"And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.... [Apocalypse (Revelation) 8:13]
Friday, April 15, 2016
The fulfillment of prophecy: Men will abuse the freedom of conscience
conceded to them and the sacrament of Matrimony will be attacked and
deeply profaned
Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th century, Germany)
"The fifth period of the Church, which began circa 1520, will end with
the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called
"Help From God" because he will restore everything. The fifth period is
one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the
Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars,
famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities.
He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies.
It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those
Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on
earth.
"During this period, many men will abuse the freedom of conscience conceded to them (See here).
It is of such men that Jude, the Apostle, spoke when he said: 'These
men blaspheme- whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt
whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do. . . They feast
together without restraint, feeding themselves, grumbling murmurers,
walking according to their lusts; their mouth speaketh proud things,
they admire people for the sake of gain; they bring about division,
sensual men, having not the spirit.'
"During this unhappy
period, there will be laxity in divine and human precepts. Discipline
will suffer. The Holy Canons will be completely disregarded, and the
Clergy will not respect the laws of the Church. Everyone will be carried away and led to believe and to do what he fancies, according to the manner of the flesh.
They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and
nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge,
and for the skill by which the axioms of the law, the precepts of
morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless
questions and elaborate arguments. As a
result, no principle at all, however holy, authentic, ancient, and
certain it may be, will remain free of censure, criticism, false
interpretations, modification and delimitation by man."
"These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy
is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost
everywhere.
Bishops,
prelates, and priests say that they are doing their duty, that they
are vigilant, and that they live as befits their state in life. In like
manner, therefore, they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great
evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and
unexpectedly; they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates,
and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they
will burn down the churches and destroy everything."
—Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824); The Life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich; message from April 12th, 1820
I had another vision of the great tribulation…
It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy that
could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept
bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping… It was as if people
were splitting into two camps. —Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824); The Life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich; message from April 12th, 1820
Sr. Marianne de Jesus Torres (17th century) - Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador
Our Lady told her: "The Church will find itself attacked by
waves of a secret sect ... corrupted priests will scandalize
the Church ... Moreover, in these unhappy times there will be unbridled
luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer
innumerable frivolous souls who will lose themselves.
Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and, in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those whom it behooves to speak will fall silent."
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which
symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and
deeply profaned*. Freemasonry, which will then be in power, will enact
iniquitous laws with the aim of doing away with this Sacrament, making
it easy for everyone to live in sin and encouraging the procreation of
illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church.
The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of Faith
will gradually be extinguished until there will be an almost total and
general corruption of customs. Added to this will be the effects of
secular education, which will be one reason for the dearth of priestly
and religious vocations.
“The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be
ridiculed, oppressed, and despised, for in this Sacrament, the Church
of God and even God Himself is scorned and despised since He is
represented in His priests. The Devil will try to persecute the
ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will labor with cruel
and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation
and will corrupt many of them. These depraved priests, who will
scandalize the Christian people, will make the hatred of bad Catholics
and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church fall upon
all priests.
"This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church, the many good priests,
and the Supreme Pastor and Vicar of Christ on Earth, who, a prisoner in
the Vatican, will shed secret and bitter tears in the presence of his
God and Lord, beseeching light, sanctity, and perfection for all the
clergy of the world, of whom he is King and Father.
Pope Gregory XVI condemns Ecumenism & Liberty of Conscience