May 2020- Prophecy

Last month we discussed three events in the early 1970's, the Saint Nilus Prophecy, the Padre Pio Prophecy and Yves Dupont's book, Catholic Prophecy. Today there are many books available on prophecy and a lot of speculation about what is coming upon us. However, we had Sacred Scripture, which no one could make head nor tails of, and these three private prophecies.

Catholic Prophecy

...had a comet on the cover, because one prophecy talks about a comet. He devoted a whole chapter to the coming comet. This came out just before Comet Kahoutek was discovered and passed near earth in 1972. Some thought maybe this is THE comet, but Kahoutek was not even visible to the naked eye in spite of dire predictions. Even Halley's comet was a dud on its last pass. However, this got people reading and wondering.

Two page typed prophecy about the Three Days of Darkness attributed to Padre Pio....

introduced everyone to the thought of a coming chastisement, which will cleanse the world of all the evil surrounding us. A lot of candles got blessed, because of this alleged prophecy. Yves Dupont would strengthen this belief in his book, when he mentions the Three Days of Darkness. There is strong doubt that Padre Pio actually received this revelation.

The Saint Nilus prophecy sounds like an apt description of much of what happened in the last half of the twentieth century.

It was typed on a single page and received large circulation in the early 1970's. However, no source was given for this prophecy, and today many doubt that Saint Nilus had anything to do with this prophecy.

Dupont mentioned the Saint Malachy prophecies...

but failed to mention that many doubt their authenticity. And this also led to much speculation. In fact, there are three prophecies on the last Popes found in Father Gerald Culleton's book, The Prophets And Our Times, eventually republished by TAN Books. They do somewhat work together, but with one large problem, one of the prophecies names the Popes, but gets off course naming the successor Pius XII: "Thou art the Angelic Pastor of Rome, O benevolent doctor, O most indulgent father,-Hail, Gregory XVII, most Holy Father, necessary shepherd." Three have claimed to be this Pope, based upon this prophecy, two seers, Clement in Palmar de Troya, Spain, and Gaston Tremblay in Canada. A third claim is that two days before Angelo Roncalli stepped out as the second man claiming to be Pope John XXIII in history, Joseph Cardinal Siri was elected as Pope Gregory XVII.

Dupont also introduced people to the Great Monarch idea, that some time in the near future a Great Monarch will arise and set things straight before it all falls apart again under Antichrist. Many follow this idea until today.

Now there are private prophecies to support both the Great Monarch idea and the Three Days of Darkness idea, which can be verified. However, how should we really look at prophecy?

First of all, we have seen that things circulated, in the early 1970's that actually have been officially condemned by the Church in whole or in part. So we must check to see what the Church says on these things. Two prophecies were published in the early 1960's by Emmett Culligan, the Third Secret of Fatima and the Secret of La Salette. Culligan alleged that the Fatima Secret had gotten out, and been published.

First let us address, the Secret of La Salette, which has been put on the Index of Prohibited Books, although used by some Traditionalists in spite of this, including Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in his sermon, when he consecrated four bishops for the SSPX. The Secret of La Salette in circulation is defective, because it does not contain anything about infallibility, in spite of the fact that Melanie asked about two things, Antichrist and infallibility.

The Third Secret of Fatima has long been a matter of speculation. In fact, the Vatican has revealed what it claims is the Third Secret, although many rightfully doubt its authenticity. The Vatican edition does not match the Culligan edition. Our first rule is to dismiss anything that may be spurious.

There is a rule for discerning the spirits, as Scripture advises us. (I John 4:1) If God is communicating to us through someone, everything they give us from Him, directly or through Mary or a saint or angel, will be true. Now a prophet might misunderstand a minor point or not write it down straight, but if he makes a major mistake, then we must dismiss everything he reports. Also, if he contradicts Scripture, then he is wrong.

In studying private prophecy over the years, I have found we should dismiss all of it. There is just too much uncertainty. Although Scripture may be difficult to understand, when the events actually occur, we can look back and see what God is communicating through the prophet. This is what theologians have done for centuries with the Old Testament prophecies, which point to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The big question we need to ask is this, do I really NEED to know what is coming in the future? If I truly need to know, God will show me in a manner I can be certain He is communicating directly or indirectly to me. If God is silent, then let us remain silent rather than wasting effort trying to discern the future.

There are a few things we can know with certainty will occur in the future, since they have not already occurred in the past. The Fathers of the Church have considered the time of Antichrist and the terrible persecution that will occur at that time. When the Fathers of the Church unanimously agree on an interpretation of Sacred Scripture, the Church considers their conclusion to be infallibly true.

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning gave a series of four lectures, which were combined into a book, The Present Crisis of the Holy See: "Now, first of all what is this “taking away of the continual sacrifice”?

"It was taken away in type at the destruction of Jerusalem. The sacrifice of the Temple, that is, of the lamb, morning and evening, in the Temple of God, was entirely abolished with the destruction of the Temple itself. Now the Prophet Malachias says: "From the rising of the sun even to the going down, any name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation." This passage of the prophet has been interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. beginning with St. Irenaeus, St. Justin Martyr, and I know not how many besides, to be the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist, the true Paschal lamb which came in the place of the type—namely, the sacrifice of Jesus Himself on Calvary renewed perpetually and continued for ever in the sacrifice on the altar. Now has that continual sacrifice been taken away? That which was typical of it in old days has been already taken away. But has the reality been taken away? The holy Fathers who have written upon the subject of Antichrist, and of these prophecies of Daniel, without a single exception, as far as I know, and they are the Fathers both of the East and of the West, the Greek and the Latin Church—all of them unanimously,—say that in the latter end of the world, during the reign of Antichrist, the holy sacrifice of the altar will cease. In the work on the end of the world, ascribed to St. Hippolytus, after a long description of the afflictions of the last days, we read as follows: "The Churches shall lament with a great lamentation, for there shall be offered no more oblation, nor incense, nor worship acceptable to God. The sacred buildings of the churches shall be as hovels; and the precious body and blood of Christ shall not be manifest in those days; the Liturgy shall be extinct; the chanting of psalms shall cease; the reading of Holy Scripture shall be heard no more. But there shall be upon men darkness, and mourning upon mourning, and woe upon woe. Then, the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible, hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking-places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were, from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early centuries."

At the time of Antichrist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be taken away COMPLETELY. There will be no Masses. A logical conclusion is that every valid priest will be neutralized. Some will be martyred, while others will fall away into apostasy under Antichrist.