most perfectly through Our Mother, Mary. It will be a classroom and a kitchen, learning about the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Truly, it will be like a beating heart of compassion and a hearth of Mercy, where souls can come for instruction, for food, for warmth, for help, for advice and for rest…in order to be restored physically, morally and spiritually during the Contractions and the Funnel of Truth. And lastly, like the Eucharistic Presence emitting a beacon of Light for all to see, Our Lady’s Chamber will be a place of prayer, where a Perpetual Rosary is being recited, night and day.
The “center and heart” of these four “chambers” of Mercy will Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, where possible. Whether it is in an urban home where a priest remains in hiding, or whether it is at a remote property where a community of religious is perhaps present, Our Eucharistic Lord will be adored perpetually day and night. His Presence will be the only Light during these great times of Darkness in the World, as the Mystical Body of Christ experiences the ever-increasing Contractions of Labor and the great suffering in love of the Passover Birth Canal. The Two Arks that will indeed border, protect, lead, guide and guard the People of God during this entire process will be Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist and the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Their Two Hearts will become the center of our focus and yearning, and the source of our sustenance. Indeed there will be Famine and Darkness in the World, but the underground Church will be sustained and blessed all along the painful Way of Truth until the coming of the New World and the Resurrected Church.
And lastly, it is especially important for those preparing Hearths or Refuges of Mercy to take into consideration the broad range of both spiritual and temporal needs of those who will come seeking help. That many such needs will be punctual, and yet others will be needed on a repeated, or regular basis, such as meals, lodging, schooling and hygiene. Trusting in God’s Infinite Mercy, Wisdom, Providence and Grace, we can be certain that those who have been called to this vocation of special service to the People of God during the Passover Birth of the Mystical Body of Christ have received full understanding according to need, as they felt called and prepared over the years and months. Moreover, Our Perfectly Merciful Creator will see to it that every Charisma, Gift and Fruit of the Holy Spirit is present at the Hearths and Refuges of Mercy. He will be the Glory in Our Midst, just as He was for the wandering Tribes of Israel or for the First Apostles of the Church.
There are several final question no doubt remaining in many hearts and minds concerning these intensely “stormy”Passover Birthing Times :
How will the Lord protect His Children during His Visitations, that “open” and “close” our Passage through the Funnel of Truth ( see: White Star//Red Star) ? How will He protect us from danger during the actual passage of the Birth Canal, when the threats of the Antichrist are most ominously looming? What indeed is Tribulation and what is Rapture ? How did the understanding of the Church become so confused, causing such exegetical division within the Body of Christ ? We find an essential answer to those questions upon looking at the important Eschatological passages of Luke 17 : 22- 37 and Matthew 24: 15-28. Indeed, there is a very curious paradox of a double translation taken from the Greek Lexicon , depending upon what Bible a person consults. Jesus words seem mysterious to the reader even in the context of the Coming of the Day of the Son of Man or Tribulation (Sun of Justice//The Red Star) , as the passages are translated as : “Where the corpse is, so the vultures will gather” OR : “Where the body is, so the eagles will gather”.
Tribulation refers to the time of Universal Contractions, the Labor Pains that will increase incrementally all over the globe in the wake of the Fall of Babylon, the Great Harlot. As we have seen all throughout these writings, contractions grow until the baby arrives at the birth canal itself, the Funnel of Truth. The final “push” to deliver the New Life is called Deliverance or Expulsion. In Scripture, in corresponds to the Day of the Son of Man, found in Luke 17 or Matthew 24. It is NOT the end of the world as we know it, but the end of our enslavement under the Spirit of the World. It is the Hour of Justice of the Son, giving birth to His Eucharistic Kingdom on earth. This extended time is meant to prepare the Remnant (during 1000 years) for the Final Battle, the Hour of Justice of the Father, that will cause the Heavenly Jerusalem to descend upon the earth. Only then will God’s Plan be fully complete for the Restoration of God’s Creation. Again, what we are about to experience (The Fourth Chalice) is “only” the First Fruits of what is to come in the distant future. The Heavenly Father says in the Song of the Sword (Zechariah 13) that 2/3 of Humanity will perish in this Universal Passover process, with the 1/3 remaining being purified and made holy before the Lord.
The coming of the Son of Justice is likened to a Harvest of the Angels. It is indeed a question of “rapture”. So, who is being “removed” , “raptured” or “harvested”, the good or the evil ones? How or in what degree or manner are they being removed? Throughout Scripture, “removal” is the principal activity of birds of prey ( both literally and spiritually, meaning angels) . The species of birds are called raptors, hence the word to be taken up or rapt or raptured. Birds of prey (another interesting play on words : birds of “pray”) hunt and feed on other animals. The term “raptor” is derived from the Latin word, rapere. These birds are characterized by keen vision that allows them to detect prey during flight and have powerful talons and beaks. It is interesting to note that the symbol of Saint John the Beloved Evangelist is also … an eagle, which is a bird of prey (pray) . “Rapture”, however, is the confusion (let us not say the heresy but rather the confusion of our Separated Brethren) of these two meanings. As is often the case in exegesis, there is confusion on whether we are speaking in temporal (literal) or spiritual terms. There is also confusion over degrees. Often people believe we must choose one or the other interpretation, when in fact the FULLNESS is BOTH ! (see: Vatican II documents on Interpreting Holy Scripture) So it is not a matter of either // or , but rather BOTH are true . But… How ?
Those souls gathered in the Eucharistic Presence of His True Body during the “tribulation” will experience a prayer known to the Catholic Mystical Tradition as ek-stasis, leaving onself, or the prayer of ecstatic union. The Saints appear to literally be removed from their bodies during such intense unitive prayer, “flying up” in contemplation like great eagles, before the Throne of God in Heaven. Thus, where the BODY (of Christ, in the Eucharist) is, so will be found the EAGLES (Souls literally “rapt” in contemplation) . Saint John is the model for such mystical flight in prayer, and his writings bear the fruit of his frequent flights . Many are the Saints in the Church Tradition who have spoken, witnessed or written of these extraordinary experiences. God surely desires for them to be “universal” and “extraordinarily ordinary”, to become an essential part of our prayer lives during both the Contractions of Tribulation and the Funnel of Truth, which is the mystical Birth Canal. But most of all, the Lord desires for Mary’s Children to participate in Revelation chapter 12: 14, in which we read that Our Mother is taken out into the Desert on Eagles Wings, where a special place has been prepared for her. There, she and her child will be protected during Tribulation. We know that eagles seek living “prey”…
Now, on the other hand, we also read that where there are corpses (cadavres), there will be vultures. This translation refers to those souls who during the three phases of the birthing Passover of the Mystical Body of Christ have denied Christ, His True Presence and the Fellowship of the Church. Instead of Life, they will sow and reap Death, becoming the lifeless prey of choice of vultures. In God’s Providence all through Scripture we read how He graciously sends birds of prey, vultures, to retrieve the lifeless bodies of those who have fallen into sin and death. So it will be in our Times. Only we must pray, implore and intercede now for the MERCY OF GOD to come even to those who should perish (temporally) suddenly, violently or unpreparedly…. that just because it says in Scripture that 2/3 of Humanity will perish during the Passover Tribulation, we must Trust in His Mercy that they have at least been removed to the Fires of Purgatory and not to the definitive Flames of Damnation in Hell. Amen ? AMEN !
JESUS KING OF LOVE, WE TRUST IN YOUR MERCIFUL GOODNESS !
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