“…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…” (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Grace and peace to you as I begin this writing on the Solemnity of Annunciation, the feast day of Our Lady’s Fiat!

Here are a few of my thoughts on the sudden decision to suspend my Pelianito blog.

Under obedience to my spiritual director, a holy priest who has known me for 10 years and is very familiar with my writings, and out of respect for what was communicated to me about what the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said about my Pelianito blog, I did what I felt was necessary and suspended my blog until such time as, under obedience, I may be able to bring it back online.

I am at peace. My spiritual director has told me before, “Don’t make it happen. Let it happen.” Even if the evil one is behind this, God allowed it, for His glorious triumph. If God wants to defend me he will, and I will wait for that. God may yet decide to bring my blog back online. Whatever happens I must remain docile to the Spirit and detached from the results. So—fiat!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ (Is 6:8)

Back in 1997, when I first began hearing the Lord speaking to my heart, I felt him give me the name Pelianito, which he revealed to me means “sent”. Since 2003, my Pelianito Journal Blog, has been online in one form or another. It started with the messages being “sent” as a weekly mailout and grew from there. For me it was never about how many visitors or views or subscribers there were, but about fulfilling the will of God for my life. For the first few years it was mostly people who knew me personally reading the messages. Eventually, more people found the blog, thanks in no small part to a mention by Mark Mallett, whom I have come to know as a dear spiritual brother and friend. Being a Catholic blogger—especially in the prophetic landscape—has unique challenges. I am glad he was there.

I have also been greatly edified by those who visited or commented on my blog. Many times, when a message would not really speak to anything I was going through, someone would comment that it was exactly what they needed to hear. These were powerful confirmations that it was God’s work, not mine. Others wrote to encourage me at just the right time or to discuss spiritual matters. We were blessed in each other, thanks be to God!

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

But…things change. They always do. I see the hand of God in this change. I find the Holy Spirit often teaches in themes, and the theme of silence has been coming to me from various sources recently, always a reason to take notice. In response, a few months ago, I wrote an article for my Joy of Penance blog, titled Silence, which I invite you to read if you wish. Just recently, someone brought to my attention the book, “The Power of Silence” by African Cardinal Sarah. (Click here to read a review.) And you may remember, a few of my posts over the years have spoken of “a silence and a stillness” coming to the church. Jesus in the tomb.

I keep thinking of Mark’s blog post titled, The Age of Ministries is Ending. Certainly, signs abound these days, such as the recent sudden deaths of Fr. Robert Young and Anthony Mullen, strong voices, men God was using in a powerful way to spread his most urgent messages for our time. And whatever you may think about Charlie Johnston, his love of the Church cannot be doubted. His voice too has been largely silenced. Now this event with my blog has been just as sudden. Could it be that we are being prepared for that deeper silence of Christ in the tomb? Let us take heed and ponder. If we learn our lessons well, we will know how to respond when the time comes. Listen to the voices that are left while you can.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. (Cor 13:8)

I feel as if I have been prepared for this moment. There was a strong theme of surrender in my writings, and you may remember that I posted Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo’s Novena of Surrender to the Will of God. I have prayed the novena numerous times over the years, and for some months now, each morning and evening I repeat 10 times: “Jesus I surrender myself to you, take care of everything. I love you and I thank you with your own Divine Will.” For each repetition, in place of the word “love” I use “adore”, “bless”, “console”, “glorify & honor”, “kiss”, “praise”, “supplicate”, “trust”, or “worship”. I put them in alphabetical order so they are easier to remember and even know which finger belongs to which one. I have often said, “Pray it till you mean it!” I took my own advice on this one and I’m glad I did!

A few years ago, during the night I felt the Lord’s presence and saw an image. It was like multi-colored pieces shifting and overlapping. The image seemed to have no order to it. It was very chaotic and hard to figure out. These words came to me: “Things will happen in rapid succession.” In the image it seemed like things were happening all over the place that were seemingly unconnected, but really, they were all connected in the big picture. Still, I could not make sense of it. Kind of like a living, moving, “crazy quilt”.

Even in the dream, I had the feeling that even though things appeared chaotic to me, even though I could not make sense of them, that God certainly could, that indeed, God’s plan always looks like this to us. We just don’t get it. The good news is that we don’t have to understand. We just have to do what God puts in front of us every day, and trust in him for everything.

A good guess would be that Jesus is taking away all that we cling to so that we can cling only to him, knowing that when we have him we have everything. Like a child’s weaning, at first there is a lot of crying, then we realize that what is happening is right and good and necessary for our spiritual growth. Then let us cling to Jesus with both hands and trust that all shall indeed be well.

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Rev. 8:1)

Silence does not mean inactivity nor acquiescence to the status quo. It means going deeper and becoming a conduit of the Divine Silence, the power of God, which contains all fullness, and holding every word you do speak captive to Christ. While there is little we know for certain about the earthly life of the Blessed Mother, I think we can surmise that she was always deliberate, mindful, and intentional in thought, word, and deed. Let us imitate her. (See also this article On Being Deliberate.)

The world is in great need of conduits of the Divine Power, which can only come through prayer, meditation, Scripture, sacraments, and not least, obedience to proper authority. Think of the contemplatives who, as I have said before, are the ones keeping this planet from spinning out of orbit!

If this silence is indeed a sign of the times, we can be comforted in knowing that God is on the march and is set to put an end to this wicked age. Whatever that entails, let us give God our clear and firm FIAT!

Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything. I love you and I thank you with your own Divine Will. Fiat!

“And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.” ―St. Thomas More

I leave you with the Antiphons for this past Tuesday’s Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours:

Antiphon 1 – Surrender to God, and he will do everything for you. Alleluia.

Antiphon 2 – Turn away from evil and learn to do God’s will’ the Lord will strengthen you if you obey him. Alleluia.

Antiphon 3 – Wait for the Lord to lead, then follow in his way. Alleluia.

Amen. Fiat!

 

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Harmony…

“And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’” (Isaiah 6:5)

By the grace of God, I am involved in music ministry in our parish. I have no voice training, so I am always amazed at people who can harmonize, seemingly without effort. It occurred to me recently that these people, by singing “wrong” are vastly enhancing the beauty of the piece. There is a lesson here for all of us, who even on our best days have only weakness to offer God.

Longing…

Isaiah 60:2-3 For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

In the visions of Ann Catherine Emmerich, detailed in her book The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she described scenes where the ancestors of Mary, as well as St. Joseph, and Mary herself, devoutly, fervently, and unceasingly prayed for the coming of the Messiah. Their desire for the Messiah was never out of their hearts. In fact, those of Mary’s ancestors who longed so fervently for the Messiah, played a role in entreating God to bring forth the Immaculate Conception. The desire of their hearts was a magnet calling the Mother of the Messiah to earth. In turn, the longing of Mary and Joseph was an irresistible call that drew Jesus to earth.

Crosses…

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

We all have crosses. And indeed, as Franciscan penitents, we are exhorted to take the words of Christ to heart and live them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mt. 16:24) Knowing that this is our call and living it, however, are two different matters. How often, when a cross is given to us, do we turn our faces, pray for deliverance, tell the Lord, “Not this cross, Lord. It is much too heavy for me! I will carry a cross, just not this one.” How fickle and frail we are! I was struggling last week with a cross of my own when I felt led to pick up the writings of Luisa Piccarreta. Here is what I read:

It’s not supposed to be this way…

If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

Some 20 years ago when my son was a teen, one of the things we used to do together was watch the TV show, Star Trek: The Next Generation. One episode in particular keeps coming to me these days. In that episode, the Starship Enterprise had gone through a temporal rift that shifted them into an “alternate reality”, a much darker one. Some who were dead in the previous reality now were not dead. Friends were now enemies and enemies were now friends. No seemed aware of the shift, except for the intuitive bartender, Guinan, who somehow knew and kept repeating, “It’s not supposed to be this way.”

Misplaced hope…

Colossians 1: 12-20 Brothers and sisters: Give thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

I have found throughout my life that the Holy Spirit teaches in themes. I love that He does that. We come across something that speaks to us, and then some unrelated source confirms it and the lesson continues through a series of seemingly unrelated experiences. When that happens, I have learned that it is time to pay attention.

Trust in God…

Luke 21:9-19 When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. “Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

The Mass readings in November are somber in tone—dire even. The fact that the month preceding Advent offers Mass readings that are meant to shake us up, is an annual reminder that followers of Christ should guard against getting too comfortable; the Lord, through the Church, is warning us against complacency. We are not meant for this world and so the world will necessarily hate us. I heard a bishop say once that if you’re fitting in quite well with the world, you’re doing it wrong! Those of us striving to live “in the world, but not of it” would do well to check ourselves often. The pull of the world is subtle; before we know it, we can be pulled under! We must remain vigilant!

However, if we only look at the warnings in the November readings we are missing something crucial. Read again the last half of the above Scripture passage. The Lord is promising to be with us in all our trials in a powerful way. He promises wisdom to confound our persecutors; he promises the greatest reward of all for what we suffer in his name—eternal life with him.

The power of detachment…

The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ ⁶The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a^* mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you. (Luke 17:5-6)

If we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we would see miracles. Imagine! What can this mean for us who, like the man in Mark 9:24, can only pray, “Lord I believe! Help my unbelief!”

I often tell people, “Pray, ‘Jesus I trust in you.’ Pray it till you mean it!” What I have discovered is that trust in God is more than a prayer, it is a many-faceted virtue forged in the fire of trials. In my experience, the facets of trust include detachment, humility, surrender, and probably many more, but these are the three I want to expand on in this article.

Pray with confidence…

By faith Sarah herself, though barren, received power to conceive, even when she was too old, because she considered him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11)

It seems to me we are too easily discouraged in prayer. When God does not answer in the way or the time we would prefer, our faith is weakened. We start to wonder if God is really listening. Does he really answer prayers? Then why doesn’t he answer mine?

Let us take the example of Abraham. When Abraham was 75 years old, God promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. But Isaac and Sarah had to wait another 25 years before Isaac was born! Their faith was certainly tested!

Crosses in the Year of Mercy…

…Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

As each day passes I hear of more and more people of faith being asked to carry heavy crosses. I believe this cross-ifying will intensify as the Year of Mercy draws to a close. What is the connection?