FOR the first time in my life, I finished in 2019 the nine-day Simbang Gabi, the devotional novena of Masses in anticipation of Christmas, with the petition that I will be granted at least a full more year in 2020 to take care of my parents -- a then 91-year-old father and 96-year-old mother -- no matter the challenges. Days later, in January, doctors declared my dad had stage 4 cancer. He passed away on February 10, 2020, after receiving the last rites.
Early this month, I offered at least two decades of my rosary prayers for the wellbeing of my younger brother Daniel, whose three teenage daughters I help raise. Last March 17, he went home early from work, as he felt ill. I took exorcised holy water with blessed salt from the altar and blessed him and his room with it with prayers to the Divine Mercy- something I had never done before. By 4:30 p.m., I saw him in his room having some kind of severe seizure. I called for an ambulance and by the time we reached the Medical City at Clark, he was already lifeless from a massive stroke.
I had completed the Christmas novena for my father, prayed the rosary for my younger brother, yet the opposite of my petitions happened. In my mind, I asked God why. But there was no bitterness, only a search for reason which, eventually, gave way to trust. God took my Dad and my brother because He knew they were ready for Him. With certainty that could only be grace from God, I know my two loved ones are in His hands, although possibly in Purgatory so I and the rest of the family will never cease praying for them daily and offer them Masses whenever we can, so that they reach Heaven fast.
As to why God allowed me to pray for Dad and Dan's earthly wellbeing before they passed on, I could only trust in His wisdom. I had to pass the test of spiritual strength amid the adversities to come in the rising crescendo of end-times tribulations.
(I am asking the pious reader to please offer a Mass or even just a short prayer for my father and my brother- Thank you.)
And now to share a very important end-times (not the end of the world yet) messages from Heaven, again one from the Blessed Mother through mystic Luz Maria de Bonilla last March 14. The Blessed Mother said:
"Beloved children of My Immaculate Heart: Receive my maternal blessing...
"I see with pain how you are being led further away from My Son at a time when a great part of humanity do not feel the need for Him, and you will therefore rush to meet and accept the Antichrist and his falsehood, if you do not awaken from your spiritual lethargy. You are living in a great pit where you are being told how to work and act... Without wanting it, you are captive to the elite; you are in domestic concentration camps, making you insecure, diminishing your ability to think and reason... Lukewarm in faith — they are temporarily closing the Churches, which will later be closed definitively, and you, children, see this as something normal in the context of what humanity is living through at this moment.
"Children, my Son’s faithful people, you are living in all sorts of warfare; you do not see weapons like those used in wars, but war is growing before your eyes. Temporary limits are being imposed on you regarding travel from one country to another, preparing you for the arrival of the 'microchip,' without which you will not be able to buy or sell, nor to leave your home or receive medical assistance; you will not be able to move from one place to another if you refuse to be marked.
"In view of this, it is necessary for you to draw close to my Son, to know him, to love him, to be faithful to him and to live by his love so that, strengthened, you would be able to advance in the midst of the spiritual battle and of global power. Communism is advancing: it has not disappeared, it is alive and is advancing towards its goal, and My children will suffer.
"Pray, My children, pray, pray: the Balkans will make news for humanity.
"Pray, My children, pray: without an economy, Europe will be prey to invaders dressed in red.
"Pray, My children, draw near to My Son without delay: conversion is urgent in order for you be worthy of Divine Protection.
"Pray, My children, examine yourselves within: the Warning is approaching.
"Pray My children, pray for America, it will be scourged.
"Pray My children, pray for Mexico, it will be shaken.
"You view the Cross as suffering: My Son gave you the Cross of Victory and yet you reject it in favor of worldly idols that offer you distraction. And eternal life? You will lose it because of a moment of folly. Convert: it is urgent that my children convert, so that whatever happens would find them strengthened in faith, in love for my Son. Attention, children! For various diseases, I have mentioned by Divine Will the use of pine (A past column dwelt on herbal panaceas against modern ailments- Ding). The Father’s House does not abandon His children, warning and protecting them in advance.
"Keep up love for your neighbor; do not lose your inner peace. The enemy of the soul, the devil, is fighting against My Son’s People — he insists on your being presumptuous, he induces you to be aggressive, to impose yourselves, to be impertinent, he feeds your 'ego' to the core, so that you would be a stumbling block for your brothers and sisters. Little children, love one another, be bearers of peace; keep in mind that you must remain united to the Divine Will. Pray; prayer is the means for meeting My Son; receive the Sacraments; be worshipers of My Son wherever you are — true worshipers, giving testimony to the Holy Spirit who dwells in each one of you.
"Beloved children of My Immaculate Heart: I bless you, I protect you: remain united to Divine Love. Come to my heart: within it you will be safe. Do not fear. I bless you." (End of quote.)
Yes, you can call the denizens of Heaven "fearmongers" these days, but these dire messages only tell us the urgency of the times and the primacy of saving everlasting souls. Heaven is determined to employ all means, including fear, to grab souls from eternal damnation.