A Prophecy for the Church?

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“As some people spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” So, this Gospel begins with the disciples contemplating the magnificent temple, such a powerful, impressive, beautiful center for their religion, for their people. And then Jesus utters these very serious words, and even like when He says, “There will not be stone upon another, that will not be torn down”; some of those stones were massive, many, many tons. They were extremely difficult to put in place, and it would take a lot of work to dislodge them. And so, what is He saying to us today through this gospel? In some ways, it’s like a continuation of last week’s gospel, where Jesus had just come into the temple to cast out the money changers and that’s when He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will rebuild it.” So, Jesus is preparing them for extraordinary times that they will be living, that they are living, they’re just about to live, and they will be living, not in some distant future, but soon. The destruction of the temple took place in about 70 A.D. when the Jews revolted against the Romans, and the Romans responded very violently, and much of Jerusalem, and the temple especially was completely destroyed. So, what Jesus is saying here in about 40 years will take place, less than 40 years. But even sooner than that, He’s preparing them for His death and then for His resurrection, which is now very close. So, He’s preparing them for something which is very hard for them to even wrap their heads around or accept. It’s very shocking, but actually it will lead to a whole new era of God’s grace. And so, what does this have to do with our times, the times that we’re living right now? I think Jesus wants us to be attentive to the signs of the times. And I think if we are attentive, we can see that there’s a lot of signs of extraordinary times. That’s one of the messages the Lord gave to Sister, it said that these are not normal times, these are extraordinary times. Already, I mean, just a few years ago, we had that very strange experience of the covid shut down. That’s one of the signs of these abnormal times that we’re living. So, in a very abnormal time, wouldn’t it be good to have God’s guidance? If very surprising, difficult times are ahead, wouldn’t it be helpful to have God Himself guide us through these times? And I think precisely He wants to do that. But the problem is not that God doesn’t want to give it. The problem is, are we ready to receive it? And so first of all, we need to be listening to God. And so, what do we need to do to be listening to God? I think there’s a couple things. I think, first of all, we need to want to know His will. Because if we don’t want to know God’s will, it doesn’t do any good for us to hear what His will is. So, the first thing is to desire His will, and also then to humbly recognize that to know His will, He has to reveal it. We can’t just figure it out by ourselves. We’re not capable of knowing the mysteries of all -especially in these challenging times, we’re not capable unless He reveals it. So humbly recognize that we need His light. And then also trust; trust that He will reveal His will and make it clear to us in one way or another, because He loves us. Because if we want God’s will, and we know that we need His help to know His will, that’s our part, but then it’s His part to reveal that. So, we have to trust that He’s going to do His part. If we’re doing our part, if we’re trying to know His will, He will reveal it one way or another. And of course, that needs discernment. We need to be prudent and discerning. I’m going to be reading a few passages from a message which we published. The message was from June 13 of 2024, but this is the passage talking about listening to God. He begins talking about how since Adam and Eve, sin has made it difficult for us to listen, to hear God. And so, then He says, “this wound” – so, how can that be restored? Sin has made it difficult for us to hear Him. What can we do to hear Him? And He says, “This wounded communication children can only be healed, restored by faith, childlike faith.” Childlike faith, childlike faith. “By your heart recognizing Me as your loving Father, and this act of humility and adoration and obedience; is hidden the key that opens your ears to My voice, to My will,” – so He is speaking, but we need this key to unlock our ears, which have been blocked by sin. And so, I said that key is faith, a faith which is humble and adoring and obedient. He says, “Come to Me in simplicity and faith as My children and you will learn to recognize My voice among the 1000 voices that surround you and want your attention.” So, the evil one tries to drown out God’s voice by all sorts of other experts and opinions and ideas, and we’re just kind of like, how can I ever choose between all of this? So, there’s 1000s of different ideas, but there’s only one God. And so that’s the discernment, to be able to discern what is God from all these other voices. You know, there’s a lot of – from the time of our Lord, and even before that, there’s always been groups of people who wanted to be the ones who had the secret knowledge. They were the elect, they were the illuminated, they were the chosen who would get the secret knowledge that nobody else could get. And that’s a lot of secret societies that have been the ones who would get the secret knowledge. And Jesus is saying the key is not some secret, hidden away knowledge that’s only revealed to a few. The key is, on the contrary, a simple, childlike faith that opens us to the gospel, to the truth of the gospel. So, it’s not some hidden secrets, like the messages the Lord has given us. He didn’t say, keep those secret – He wanted us to publish them. That’s what got us in trouble, is publishing them. As long as we just kept them, that wasn’t a problem, but when we published them, that’s what got us in trouble. But my point is that to be wary of these groups which say, “Oh, you have to join us and learn the real, the New Age secrets, or the illumination.” No, the Lord is making us open to all. But the key is not some secret knowledge. He says, “It’s childlike faith,” very different and not to be chosen for some secret group, but to have childlike faith. So, how does that apply to this? So, this magnificent temple that they’re contemplating which represented, –  and it’s hard for us to realize what that temple represented for the Jews, because we have a magnificent St Peter’s Basilica, which is most you know, it’s far away from most of us, but it’s magnificent, very impressive, but there was, but there’s also a lot of other churches. Just a lot of other beautiful churches and beautiful basilicas in the Catholic Church, but there was only one temple. The Jews only had one temple, in one place, one temple, Jerusalem, the sacred dwelling of God with His people, where they would come to worship and encounter God and which was where there were the sacred authorities, the chief priest with the scribes. So, this magnificent temple; that the Lord Himself had given to Moses directions about how the temple (the original temple) was to be built, that Solomon built, and then that was destroyed, but then a new temple had been built. But we know now that this magnificent temple, with a lot of corruption – (we just had that passage, as I said, the Gospel last week, of Jesus chasing the money changers)  but that’s a sign of how deep the corruption was in that temple with the chief priest and it was no longer that original lineage that had been usurped. And so, those who should be the ministers of the temple, the chief priest and so forth, the Levites had become obstacles to God. When God Himself came to His temple, He was rejected. And that is really the real cause of what will bring about the destruction of the temple, the rejection of Jesus. And so, what is that saying for us today? Because Jesus said, the new temple is His body. There’s the Temple of His physical body, and there’s His mystical body the Church. And as He said, the problems in the Church is that the external structure, both not just the buildings, but also the whole, all the organization and administration and universities and schools and establishments and so forth, all that remains; but unfortunately, so much of it has been corrupted. And even so much of the positions, the chief positions, have been usurped, so they become obstacles to God’s work. And we know so many people have been scandalized by the Church, by ministers of the Church, unworthy ministers of the Church. And so, this new temple, the Church, needs to be transformed and purified, not a new Church, not a different Church, because there is only one Church. The only true Church is the Church founded on Jesus and His apostles. But so, it’s not a new Church or a different Church, but it is a renewed Church. And so, I want to read some more parts of this, that message. I won’t read the whole thing, but some parts. It says, “These times are full of mystery, of the mystery of My action and of My plan.” So that’s good. It’s not just the hidden plans of evil, but God’s plans. And He says, “Only I can give you the light that you need, and so that you not be deceived.” That’s what Jesus was talking about in the gospel, not being deceived. “My children, I have sent many warnings to you, as my Jesus warned His apostles and disciples before His passion.” So, as then, still today, He is warning us. “And how few have taken them truly to heart, have accepted them as what they are, a sign of My love for you.” How sad it will be for so many when things start to happen, they say, I had no idea, we had no idea, and the Lord had said this so often. “And as the apostles refused to believe and accept that their master could be put to death; so too, how now, how many refuse to accept what is happening now to the Church, the Mystical Body of My son, of My Jesus.” So, notice that these messages are not condemning the Church. They are saying that the Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus. So, not a rejection of the Church, but precisely because it is the Mystical Body of Jesus, it has to follow Him. So, we’re not rejecting the Church, we’re proclaiming the fullness of its divine mystery. “The Church,” He says, “will follow My Jesus in His passion. Do not forget this. And just as My Jesus was abandoned and betrayed and was handed over to the power of the enemy, the destroyer, in order to redeem you by accepting such a humiliating death, so too the Church is being abandoned, betrayed, and will soon be handed over to the power of the Antichrist. It will be decimated and will be put to death. The powers of darkness will rejoice and dance, and in their gluttonous pride, they will forget that I am God. And I say to you, My children, their victory will be as fleeting as mist before the roaring fire of My power.” And then He speaks of the usurper, and then He says, “I your God, your Father, say to you, be on guard, for the betrayer is preparing the great betrayal and masking it under the appearance of good.” It wouldn’t be deceptive if it was obviously evil. It has to appear good. “My children, you do not fully understand the trial that is upon you, as the apostles and disciples did not understand how they would be put to the test and how easily they would be deceived. My children, what you see now, the confusion and deceit that is more and more apparent is only the beginning of the great deception that will soon be unveiled. My children, I am preparing you for that battle, a battle so fierce that without My grace and without My formation in faith, you cannot withstand. And this is why I have reserved an ocean of grace for these hours.” An ocean of grace that is an outpouring of grace like never before. “That is why I come to prepare you, and why I insist on your silence, on your faith, on your trust, on your abandonment to My will.” So that’s beautiful what He’s saying there. He said, that is why I’m coming to prepare you. He’s preparing us. If we’re open to His guidance, we’re receiving that preparation that He is giving. “Because this is the armor you need, the protection you must have in order not to be deceived. Do not be afraid. Be alert. Be on guard.” And so, just as Jesus was preparing His apostles for the destruction of the temple, and even before that, the destruction of His own body and His death, but which would prepare His resurrection, just like the destruction of the temple would give way to the great growth of His Church; so He is speaking to us today. So, I’ll conclude by one more passage. “The unfailing weapon to fight and defeat any attack from the enemy is your childlike faith. Do not be deceived, My little ones, into thinking that your plans, your ideas, your thinking, can defeat the works of darkness. For if you persist in this lie, the enemy already has a foothold in you. He has already scored a victory against you, making you think that you can solve the problem, that you can fix the situation. Pride has already entered in. The cooperation I require from My children is different in each age of salvation history, all according to what is needed in My plan for the good of My little ones. Today children in this hour, what I require from you is that you believe Me, that you listen not to your own ideas, but to mine, now.” And that’s such a problem. It’s so simple what He’s saying, but it’s such a problem even for so many good Catholics. They have a lot of good ideas, but I think they’re not open to hearing what the Lord Himself wants to say to us, because only God knows the mystery of these times. So, one final part, “I am the head. I am the foundation. I am the truth. I am the authority and the power that is over all and rules all. Do not forget this. My children be at peace. Trust me, trust your Father, who loves you.” Amen.

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Luke 21:5-19