A YEAR ago, August 2019, Radio Maria interviewed Medjugorje visionary Marija. What she disclosed was revealing, hinting of "new times" coming, apparently a period to be preceded by tribulations but culminating in the answer to our 2,000-year-old petition to the Father, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
In the interview, Marija quoted the Blessed Mother as having told her:
"Dear children! I thank God for each of you. In a special way, children, thank you for having responded to my call. I prepare you for new times so that you may be steadfast in faith and persevering in prayer, so that the Holy Spirit may work through you and renew the face of the earth. I pray with you for peace, the most precious gift, even if Satan wants war and hatred. You children, hold my hands out and walk proudly with God. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Unlike before when some individuals proclaimed the end of the world in spotty times and places but died to see the earth still turning normally, our days now see people from all continents and islands, of every religious group, of every race, all saying the world is on the fringes of something apocalyptical. Something is afoot and it must be that God Himself is reaching out. We must listen.
Always, God announces before He allows great chastisements, as He did before Noah's flood, as He did through the Blessed Mother before wars, or genocides such as that which happened in Rwanda, as He did through mystic Maria Esperanza before the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers.
And as never before, God, through His saints and mystics, has been sending us warnings amid unprecedented rebellion against Him. The warnings, such as those from Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Garabandal, Akita speak of strikingly similar details. It's not the end of the world, though, but the end of the world "as we know it." And this is a lot to say about the gravity of what's pending.
Prophecies also contain the lament that even in these times when the trumpets of the apocalypse is sounding off from Heaven, nay, despite Covid-19, many will go on as usual, keeping the hope for a return to the "normal": the daily pursuit of material goods, fame, power, leisure, pleasure.
So the time of tribulation seems to be with us now, before the Father's kingdom settles on earth where everyone will do the will of the Father.
With an abundance of prophecies of tribulations already in our times, there is always the question of when and how long. While the more important aspect is for us to convert towards God and not to freeze in terror, we are not left with some hints on the timetable.
To mystic Pero Regis, the Blessed Mother referred to "long years of tribulation" which gives the impression that the period of chastisement will not happen in a matter of days or weeks or even a few months. There seems to be some agreement, however, that we have already entered the tribulation phase.
The website countdowntothekingdom.com, its credible authors guided by the New Testament and messages from very credible mystics, has laid out a chronology of events leading up to the coming of the Father's kingdom on earth for more or less a thousand years before the end of the world. I encourage readers to access the website which also updates followers on the recent prophecies of modern mystics.
There are theories, also based on messages received by mystics, that the time of tribulation will last up to 2034 when the prophesied Three Days of Darkness, reportedly also among the prophecies of Padre Pio, will happen and that it is only after this that the Father's kingdom will pervade. Millennials who are to live normal years are certainly within the time scope of this prophecy. Seniors can yet live to a ripe age also to witness all apocalyptic unfoldings.
But then, who can really put a time range to the apocalypse? In one of her apparitions, the Blessed Mother said that God will also shorten the period of tribulation for the sake of the elect. Would the period up to 2034 already be the shortened time? Or is it a period yet to be shortened for the sake of the elect?
By the way, the countdowntothekingdom.com, which is probably the most reliable website when it comes to the choice of credible mystics of our time, insists that while the so-called Rapture has biblical basis, it is not yet to come in our times, but shortly before the end of the world. What we are facing is "the end of the world as we know it."
Meanwhile, Catholics have been told in various mystic events that the Church is on the brink of being overwhelmed by conflicts. And that soon, the Eucharist will be trampled upon even as Pope Francis and later Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be martyred.
Mystic Fr. Michel Rodriguez has said: "The antichrist always wanted to sit on the chair of Peter; pope Francis will be like Peter the Apostle, he will realize his mistakes, he will try to bring the Church together again under the authority of Christ but he will no longer be able to do it. Pope Francis will die as a martyr. Then the pope emeritus Benedict 16 will appear, who still wears his papal ring. He will try to summon a counsel to save the Church. I saw him weak and fragile, held on both sides by two Swiss guards. I saw him suddenly fleeing Rome due to the all-around devastation. He is hiding but he will be found afterward and I also saw his martyrdom."
"Pope Francis does many things with good intention but he gives trust, relies on and gives liberties to bishops who are dangerous. He realizes that it brings rectification but it will be too late. God sends his prophets to communicate to His people what is going to happen, His designs His purposes, but only with prayer and fasting, you can change part of this prophecy, like the story of Nineveh where God sent Jonah to warn the people that he would destroy it; but through their prayer God had compassion and forgave Nineveh.
"The Holy Mass as essence will never disappear nor the church because the forces of hell will not prevail against it. We will always find faithful priests and faithful bishops who will protect the true Doctrine."