The following are words given by participants at the streamed meeting. 1 Corinthians 14:29 says that "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others weigh carefully what is said." 1 Thess 5:19-21 tells us not to despise prophecies, but to test everything and retain what is good.
Scripture Reading at beginning of meeting Ezekiel 2:8 - 3:2 - "Mortal man, listen to what I tell you. Don't be rebellious like them. Open your mouth and eat what I am going to give you." I saw a hand reaching out toward me, and it was holding a scroll. The hand unrolled the scroll, and I saw that there was writing on both sides - cries of grief were written there, and wails and groans. God said, "Mortal man, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel." I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said, "Mortal man, eat this scroll that I give you; fill your stomach with it." I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey.
Scripture Reading Isaiah 45:18-19 - For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it in chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, "Seek me in chaos." I the Lord speak the truth, I declare what is right.
Scripture Reading John 6:32-35 - Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." Then they said to him, "Lord, always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.
Scripture Reading Isaiah 61:1-3 - The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord, and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn; to place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, to give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. They will be called oaks of justice, planted by the Lord to show his glory."
Scripture Reading Matthew 10:16-20 - What I'm doing is sending you out like sheep among wolves. You must be clever as snakes and innocent as doves. Be on your guard with respect to others. They will hail you into court. They will flog you in their synagogue. You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings to give witness before them, before the Gentiles, on my account. When they hand you over, do not worry about what you will say or how you will say it. When the hour comes, you will be given what to say. You, yourselves, will not be the speaker. The Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.
Scripture Reading John 1:1-5 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in God's presence, and the Word was God. He was present to God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, and apart from him nothing came to be. Whatever came to be in him found life, life for the light of men; the light shines on in darkness, and darkness did not overcome it.
1) Prophecy - "My children, my word is the truth, my word is life. It speaks and it comes to be. With my word comes freedom, with my word comes truth. And that truth becomes alive, is real, and has the ability to transform, to empower and to heal. My people, many do not believe that I exist because they cannot see me. But I have given you a gift, a gift of myself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; through my word, as well as through the sacrifice of self and the resurrection that comes with the sacrifice. I spoke and it came to be and whenever the priest speaks the word that I spoke, it comes to be. It becomes life itself. This is the truth, that I want my people, all my children, to come to know the truth. So my children, I'm asking you tonight, not only to open your minds and your hearts to this truth, but I'm asking you to put an act of faith into it, to trust, to believe, even when trust is not there, even when doubt is there because it is I who created the world, it is I who created you and it is I who would bring about deliverance to my people."
2) Prophecy - "My children, my heart is bleeding for the wicked of this world. I want no one to perish. Pray, my children, pray for your enemy because you are saved but they are not. I love everyone for I am the God of love. Pray and forgive all."
Scripture Readings - Mark 11:25: And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Ephesians 1:7-8: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
3) Prophecy - "My little ones, I love you with a never-ending love and i know that you love me as well. I'm asking you, my little ones, to spend more time with me. Come and listen to the silence. Come and allow me to speak to your hearts. Do not look this way or that way. Sit with me and listen. I wish to speak to you. I wish to direct you in the way you are to go. You, all, have many gifts. I want you to use them in the way I direct. Be open and receive more of my Spirit. Be with me, you and me, alone. Listen to me."
Confirmation of Second Prophecy - I would like to confirm the words in the second prophecy. I've just been reading a little pamphlet, excerpts from what Our Lady has been telling a Hungarian woman and it's almost word for word of what was said.
Scripture Reading Psalm 1:1-2 - How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked and does not take a stand in the path that the sinners tread, nor a seat in the company with cynics, but who delights in the law of Yahweh and murmurs his law day and night.
Fr. John Riccardo said that what God wants to do right now is shine a very piercing light on all of us. Fr. Riccardo also thinks that God wants to bring clarity to three things: clarity to the times we are living in, clarity to the mission that God's giving to us, clarity to the urgency of these days that we are living in.
We're not alive now by chance. He destined us to be alive in this time of history. St. Joan of Arc said, "I'm not afraid. God is with me. I was born for this." This is true for each one of us. God has equipped each one of us with natural and supernatural gifts for this moment, and no one else can play the role that each one of us has been tasked with. Fr. Riccardo often thinks that God is creating this massive beautiful spectacular mosaic and each one of us is a tile in this mosaic.
What is so special in this time that we're living in? Sociologists say that the life expectancy in the U.S. is going down because of what they call "deaths of despair": 1) the suicide rate is going up, 2) opioid crisis, 3) increase of cirrhosis of the liver. Suicide rate in children 10 to 14 years of age is the second leading cause of death. The U.S. is 5% of the world's population, 80% of the world's opioid. Cirrhosis of the liver is up 65% since 1999, especially in the ages of 25 to 34. The world in which we are living right now is crying.
Jesus institutes the church to be the means by which the cry of the world would get answered. People are supposed to get to know the Father's love, come to experience, because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, their own identity as the Father's beloved sons and daughters, be transformed, re-created by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here's the problem. The church is crying too. The sex scandal has hurt the church. Some are considering leaving the church because of this. But Fr. said that parish ministry impacted his daily life more; he lived going from thing to thing to thing. He thought he was in PTSD. This is the root crisis of the real problem in the church in Fr's mind. Most pastors that he has come across agree. God's calling us to do something different.
Jesus is not just kind. Jesus is more than that. He is absolutely and utterly unconquerable! When St. Paul writes Jesus is Lord, those are fighting words to whom he is writing. Col 2:15 - God has stripped, disarmed, disrobed the principalities and powers: the power of sin, death, hell and Satan himself. Jesus has triumphed over them by his cross. We are supposed to operate out of confidence, faith and trust in the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus is Lord not just of heaven but of earth, and the world and the church is firmly in his hand. He's the one who is calling us to do the work of ministry and mission which is uniquely ours.
Stop complaining! Jesus is Lord. Live like it, pray like it, talk like it, think like it. Let's live this way as his disciples. Ask the Lord to give us confidence in him, confidence in his Lordship. He is not far away.
What's the task, mission, that God's entrusted to us, individually and as the church as a whole? What's the message of Easter? C.S. Lewis: "The Gospel is the message of how the rightful King (Jesus) has landed in the skies and until he returns in glory to put all things right, you and I are supposed to be agents of sabotage." The weapons we're supposed to use are truth, goodness, beauty, love and reconciliation.
The Lord is asking us to rescue, to free, to liberate structures, systems, individuals which are in the hands of the enemy who he, Jesus, has bound. Rescued people rescue people. N. T. Wright: "You and I are supposed to be earnest about the work of re-creation." What happened on Easter was that God began the work of re-creating this world which he made, which he loves beyond all telling, so much so that his Son became flesh so as to go to the cross, so as to deliver us, and to rise from the dead, so as to conquer the powers of sin and death. Our work is to continue this work of re-creation. We can build for the kingdom.
Matthew 5:14-16 - "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it underneath a basket. They put it on a lampstand which shines for everyone in the house." Jesus is saying, "I have not lit you on fire so that you would hide it. I lit you on fire so that I would shine, the Father would shine through you." Our mission is to shine wherever we go in our words and our actions.
Corporate mission: city on a hill is safe and when it is lit up, it can be seen from afar. People knew where to go to find safety, security, provision, love. That is what the church is supposed to be.
This era is an urgent era which urgently needs the work that God wants to do through us, individually and as the body, the church. The problem is the heart. Only God can fix the human heart and he does it through us. The people in the streets are waiting for us to do something, to show a credible, compelling witness and the difference that God and God alone can make. Share what Jesus has done in our own lives. Be agents of re-creation in all the spheres we have.
"Lord give me the wisdom to see what must be done and the courage to do it."
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